Looks like they were able to wait out the storm.
Click on the link to see a funny picture.
http://www.chieftain.com/metro/1156766401/8
CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/MIKE SWEENEY
KC Halik, outfitted in Indiana Jones garb (including fedora and whip), celebrates after clearing 11 feet in the Street Vault Saturday at the Colorado State Fair.
Leap of faith
Pole vaulters put jump into Fair
By NICK BONHAM
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
It is safe to say that Elizabeth Stover can leap small buildings in a single bound.
Give the 15-year-old from Longmont a 13-foot-long stick and she is one of the best pole vaulters in the state.
A dozen high school and college females from around the state catapulted into the pleasant, cloudy morning sky Saturday in Triangle Park at the Colorado State Fair. The afternoon featured the men's competition, followed by the "elite" group, or some of the top vaulters in the world, according to Sam Pierson, a recent Pueblo South grad who won the 4A state championship last year.
The pros, some who are training for the Olympics, had to wait out a pounding thunderstorm to finish competing.
The bar only dropped when the slim and muscular athletes could not launch or bend their bodies up and over, falling back to Earth to the crowd's roar. The bar kept rising. Personal records were achieved and at the end of the women's competition there was only one - Elizabeth, in all her athleticism, which she attributes to eight years of gymnastics.
An all-around gymnast with a 4.0 grade-point-average, the blonde with pink nail polish is also the current 4A state champ of her sport. Stover and her parents, Anne and Jim, drove to Pueblo Saturday morning.
"I don't think they've missed a (track) meet in the 2 years I've been doing this," Stover, who will be a junior, said.
Mom admitted, "I get more nervous watching her on the balance beam."
Stover set a new personal best with a jump of 11-feet-6 inches. Her previous was 11 feet, which she nailed to win the state crown. Her goal this year is to clear 12 feet.
Stover would like to go to college on a vaulting scholarship. She wants to study medicine and, eventually, become a surgeon.
Pierson, 18, is off to compete at the college level. He has already moved in to a dorm at Idaho State University in Pocatello. Pierson cleared 14-feet-6-inches Saturday. His personal best is 15-feet-8.5 inches, which he also nailed for the state crown last year.
In its third year at the Fair, this year's vaulting competition brought some of the top athletes of its sport here - many of whom spent the night at the Pierson residence.
One of those competitors was 26-year-old Adam Keul, who is the No. 7 pole vaulter in the nation, and 43rd in the world. He's training for the Olympics.
After an hourlong thunderstorm soaked the Fair, the vaulting continued, even though it started to get dark and the athlete's landing pad was soaked.
From Nacogdoches, Texas, Keul spent the summer competing on the European vaulting circuit, where he "won a lot of meets and made some money," he said.
"It's not like we make NFL money, but I can call myself a pro athlete, which is kind of cool."
Keul attended Stephen F. Austin State University, which is in his hometown, and coaches there now. He has performed well lately, but said, "I just hope it gets better in the Olympic year."
Event organizer Mark Pierson, father of Sam Pierson, said because of the pole vault's popularity at the Fair they were given money to offer as cash prizes. The top six professional vaulters won money, with the top finisher receiving close to $750, Keul said.