Costa Article

[CLCPV04]

Costa bolting from Cal Fresno State is 'on the list' for high school pole vault national record-holder.(SPORTS)



The Fresno Bee (Fresno, CA); 4/3/2004; Boogaard, Andy

Byline: Andy Boogaard THE FRESNO BEE

Kira Costa, the national high school record-holder in the pole vault, has left Cal's track and field program.

The freshman from Lemoore is completing her spring semester while searching for a new school. And among her considerations is Fresno State, where she competes today unattached in the open invitational pole vault at the Bob Mathias Fresno Relays.

Costa, who won the state high school pole vault title a year ago in her only season at Memorial High, has a long-standing relationship with Bob Fraley, the Bulldogs' track and field coach, a former coach at Lemoore and a nationally recognized pole vault authority.

"I did visit Fresno State a couple weeks ago," she said from her Lemoore home. "They're a great pole vault school, and I've known Coach Fraley my whole life. They're on the list of possibilities."

Costa declined to name others, but did say she wants to study sports marketing at the next school of her choice.

And, while she earned all A's while completing 17 units of general education in her first semester at Cal, she wasn't comfortable with the options of the Pac-10 school's business program.

"Last semester, I worked hard to get good grades to get into business school, but I realized they didn't have anything I wanted to focus on," she said. "I want my major to pertain more to marketing and advertising than straight business.

"Cal just wasn't the place for me."

In regard to walking away from what is believed to be close to a full-ride scholarship at one of the nation's most prestigious institutions, she said: "That's kind of the least of my concerns. You have to put everything into perspective, and sometimes what you think you want and need isn't what you need and want. I know I'll probably be in a similar situation wherever I go."

Golden Bears coach Chris Huffins was unavailable for comment.

Costa set the national high school outdoor record of 13 feet, 8 1/2 inches at June's Golden West Invitational in Sacramento. That occurred one week after she captured the state title with a 13-5 jump at Cerritos College and five months after she established a then-national high school indoor mark of 13-4 1/2 at the Los Angeles Invitational. That record recently was erased by a half-inch.

The recently completed indoor season didn't go well for Costa, whose best was 12-11 1/2. Still, that was near Cal's record of

13-2 1/2 by Maria Lopez in 2001.

"I remind myself this is only my third year of vaulting," Costa said. "My goal is to progress. Sometimes, that doesn't mean [good] marks, but it may mean understanding pole vaulting better."