Ryan Santa article (MI)

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CHURCHILL TRACK: Vaulting for his team

Santa skips chance at state record

June 11, 2006

BY PERRY A. FARRELL

FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

How the record book looked

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Livonia Churchill senior Ryan Santa held the Lower Peninsula Division 1 state pole vaulting record of 15 feet until the June 3 state meet. Logan Lynch of Temperance-Bedford set a new record of 16-0.

Here's a look at Santa's place in the state record book and other Lower Peninsula division records before this year's state meet:

• Division 1: 15-0, Ryan Santa, Livonia Churchill, 2005

• Division 2: 15-3, Mark Langlois, Fruitport, 2002

• Division 3: 15-9 1/4 , Zach Burrington, Muskegon Oakridge, 2004

• Division 4: 14-5, Bryant Wilson, Hale, 2004

• Class A: 16-6, Paul Terek, Livonia Franklin, 1997

• Class B: 16-1, Brad Teeple, Sturgis, 1999

• Class C: 15-4, Aaron Gebaurer, Bad Axe, 1998

• Class D: 15-2 1/2 , Bryan Happel, Mendon, 1991

An act of unselfishness may have cost Ryan Santa a chance at clearing 16 feet in the pole vault this year.

As a junior, the Livonia Churchill student set the state championship meet vault record for Lower Peninsula Division 1 at 15 feet.

Santa entered his senior season with hopes of reaching 16 feet, 6 inches, the mark set by Livonia Franklin's Paul Terek in 1997 in Class A.

"If I had it to do over again, I would probably just want to concentrate on the vault," Santa said.

However, Santa was asked by coach Rick Austin to help the Churchill team by running the 100- and 200-meter events along with the 4x100 relay and the 110-meter hurdles.

While the team racked up dual meet victories and the regional title, Santa didn't put in the necessary time to improve his pole vault height and went into the state meet without clearing 15 feet this season.

His best in the 100 meters was 11.7 seconds. In the 200, he ran 23.8 seconds and 16.3 in the hurdles.

However, those weren't his goals going into the season.

"My coach always said this is a team sport even though it's a bunch of individual events," Santa said.

"Like I said, I'm doing it, and I can't complain too much. It has been not the kind of year I expected. I thought I'd be dedicating myself to pole vaulting, but I had to do a lot of other things to help the team.

"I didn't get to practice as much. ... It didn't hurt my vaulting in meets, but it affected my training. I haven't had much practice time or anything.

"My best this year has only been 14 feet."

Santa cleared 14-1 June 3 at the Division I state meet at East Kentwood High, good for third place.

Temperance Bedford's Logan Lynch won the state title by clearing 16-0.

Santa said he plans to attend Eastern Michigan University in the fall and will try join the track team as a walk-on.

"Colleges sign guys who run the 100 and 200 because they can get a team 20 to 24 points in meets, while a pole vaulter can only get so many points," Santa said.

While Santa admits he's in great shape, not bettering his pole vault mark before the state meet was an obvious disappointment.

"In terms of performance, he has been up and down this year only because we've got him spread out over a couple of different events," Austin said.

"He has been hurdling for us this year, and he also runs on our relay team. He really hasn't vaulted the 15-foot mark that he did last year, but he's also helping his team in other ways.

"Overall, running the other events has made him faster on the runway. Also, he hasn't really had the competition this year that he had last year at the state meet.

"We were anxious to get to the state meet so he'd have the big competition."

Austin added that Santa was a good role model for younger teammates.

"He's very personable," Austin said. "He's beyond his years in terms of maturity. He knows what he wants to do.

"He's a very goal-oriented kid. He can tell you anything you want to know about the pole vault and track and field in general.

"He's just a very focused kid, and in this day and age that's hard to come by."

Santa said he'd compete in a couple of post-state meets, regionally and across the state, to improve his vault mark.

"There's a tri-state meet and a bunch of other stuff over the summer that I have to decide if I'm going to compete in," Santa said.

"They'll be a lot of competition. There's a meet in Grand Haven and a bunch of other stuff.

"I have the ability to do 15-6 or better if I have a chance to work on it and break out. That would kind of make up for not having the exact season that I wanted."

Contact PERRY A. FARRELL at 313-222-2555 or pafarrell@freepress.com.