Retired coach Brown still offering vaulting expertise

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http://www.thevictoriaadvocate.com/195/story/28928.html

Retired coach still offering vaulting expertise

March 16, 2007 - Posted at 12:00 a.m.
BY MIKE FORMAN - ADVOCATE SPORTS WRITER
BAY CITY - Marshall Brown is retired but it doesn't take much to get him back out to the track.

If the former Bay City coach isn't fishing, he's likely to be found at the high school sharing his insight with any athlete willing to listen and that was the case Tuesday afternoon even though the skies were threatening and it was spring break.

Brown wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to give Bay City's Carolina Hernandez and Shelby Vasek a chance to work out alongside one of the nation's best high school pole vaulters.

Clear Brook's Maston Wallace was visiting his grandparents and he gladly accepted an invitation to join Brown, coaches Randolph Brown and Linda Smith and the Bay City vaulters at practice.

Wallace had never met Marshall Brown but the Bay City coach wasn't a total stranger. Brown coached Maston's father, Brett, in the pole vault at Bay City during the 1970s.

Brett Wallace had a personal best of 14 feet, 6 inches (which would lead the Advocate-area) and pole vaulted at Wharton County Junior College and Texas A&M.

Brett has done an excellent job tutoring his son, who has cleared 17-5 and has signed a letter of intent to attend the University of Texas on a track and field scholarship in the next school year.

"My dad did it and that kind of got me into it," said Maston, who also has grandparents living in Victoria. "I just kind of stuck with it."


Maston began pole vaulting as a freshman and had cleared 15 feet by the end of his sophomore year. He cleared 16-3 last year as a junior and finished second at the Class 5A state meet.
Wallace has continued to make steady improvement, clearing 17 feet at the Pole Vaulters Summit in Reno, Nev., 17-3 3/4 at the University of Houston Invitational, and reaching his personal best at the Nike Indoor Nationals at Landover, Md.

"I've just been hitting the weights and getting stronger and faster," said Wallace, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs around 170 pounds. "My goal this year is to win state and to break the national outdoor record (18-3)."

Brown was impressed by Wallace's strength and his approach to the bar.

"You look at him and you can tell he's got great physical size," Brown said. "I like his agility and speed. The guy can really run."

Brown made some suggestions to Wallace, who responded with a few of his own, including one he discovered while swimming and using a rope swing to "rock back and forth and do a back flip into the water."

Brown was happy to learn the approach he takes with Bay City's pole vaulters differs little from the way Brett Wallace has coached his son. But the best part of the day for Brown was what the experience meant for Hernandez and Vasek.

"It was awesome for my kids," Brown said.

"Getting the chance to be around someone who can vault like that has got to be a big help for them."