Printer Friendly Version - Vaulting for Victory – or at least a Padded Pit

Senior Will Featherstone, freshman Luke Sumby, and senior Nick Sumby (whose senior project was to raise the funds to buy a vault pit mat, build a mat pit, and make a vaulters' runway) display the town's new pole vault pit. All helped with the fundraising efforts that supported the vault pit project. (Also a vaulter but not pictured is freshman Jocelyn Hanley.)

OLD SAYBROOK - For four years, Nick Sumby, an Old Saybrook High School (OSHS) senior, has competed as a pole vaulter in track and field meets. But his fiercest foe wasn't the competitors-it was the lack of practice time because OSHS had no vault event area.

Thanks to his determination and help from generous donors, Sumby's Senior Project to get a pole vault pit and mat for the high school is a success. The new pole vault runway, vault pit, standards, and vault pit mat will be used competitively for the first time in the annual Invitational at OSHS, a multi-school track meet set for Saturday, May 11.

So why, if the OSHS track has a long jump area and a six-lane track, does the school not have a pole vault runway and vault pit area?

The answer is not clear, but the outcome of the decades-old project to add a track was that no pole vault event area was included in the plans and, as a result, no vault pit mat was purchased, perhaps in part because there was nowhere to store the giant mat.

Track meets still include pole vaulting as one of the standard track events, however, so rather than not compete, the school has still found a way to field a vault squad. The teams find innovative ways to build their skills.

"Practice for us was sometimes running [across] the school gym and jumping up against the wall mats," said Sumby.

The vault squad also about once a month gets a chance to use another high school's vault pit area to try its vault skills in the field. Sumby said this year, he also drove once a week to Norwich to get extra coaching on vault.

After four years competing-and still no home practice space-Sumby had had enough. Since he had to choose a senior project anyway, Sumby decided his would be to garner support and donations to try to install a new vault event area at OSHS and to buy a vault mat in time for use in the May Invitational track meet that OSHS hosts.

School Principal Oliver Barton, track coach Peter Capezzone, and the Board of Education all gave support to Sumby's plan.

"The cost of the vault pit mats, [weatherproof cover,] and standards were $12,000. We also needed a poured concrete pad for the mat and a concrete runway," explained Sumby. "I actually had to go before a lot of people and organizations to get support and donations. Many local businesses either donated to the project or supported fundraisers like the 5K run."

Sumby got permission from the town's selectmen to collect recyclables for three months from the Transfer Station to redeem for cash. A donation of $2,500 came from Advex, the firm that supplied the vault pit mat. He received a $1,000 grant from the Education Foundation and $4,000 from the town's Law Enforcement Fund. The biggest contribution of all came from Sumby's former soccer coach, Bob Dubord, who donated the materials, labor, and equipment to pour the vault pit mat's concrete pad.

With the concrete pad poured and the vault pad arriving in late April, Sumby and his squad were already using it to hone their skills-and all will be ready for the Invitational, just in time and as he planned.