Kelly DiVesta Article (Colorado)

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http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,141 ... 58,00.html

The sky is her limit

Palmer pole vaulter DiVesta uses her background in gymnastics to soar above the competition

By Tom Kensler
Denver Post Sports Writer

Post / Brian Brainerd

Palmer’s Kelley DiVesta has the size, strength and speed to go with gymnastics skills that help make her Colorado’s top female pole vaulter. DiVesta, also an excellent student, has her eye on competing in a major-college program.

COLORADO SPRINGS - Here's a true-to-life fear factor: Grab hold of a fiberglass pole, raise the crossbar to 12 feet and try to vault over it going upside down.
"I'm glad I was a gymnast before I tried this," said Palmer High School senior Kelley DiVesta, the reigning state champion in girls pole vault.

DiVesta competed in the Class 5A gymnastics meet this year and also has a diving background. DiVesta took up pole vaulting as a ninth-grader when somebody mentioned that gymnasts make good vaulters.

She has become good enough to get college offers from Washington and Oregon, and soon will choose between the two.

"You've got to be a little crazy to be a pole vaulter," said Bob Meeker, a junior high teacher who serves as pole vaulting instructor for District 11 high schools.

"As far as getting upside down, twisting, turning, those kinds of things - I don't know if it comes naturally to Kelley, but she learned it through gymnastics."

"Gymnasts who want to become pole vaulters are ahead because they have what we call good 'air sense.' They're not afraid to get upside down and turn, whereas somebody who has never bounced on a trampoline or done somersaults is a little hesitant. And rightfully so, in the interest of self-preservation."

DiVesta won the 2003 state meet with a vault of 11 feet, 7 inches, but she cleared 12-4 this spring at the Harrison High School meet. DiVesta and her Palmer teammate and friend, Elle Rudy, have their eyes set on clearing 12-6 in competition.

That height could rank them nationally among the top 20 girls prep pole vaulters, Meeker said.

"Kelley and I wouldn't be as good as we are without pushing each other," Rudy said. "As soon as she jumps a height, I'll be right behind her. And as soon as I jump a height, she'll be right there. We just keep going higher and higher."

The school lockers of DiVesta and Rudy are adorned with pictures of 2000 Olympic gold medalist Stacy Dragila and other top vaulters rather than posters of Britney Spears or the hot boy bands.

"When we're competing, we kind of keep quiet because it is hard to lose," said Rudy, who has accepted a track scholarship to Montana State. "But for this year, I think we're competing more against ourselves, going for PRs (personal records)."

Women's pole vaulting is a relatively new endeavor, tracing its beginnings to California in the 1980s. The event was added to the track and field world championships in 1999 - won by Dragila.

"Frankly, when I was vaulting in high school and college, I never envisioned girls would vault," said Meeker, who grew up in the Kansas City area and vaulted at William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo., in the late 1960s .

"Back then, people said the girls didn't have the shoulder strength and such," he added.

"But if you look at the ratio of body strength to weight, the little female gymnasts who are out there flipping are as strong or stronger than most of the male gymnasts."

In February, DiVesta and Rudy participated in a "Pole Vault Summit" in Reno, Nev., and spotted Dragila in a hotel lobby.

"We went over and got a picture with her," DiVesta recalled. "It was really cool. She is the sweetest lady, which was really nice because it boosted my opinion of her. But we were a little too excited to ask her for pole vaulting tips."

DiVesta's progress earlier this spring was slowed by shin splints, but she feels good heading into the stretch run toward the state meet.

"Kelley is working on getting a little more speed," Meeker said. "She does so well at the top part of the vault, which most kids don't do. It's the bottom part of the vault that she's going to have to work on in college.

"If she improves that, she'll do 13 to 14 feet next year. And if she takes vaulting as seriously in college as she does now, I could see her someday approaching 15 feet. She has quick feet, so I think the speed can be there. She has to develop what she has."

DiVesta cleared 8 feet as freshman, 10 feet as a sophomore and attained a best of 11-9 as a junior.

"I need to put more energy into the pole so I can go higher," DiVesta said.

Dragila, a former heptathlete at Idaho State who took up pole vaulting in 1993, cleared 15-1 to win the gold medal in 2000 at Sydney.

DiVesta and Rudy have a ways to go to become world class. But among Colorado prepsters they are head and shoulders above their competition. They typically passes on heights until the bar reaches 11 feet. By then, most, if not all, of their competition has dropped out.

"And probably 75 percent of the boys don't do 12 feet," Meeker said.

A 4.0 student in the accelerated program at Palmer, DiVesta also finds time to host Bible study groups at her house and to mentor junior high students.

"As a total package, for a multisport athlete, Kelley is probably the most outstanding student-athlete I've had in 32 years of coaching," Meeker said.

"I've had kids who have gone on to be gymnasts at UCLA and Nebraska and LSU, but they were B or C students."

"I actually do better with schoolwork when I'm busy," DiVesta said.

After an afternoon of soaring over a bar.