Grand Haven beach vault (MI) draws nationwide field

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Grand Haven beach vault draws nationwide field
Thursday, June 29, 2006
By Jeff Chaney
The Grand Rapids Press
Bethany Hecksel and Stacy Orosz treat next month's Grand Haven Beach Vault as reunion of sorts.

Hecksel and Orosz, who both pole vaulted at Rockford High School, will be two of about 225 competitors from throughout the country who will converge at Grand Haven to take part in the July 14-15 event.

Once teammates, Hecksel, who now competes for Grand Valley State University, will be jumping head-to-head against Orosz, who is now competing for Western Michigan University, in the women's college division competition on July 15.


"It's more of a fun event for me," Hecksel said. "Sure I would like to win, but it is more fun to be at the beach, have fun and get everybody back together."

Added Orosz: "I treat this as a fun meet. I also like to see some of the younger girls from Rockford and see how they have improved. I remember (Rockford senior) Christi Kettelhut, when she was a sophomore, and how she was jumping nine feet when I left. And now she is jumping 12 feet -- it is amazing to see how far she has come."

Kettelhut, Caitlyn Gager, Dan Smith, Chris Bivins, Lori Davidson and Alyssa Scheidel are all Rockford jumpers who will compete in the high school divisions on July 14.

Kevin Patterson, who is the Rockford pole vault coach and the organizer of the Beach Vault, has been shocked with how fast his competition has grown in just five years of existence.

"It just keeps growing," Patterson said. "The word just spread after last year's event and it pretty much exploded. We were mentioned on ESPN and that helped. I'm actually hoping we don't get too many more than 225 because it its tough to run.

"The one thing is that we have been blessed with great weather," he said. "It is getting so big that we might need to find a new location."

Besides the high school and college divisions, the Beach Vault will have youth, masters and elite divisions.

Patterson also points out that this year's event will have another attraction.

"There is actually a wedding planned on Saturday right next to us, so that will be an interesting combination," he said.