Pole Vault Is Not Out of the Reach of Girls

If Nicole Randall had one wish for this story, it would be that it didn’t exist. Nothing personal, she says. She just thinks it would be nice if people could say “girls” and “pole-vaulting” in the same sentence without it being news.

“It’s so pitiful that it’s even like this, that it should even be surprising that a girl pole-vaults,” says Randall, a Fountain Valley senior.

“I mean, I’d love it if they were to write, ‘Oh! A guy pole-vaulted today!’ It shouldn’t have anything to do with sex.”

Touche, Nicole. Excellent point. The fact is, though, we’re already into the fourth paragraph, and it would be a bit awkward to stop now. So on we go.

In case you haven’t heard, girls are pole-vaulting in California high school competition this season for the first time, thanks, in part, to Randall and her mother, Bonnie. The mother-daughter duo spent nearly two years trying to break the event’s “boys only” barrier, pleading equality with everyone from the school principal to a state Senate Education Committee in Sacramento. The California Interscholastic Federation approved the request last fall.

Randall, 17, says she was never out to prove anything; she didn’t wish to be a pioneer. She simply wanted to soar. She has been a gymnast for 10 years, a platform diver for three. As a cheerleader, she’s the one who always gets tossed high enough to see the roofs of nearby buildings. Fear of heights? Hardly. Randall takes to the sky as joyously as Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

Anyone who has watched pole-vaulters in action knows what a wacky event this can be. Athletes sprint down a rubberized runway, fiberglass pole in hand, hoping to fling themselves ever higher. It is either the most exciting event in track and field or a cartoon come to life. Maybe a mixture of both.

Randall was a sophomore when she first considered the event. She saw the Fountain Valley vaulters at work, catapulting themselves toward the clouds. This was it, she said. A sport for her very soul, an experience she couldn’t do without. It would be love at first flight, no doubt.

So Randall checked with a coach who checked with another coach who checked with the principal who checked with CIF who checked with somebody who knew, and the answer was no. No way, no how. No girls allowed. The pole vault is too dangerous, they said. It takes too much strength. Girls don’t have the right center of gravity, they don’t have enough speed. Besides that, they simply don’t have, uh, well, what it takes.

In other words, go have a tea party with your teddy bears.

Randall couldn’t believe it. She was hardly a weakling. A decade of gymnastics saw to that. Speed? Center of gravity? How did they suppose she managed flips in her floor routine or somersaults in the vault? And danger? Try a back handspring off the balance beam sometime, Bud.

As it turned out, Randall wasn’t alone in her quest. Six hundred miles north, Erica Hause of Santa Rosa was asking similar questions. What difference did it make if some thought it couldn’t be done? Shouldn’t girls at least get the chance? Did they use the same rationale to keep women from running long distances? How about when they used to offer the girls’ softball throw but not the shotput?

Fortunately, the powers that be ultimately came to the conclusion of non-exclusion. For the next two years, girls may pole-vault along with boys. If the girls score points, it is for the boys’ team. If it happens that after two years enough girls are interested, the CIF will consider creating a separate event.

Randall didn’t spend much time celebrating the decision; she just went to work. The pole-vault is a technical sport. The do’s and don’ts can be downright dizzying. Sprint hard but keep your step. Keep your trail leg back. Plant high. Keep your hips behind your chest. Don’t forget to swing. And hey, when you step on the runway, remember all of the above--but try not to think!

“If at the last second you go, ‘Aaaah!!’ you’re going to blow it,” says Randall, who has cleared nine feet several times. That won’t challenge the county lead of 14-3, but she has been good enough to place second in a couple of junior varsity meets.

“You have to just go for it. You can’t be afraid if you’re not going to make it or if the pole’s going to break. If you have fear, you’re not going to get anywhere.”

Same if you worry about what others think. Randall says some people still see her vaulting as some sort of novelty, as a way to gain attention. She doesn’t care. Sure, some might think her crazy, catapulting herself toward the sky.

But Randall’s not crazy. She’s only out to launch.