After struggling in the early part of his collegiate career, Jacob Englar finally won a conference title. Photo by Kevin Neri
Jacob Englar of Washington State won the Pac-12 pole vault title during the rain Friday night at Hayward Field with a vault of 16 feet, 9 ¼ inches, leaving friends and competitors Tate Curran from UCLA and Max Manson from Stanford to settle for 2nd with vaults of 16 feet, 5 ¼ inch.
“I’ve known Tate and Max since I was a freshman,” he said. “We’re friends at this point. We talked today about how some of the guys are graduating and it was sad to think about.”
With the rain never seeming to end, the new Pac-12 champion relied on his training to stay calm and collected. ”We practice in the rain and wind all the time to try and prepare for these types of meets,” Englar said. “But I can’t lie — when we were all out there warming up, we were looking at each other like, ‘Yeah it’s pretty bad out here.”
Englar, the only Washington State finalist in the pole vault, didn’t enter the competition until the bar reached 16 feet, 1 ¼ inch, by which time five of the 12 vaulters had been eliminated.
“My coach and I were confident that I could start at that point,” Englar said. “Consistently hitting that mark in practice gives me the confidence to do it in a meet.”
The new Pac-12 champion hasn’t always been a confident victor. Englar has had to battle to even have a spot on the team at times. A hip injury last spring threatened his vaulting career as a whole.
“I had the yips my freshman year and was almost cut because of it,” he said. “Then with my hip surgery last spring and placing fourth in Pac-12s, it was a lot to handle. Winning now feels so surreal. It definitely hasn’t sunk in yet. I proved a lot to myself.”
Despite the challenges, pole vault has not been all work for Englar, who plans to spend time with his fellow vaulters this summer.
“Tate is going to teach me how to surf, and Max is going to teach me the ropes of rock climbing,” he said. “We’re just a bunch of weird guys that love pole vault.”
