Kansas vaulter Jordan Scott turned around season with wild h

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Kansas vaulter Jordan Scott turned around season with wild h

Unread postby rainbowgirl28 » Sat May 29, 2010 1:14 am

http://www.statesman.com/sports/kansas- ... 15900.html

Kansas vaulter Jordan Scott turned around season with wild hair
Kirk Bohls, Commentary

Updated: 10:23 p.m. Friday, May 28, 2010
Published: 9:49 p.m. Friday, May 28, 2010
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Not long after the indoor track season ended poorly for him, Jordan Scott got a wild hair.

Literally and very much figuratively.

Trying not to take everything quite so seriously, the University of Kansas pole vaulter took his coach's suggestions to heart and began treating his hairdos as a canvas for his own personal art handiwork — with colored hair dyes, outlandish figures and creative designs.

Vidal Sassoon, eat your follicles out.

The change came in March. After he no-heighted at the NCAA indoor championships, Scott broke down after practice one day and had a heart-to-heart with Kansas vertical jumps coach Tom Hays, one of the foremost authorities in the nation on vaulting.

"I had been trying to do everything perfect for indoors, and I didn't do well," said Scott, who had been so dedicated that he even went cold turkey on Oct. 13, 2009, and ended his Coca-Cola addiction that included consumption of up to 12 cans a day.

"I decided to change everything. I needed to find my fun."

He found it, and now meet-goers can easily find him. At the NCAA West regional meet Friday, he was the one with the Mohawk and light red and blue tinting on the sides.

Scott found his inner José Eber as well en route to an outstanding outdoor season — including a tie for the best jump of the season at the Texas Relays, and routine qualification Friday for the national championships in Eugene, Ore., next month.

He joined two-time outdoor and indoor champion Jason Colwick of Rice, and Scott Roth of Washington, by clearing a pedestrian 17 feet, 41/2 inches to advance.

"He's straight and to the point," Scott said of Colwick. "He takes care of business. He says he gets nervous, but I don't see it."

Colwick can't be too nervous. He passed on every height until jumping and clearing the 17-41/2 mark. He admits the strategy can be kind of dangerous, but he trusts his experience.

So does Scott, who jumped only twice Friday. His best weapon is very obvious.

"Power," Hays said. "Pure horsepower. Plus, he's got a strong mind. He goes through adversity, he doesn't cave in."

While Scott has used his hair to let loose his inhibitions — rather than to draw attention to himself, as many think — Colwick is quite content to keep what little short-cropped hair he still has. If he's not Scott's alter-ego, he's definitely his alter-hairstylist.

"My hair's about to all fall out," said Colwick, a senior from San Marcos. "I don't know how much longer it has. Jordan's crazy (with his hair). I can't wait to see what he grows back and what he cuts off."

The statement Scott makes with his hair hides a commitment that Hays has discovered during the last four years, ever since he spotted Scott, a three-time Georgia high school state champion, in a revealing picture in Track & Field News.

"His shirt had blown up in the photo," said Hays, and "he looked really ripped, really lean and really long."

Scott has been really good since turning down Georgia, South Carolina and Clemson for the peacefulness of the Midwest. He's an honor student looking to go to grad school next spring.

He's won six Big 12 indoor and outdoor pole vault championships but has yet to win in the NCAAs. After finishing ninth and third in the indoor championships, he bottomed out this year, until that hair-altering moment provided a turnaround point in his season.

First, Scott trimmed his hair in a Mohawk design, and turned in a personal-record 18 feet, 3 inches at the season's first outdoor meet in Arkansas.

"My first time with crazy hair, I had two PRs," Scott said, "and everybody said, ‘You've got to keep it.' "

So he did. A different design for every track meet. For the Texas Relays, he enlisted the help of Arkansas pole vaulters and NCAA qualifiers Tina Sutej and Katie Stripling, and came up with a red hair design in a checkerboard pattern. He cleared the Olympic standard that meet, leaping 18-83/4.

The following week, he filled in the empty squares with blue dye. The next, he went with diagonal stripes in the Jayhawks' red and blue. For the KU Relays celebrating breast cancer awareness, his hair was half-red, half-blue, with pink dye in the shape of a ribbon on the back.

"That was everybody's favorite," Scott said.

Coming up with wacky hairstyles was easy enough on weekends. Showing up at class in conservative Lawrence, Kan.? Not so much.

His personal finance professor razzed him and asked for a class vote for the coolest hair in the class. Scott won in a landslide.

Even his parents have grown accustomed to their son's version of his sport's cutting edge.

"At first, they went, ‘Oh, jeez,' " Scott said. "Now they ask me for a picture every week."

They're not the only ones. He's become a crowd favorite and admits he's considering adding some salute to Oregon in his hairstyle for the NCAAs, if he can get it by his head coach. That could be a tougher test than clearing 19 feet, a goal of Scott's.

"We've all got one thing on our minds," Scott said. "It's track all the way."

But that playful side is never far away. After all, he kidded Hays this week that he was toying with a purple and orange color.

And Hays' reaction?

"He just gave me a look," Scott said.

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Re: Kansas vaulter Jordan Scott turned around season with wild h

Unread postby AVC Coach » Sat May 29, 2010 6:48 am

Great story! Good luck to Jordan! :yes:


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