San Diego Player of the Week : Pat Alduenda Vaults Past His Fear of Flying

Some pole vaulters say they enjoy the rush of flying high in the air, but Pat Alduenda is not one of them.

“I’m scared to death of heights,” said Alduenda, a Ramona High School senior. “I don’t like flying on airplanes, and I wouldn’t hang-glide if you paid me.”

But pole vaulting is different. “With pole vaulting, you’re in control and you have your own fate in your hands,” he said.

On Sunday afternoon at the San Diego Sports Arena, Alduenda soared over the 16-foot-high bar to win his event in the Michelob Invitational.

“The whole jump took about 10 seconds,” said Alduenda, the San Diego Player of the Week. “For that 10 seconds, I probably spent 10,000 hours working and working to get there. It’s a very satisfying sport. You do a lot of stuff nobody sees, and then you do one jump and you’re in the newspapers.”

Alduenda’s sense of achievement was well-deserved. He had vaulted higher than any San Diego County high school athlete ever. However, the accomplishment will not count as a county record because the San Diego Section does not sanction the Michelob Invitational.

As he walked from the pit, Alduenda heard the public address announcer say that a vault of 16-1 1/2 would put him among the meet’s all-time top 20. He also had heard that the meet record was 16-8 1/2, set in 1980 by Steve Stubblefield of Kansas City, Mo.

The challenge intrigued Alduenda. He asked that the bar be raised to 16-9 but failed to clear the height on three tries.

But Alduenda was far from being dejected. His confidence soared after the three near-misses.

“I’d like to go 17,” he said. “I think that’s entirely possible.”

Alduenda first became interested in pole vaulting about five years ago from watching it on television. But it wasn’t until his freshman year in high school--after being dissatisfied with football and wrestling--that he took up the sport.

“Football’s a real team sport, and wrestling in a way depends on the other guy,” he said. “But in pole vaulting, it’s just you and the bar. If you miss it, it’s your fault. If you do it, it’s your thing.”

Although Alduenda says he “lives to vault,” he actually practices the event once a week. He spends the rest of his practice time with a regimen of weight training, gymnastics, hurdles and high jumping.

Alduenda is getting ready for the section and state championship meets, but his ultimate goal is much higher.

“The major goal for next year is to get into the Olympic trials,” he said, acknowledging that he would probably need a vault of 17-8 or higher to qualify. “I think after being in a college conditioning program, I could do that.”