Mike White article (FL)

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http://www.tbo.com/sports/MGBUBNVFSME.html

White Saving Energy For State
By BILL WARD wward@tampatrib.com

Published: May 4, 2006

TAMPA - After clearing a lifetime best of 14 feet to win the pole vault at last week's Class 4A-Region 2 meet at Gaither, Chamberlain senior Mike White packed up and called it a day.

He could have asked officials to move the bar higher, but White had other plans. And most of them have to do with Saturday's 4A state finals at Showalter Field in Winter Park.

"I want to save it," White said. "I want to make something special at state."

It was a one-foot improvement on White's lifetime best, and it was his first region title. He won his first district crown the previous week by clearing 13 feet, but anyone who has seen White perform in any sport knows he has athletic ability.

In wrestling, the 5-foot-9 White was the 2A state runner-up in the 140-pound weight class. In football, he weighed closer to 160 pounds and was a starter at strong safety for the Chiefs, who won a district title and advanced to the second round of the state playoffs before losing to eventual champion Lakeland.

Now, White is soaring to the top of the county in the pole vault, a sport he took up as a freshman when a coach asked for volunteers. He missed qualifying for last year's state meet when he finished sixth in the region, a foot under the final qualifying mark.

This year White, who hopes to continue his wrestling and track career in college at either Fresno State or Eastern Michigan, hopes to have at least one more personal best in the vault for Saturday's 4A state championships.

White's mark of 14-0 ties him for 11th place among all classes, and he enters the state meet with the third-best region height - 6 inches under Longwood Lyman's Chris Bridgeman and Dan Hamilton, who went 1-2 in 4A-Region 1.

"I think I have a shot at placing well," White said. "I felt like I could have gone higher than 14 feet, but it's good to leave feeling that way."