Cole Walsh of Oregon bounced back from a no-height performance last week and set a new personal best in the pole vault to win the event Saturday at the Oregon Relays with a height 17 feet, 9 inches.
He broke his previous mark of 17-6 1/2 that eluded him for two years.
“There are two ways you could go after no-heighting,” Walsh said. “You could just be down on yourself for the whole week, or you can take it as it is and use it as motivation to train hard this next week.”
Walsh’s 17-9 vault put him 10 inches ahead of former Washington Husky and Sheldon High School standout J.J. Juifls. Oregon’s Matthew Hidalgo finished third in 16-5 ½.
“I would say that the highlight today for us would be Cole Walsh,” Oregon coach Robert Johnson said. “That was really special. I know he has been really close to a lot of things in practice, so to see him put it together in the meet was exciting.”
Walsh has struggled in the past getting back to the height he reached as a freshman. “I was really inconsistent in my approach, and that is something that I worked hard on,” he said. “I’m not very fast for a vaulter, and that something I worked on pretty hard back in the summer in Phoenix.”
After clearing 17-9, Walsh was not content. He had three attempts at 18-1 but failed to get up from a swing. He blamed the number of jumps he took on not being able to clear the height. “I was pretty conservative today,” he said, “and next meet I will come in at a higher bar.”
Walsh attributed his success to his teammates as well as the fans. “Matt [Hidalgo] is really helpful — he keeps lots of positive energy out on the track,” he said. “I train with the decathletes also, and they’re around me 24/7. They’re some of my best friends. Having people working towards the same goals as you can be very valuable.”
