Tigers' `accidental' coach is producing championships (NC)

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http://www.charlotte.com/223/story/194062.html

MOUNT PLEASANT'S JIM CLARK HAS GROWING REPUTATION
He lifts pole vaulters to success
Tigers' `accidental' coach is producing championship results
JOE HABINA
Special Correspondent
Jim Clark became a pole vault coach the way many parents do: He agreed to do it when no one else would.

When Clark's son Brandon picked up the sport in 1997, Mount Pleasant High School coach Greg Hinson persuaded Jim to attend team workouts.

Ten years and five state champions later, Clark has become one of the most respected pole vaulting coaches in the state.

His latest protégé, rising senior Landon Patterson, won the 2A state championship in May. With the proper training over the next couple of weeks, Clark believes Patterson has a chance to win the Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olympics national championship.

This year's AAU national meet will be July 28-Aug. 4 in Knoxville, Tenn. Patterson and fellow Tigers' vaulter Kyle Crawford, a 2007 graduate, will compete in the young men's division.

Son wanted to vault

Clark ran track and field in high school in the early 1960s, he said, and was a pole vault state champion in Virginia. But after graduating from Fike High in Wilson, he never gave pole vaulting another thought.That was until Brandon surprised him by taking an interest in track and field during his freshman year.

"Greg (Hinson) says, `You're son told me you know a little about pole vaulting,' " Clark said. "He said, `I've got a senior that's been coaching himself. Your son wants to jump. Why don't you stop by once a week?' That turned into five days a week."

By 2000, his senior year, Brandon had become Mount Pleasant's first male state champion in track and field. That summer, Brandon finished tied for third at the AAU Junior Olympics in Orlando, Fla.

Early in Brandon's high school career, the Clarks hooked up with the Queen City Striders AAU team. Clark remains one of that program's coaches and has become certified as a pole vault official by USA Track and Field.

Stayed with program

Clark stayed with the Mount Pleasant pole vaulters after Brandon graduated.

In 2002, Natalie Sayewich became Mount Pleasant's first female state champion in track and field while working under Clark's direction.

Sayewich repeated the next year and eventually became the Southern Conference champion at Appalachian State University.

Though he didn't work much directly with Clark, another Mount Pleasant pole vaulter, Kyle Lingafelt, won the state championship in 2003.

Last year, the Tigers' Alex Lentz was the state runner-up in the pole vault.

As a sophomore, Landon Patterson reached the state meet but did not record a score. This season, Patterson won the state championship by clearing 14 feet 6 inches in one attempt fewer than his rival, last year's state champ, needed.

Specialized instruction

Clark doesn't go searching for prospective pole vaulters. It's an event with so few competitors that the athletes often start participating only after they've reached high school. This past season was the first in which Clark was paid as an assistant on the Mount Pleasant coaching staff.

Athletes from other schools also have turned to Clark for his expertise, including South Rowan graduate Makenzie Mullinax, who recently signed to pole vault at UNC Charlotte. Mullinax also will compete at the AAU Junior Olympics later this month.

Two weeks ago, Patterson repeated as champion in AAU Region 3A, one of its six geographical regions. Last weekend, Clark said, Patterson was planning to attend a camp at the University of South Carolina. Clark believes the extra specialized instruction could propel Patterson to national championship heights.

Clark said his secret to coaching is treating every practice as a lesson, not as a sport. He encourages his athletes to set and meet small goals, leading to the creation of larger goals.

"My goal in life is to get kids in (college) and to continue their education," Clark said. "If you have enough athletic talent to earn it that way, that's even better."