In an era when no man, woman or child ventures a few feet off the ground on skis or wheeled objects without a helmet, pole vaulters scale far greater heights with the breeze in their hair.
At first glace, it’s an event for adrenaline junkies. Raw intelligence need not apply. Then consider the two best pole vaulters in the state are Air Force’s Nick Frawley and AFA-bound Smoky Hill state champion Chase Cooper.
No one gets into the academy without some serious smarts, much less survives three years, as Frawley has done. By the way, the best vaulter in the country, Rice’s Jason Colwick, is an engineering major.
“He’s head and shoulders over everyone. He’s a freak athlete,” Frawley said of Colwick, a steady 18-footer. But watch out when Cooper moves an hour southwest. “I cannot wait to have him here,” said the future AFA mentor. “Being able to train together will fire up both of us.”
Frawley, the NCAA outdoor runner-up a year ago, has an 18-1 indoor best and hopes to crack that mark at the NCAA outdoor meet this week or in late June at the U.S. championships.
Like Cooper, Frawley was a nationally ranked 17-foot vaulter in high school, in Texas. Although he took recruiting trips locally and to some Atlantic Coast Conference schools, there was only one place he wanted to go.
“I think I wanted to fly since I was 10 years old. I told my dad I was going to Air Force when I was 12,” Frawley said.
Frawley leads a contingent of 10 Division I men’s qualifiers from the state to the NCAA meet in Arkansas.
In a class by herself is University of Colorado Olympian and two-time NCAA steeplechase champion Jenny Barringer. Although she set an NCAA 1,500 meters record Sunday in the Prefontaine Classic in 3 minutes, 59.90 seconds, Barringer will concentrate on the steeplechase, in which she leads the current world rankings.
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
D-I outdoor track & field championships
Wednesday through Saturday At John McDonnell Field, Fayetteville, Ark.
AREA WOMEN
Air Force: Sara Neubauer, shot put and discus
Colorado: Jenny Barringer, steeplechase; Emma Coburn, steeplechase
Colorado State: Missy Faubus, shot put
Northern Colorado: Rachael Stevens, high jump
AREA MEN
Air Force: Kellen Curry, 110-meter hurdles; Daniel Castle, 1,500; Nick Frawley, pole vault; Sean Houseworth, 10,000
Colorado: Jordan Kyle, 10,000; Matt Tebo, 5,000; Christian Thompson, steeplechase; Brandin Williams, javelin
Colorado State: Wil Buchanan, 1,500; Alex Godell, hammer throw
