Michelle Ruiz article (TX)

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.sanangelostandardtimes.com/s ... 35,00.html

Vaulters taking flight
By JEFF WICK, jwick@sastandardtimes.com or 659-8259
April 28, 2006

Michelle Ruiz is a standout volleyball and basketball player for Lake View High School, but those seasons merely serve as a warmup for what she really loves.

''Track is something I look forward to even at the beginning of the school year,'' Ruiz said. ''It's like, 'OK, we're doing volleyball right now, but I can't wait until track.' Then it's like, 'OK, basketball is around, but I've got two weeks until track.'

''Then when track gets here, it goes too fast.''

It's not because she likes to run so much.

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As a track coach at Lake View, Greg Barr doesn't typically get requests for longer workouts from his athletes. They run what they are supposed to, then go home exhausted.

With pole vaulters it's different.

''It's usually hard to run them off,'' Barr said. ''You have to tell them to go home. They always want one more jump, one more jump, one more jump.''

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Pole vaulting is, quite possibly, the most spectacular feat in high school athletics to behold.

With the proper mix of speed, timing, steps and the bend of a carbon composite pole, teenagers can vault themselves higher than the backboard of a basketball goal. Then they twist themselves to get over a little bar and free fall into a soft mat.

According to the kids that do it, it's pretty darn fun, too.

''You're just going through the air and not thinking about anything,'' said Lake View pole vaulter Courtney Douglas. ''It's kind of your free time. ... It's awesome.''

Lake View is pretty ''awesome'' at the pole vault.

Two weeks ago at district, Ruiz won the girls pole vault (with a new district record of 11 feet), and Douglas took second by vaulting 10-6. Meanwhile, Josh Summerlin won the boys event by vaulting 14 feet and broke the school record in the process.

By virtue of their accomplishments at district, all three of those athletes have advanced to today's Region I-4A meet at Angelo State.

Dominating at district is becoming an annual thing for Lake View pole vaulters.

''We've had three straight district championships in the pole vault, so we expect to be successful in that event,'' Lake View boys coach Nat Sawyer said.

The Lake View girls have had similar success in the past several years.

Today's regional pole vault competition is at 1 p.m. for the girls and at 4:30 p.m. for the boys.

For Summerlin, a sophomore, and Douglas, a freshman, it will be their first taste of regional competition. Douglas is going to get a full dose because she's also the anchor leg on two Lake View relays that advanced.

Ruiz, however, is no stranger to regional competition. The past two seasons she has taken third in pole vault at regionals. That's good in the fact that she's got a couple of big bronze medals, but painful considering only the top two finishers advance to state.

''That's my dream, to get in the top two,'' Ruiz said.

Whatever happens today, things are going to be interesting at the pole vault pit.

It has to be interesting with a collection of athletes who are drawn to such a gravity-defying sport.

''Pole vaulters are crazy,'' said Lake View high jumper Tyler Massey as he watched practice on Wednesday. ''It's got to be the most dangerous sport, I think, in high school athletics.''

''They have to be a little crazy to leave the ground with a little mat beneath them,'' Barr said.

''You can't be afraid of heights or afraid of anything to do pole vault,'' Summerlin said.

But injuries are actually rare.

''The only injury I've had is the bar falling on my head,'' Ruiz said. ''That's a tough bar.''

That's a small price to pay to get to fly for a few seconds.

''It's a big rush,'' said Summerlin.

''It's amazing,'' Douglas said.

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2007/fe ... w-heights/

On to new heights

By Erin Bolen (Contact)
Thursday, February 8, 2007


Lake View High School pole vaulter Michelle Ruiz has committed to the Air Force Academy next year. Last year at the Class 4A state track meet, Ruiz finished fifth with a personal-best effort of 11 feet, 6 inches.


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When Michelle Ruiz first pole vaulted, she used an 8-foot closet rod to catapult herself into her family’s backyard pit.

Soon, Ruiz should be using world-class equipment to pole vault as a member of the Air Force Falcons.

The Lake View High School senior verbally committed to the Air Force Academy track team late last week. She still has to complete her application but said she has received her appointment from the academy.

“Colleges just start sending you stuff during your late junior year, and the academy started mailing me more stuff than the other places,â€Â

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www5.gosanangelo.com/news/2007/m ... out-top-3/

Senior edged out of top 3

By Jeff Wick (Contact)
Saturday, May 12, 2007

AUSTIN â€â€