Central Michigan University Athletics
Rejuvenated Pole Vaulter Kasey Staley Takes Aim At Program Mark, NCAA Berth
5/24/2021 12:30:00 PM | Track & Field
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – It takes a special breed to pole vault.
It begins with a long sprint down a narrow runway, with the vaulter holding the long pole as if ready to engage in a medieval joust. The plant of the pole into the vault box requires perfection, and the body control required for the vaulter to get his or her feet over the head while rising more than a dozen feet into the air is something of an athletic marvel.
Then comes the twist and turn of the body over the bar, the body righting itself – head up and feet down -- and, finally, the release of the pole and more body control to land flat on the pit, a thick, cushy pad.
It takes speed, strength, athleticism and, perhaps most importantly, fearlessness.
Kasey Staley has all the ingredients. The Central Michigan redshirt junior heads into the NCAA East Preliminary in Jacksonville, Fla. this week with two goals: Breaking the CMU record and advancing to the NCAA Championships.
"The school record is such an attainable bar for me," said Staley, who grew up in Farwell and graduated in 2017 from Clare High School. "It's like I'm there. I've just got to put it all together.
"Coming into meets it's kind of unhealthy to be like, 'I have to jump this high; I have to do this.' So I'm just going to take it one bar at a time."
Staley's brother and dad were both pole vaulters and she took up the sport relatively young, as a fifth grader. She won two high school state titles in the event, was the twice the state runner-up and still holds the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 3 state record of 12 feet, 4 inches.
Pole vault, like so many events in track & field, can be a solitary endeavor. While a track & field team's roster is large relative to most other sports, events are highly specialized, particularly the pole vault. On a recent morning in the Jack Skoog Indoor Track, Staley worked out under the watchful eye of Chippewa assistant coach Michael Schober.
While there are other highly capable and motivated vaulters on the Chippewa roster, their seasons are complete, as is the academic semester. Staley and Schober were alone in the massive building. The motivation to work out, to continually strive for another inch or two of height, has to come from within.
"If you don't have that (inner drive), you're not going to go super far," Staley said.
Schober, her vault coach, said Staley "is probably one of the hardest-working people you'll ever meet. That's the key right there; she will worker harder than anyone, work through anything, and she's a student of the sport. She really understands pole vault; she always wants to get better. She's always researching and watching video, doing whatever she can to be the best."
It wasn't the work that was lacking, but the results, that nearly drove Staley to put down the pole for good after her sophomore year, when, she said, she was frequently 'no-heighting' – pole vault lingo for not getting over the bar on an attempt – and she didn't qualify for the Mid-American Conference meet.
"It's mentally taxing because when you put all of your time into something and you don't get the results you want, it's like, 'Well what's the point?'" Staley said. "Since I'd been doing it for so long, I began to hate it and I was close to just giving it up. I just couldn't get it figured out. I was scared to pole vault. I thought I had peaked in high school and I thought, 'This is the end for me; it's not going to get better.'"
She said she never stopped training but did take a mental step back to clear her mind and "I developed a better relationship with pole vault. Now I'm not scared and I'm in a better place mentally and I've kind of figured things out, got my confidence back."
She finished third in the MAC Indoor Championships in 2020 and appeared poised to have a big outdoor season when it was wiped out by COVID.
She was fifth at the MAC Indoor meet in February and then turned on the jets during the outdoor season, opening with a then personal-best 4.00-meter vault (13 feet, 1 ½ inches) at the Texas State Bobcat Invitational in late March.
She would twice clear 13 feet in subsequent meets and then, at the MAC Championships, finished second with a 4.01-meter vault, which translates to 13-1 ¾, her all-time best.
That leaves her just two inches off the program record of 13-3 ¾, set in 2005 by Amanda Storck and tied in 2019 by Siobhan Szerencsits.
Staley has made attempts at the mark at every outdoor meet this season.
"That's the frustrating part," said Staley, who holds a bachelor's degree with a major in Integrative Public Relations and a minor in broadcasting, has plans for graduate school, has four times in her career earned Academic All-MAC honors, and was named by the U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association an All-Academic Athlete after the 2020 indoor season. "I'm just so close that I just expect it out of myself. It'll happen. I've got one meet, hopefully two, and I'm just going to try my hardest."
"No better time to do it than at regionals."
It begins with a long sprint down a narrow runway, with the vaulter holding the long pole as if ready to engage in a medieval joust. The plant of the pole into the vault box requires perfection, and the body control required for the vaulter to get his or her feet over the head while rising more than a dozen feet into the air is something of an athletic marvel.
Then comes the twist and turn of the body over the bar, the body righting itself – head up and feet down -- and, finally, the release of the pole and more body control to land flat on the pit, a thick, cushy pad.
It takes speed, strength, athleticism and, perhaps most importantly, fearlessness.
Kasey Staley has all the ingredients. The Central Michigan redshirt junior heads into the NCAA East Preliminary in Jacksonville, Fla. this week with two goals: Breaking the CMU record and advancing to the NCAA Championships.
"The school record is such an attainable bar for me," said Staley, who grew up in Farwell and graduated in 2017 from Clare High School. "It's like I'm there. I've just got to put it all together.
"Coming into meets it's kind of unhealthy to be like, 'I have to jump this high; I have to do this.' So I'm just going to take it one bar at a time."
Staley's brother and dad were both pole vaulters and she took up the sport relatively young, as a fifth grader. She won two high school state titles in the event, was the twice the state runner-up and still holds the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 3 state record of 12 feet, 4 inches.
Pole vault, like so many events in track & field, can be a solitary endeavor. While a track & field team's roster is large relative to most other sports, events are highly specialized, particularly the pole vault. On a recent morning in the Jack Skoog Indoor Track, Staley worked out under the watchful eye of Chippewa assistant coach Michael Schober.
While there are other highly capable and motivated vaulters on the Chippewa roster, their seasons are complete, as is the academic semester. Staley and Schober were alone in the massive building. The motivation to work out, to continually strive for another inch or two of height, has to come from within.
"If you don't have that (inner drive), you're not going to go super far," Staley said.
Schober, her vault coach, said Staley "is probably one of the hardest-working people you'll ever meet. That's the key right there; she will worker harder than anyone, work through anything, and she's a student of the sport. She really understands pole vault; she always wants to get better. She's always researching and watching video, doing whatever she can to be the best."
It wasn't the work that was lacking, but the results, that nearly drove Staley to put down the pole for good after her sophomore year, when, she said, she was frequently 'no-heighting' – pole vault lingo for not getting over the bar on an attempt – and she didn't qualify for the Mid-American Conference meet.
"It's mentally taxing because when you put all of your time into something and you don't get the results you want, it's like, 'Well what's the point?'" Staley said. "Since I'd been doing it for so long, I began to hate it and I was close to just giving it up. I just couldn't get it figured out. I was scared to pole vault. I thought I had peaked in high school and I thought, 'This is the end for me; it's not going to get better.'"
She said she never stopped training but did take a mental step back to clear her mind and "I developed a better relationship with pole vault. Now I'm not scared and I'm in a better place mentally and I've kind of figured things out, got my confidence back."
She finished third in the MAC Indoor Championships in 2020 and appeared poised to have a big outdoor season when it was wiped out by COVID.
She was fifth at the MAC Indoor meet in February and then turned on the jets during the outdoor season, opening with a then personal-best 4.00-meter vault (13 feet, 1 ½ inches) at the Texas State Bobcat Invitational in late March.
She would twice clear 13 feet in subsequent meets and then, at the MAC Championships, finished second with a 4.01-meter vault, which translates to 13-1 ¾, her all-time best.
That leaves her just two inches off the program record of 13-3 ¾, set in 2005 by Amanda Storck and tied in 2019 by Siobhan Szerencsits.
Staley has made attempts at the mark at every outdoor meet this season.
"That's the frustrating part," said Staley, who holds a bachelor's degree with a major in Integrative Public Relations and a minor in broadcasting, has plans for graduate school, has four times in her career earned Academic All-MAC honors, and was named by the U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association an All-Academic Athlete after the 2020 indoor season. "I'm just so close that I just expect it out of myself. It'll happen. I've got one meet, hopefully two, and I'm just going to try my hardest."
"No better time to do it than at regionals."
Players Mentioned
Pole Vault
/ Track & Field
Pole Vault
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