Colwick enters record books, national rankings

By Brody Rollins     4/10/08 7:00pm

Sophomore sensation Jason Colwick vaulted from behind the hedges and into the national spotlight this past weekend at the Texas Relays in Austin. Colwick's mark of 18 feet, 2.5 inches in the pole vault not only earned him first place but also broke Rice's oldest men's track and field record. One of Rice's most distinguished athletic alumni, Dave Roberts (Will Rice '73), set the record in 1972 with a vault of 18-0.25. Roberts' height came in the middle of a career during which he became the first vaulter to ever win three straight national championships. When done setting Rice records, Roberts moved on to the world stage and twice broke the world record before winning a U.S. national title. Roberts also won a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.

While Colwick does not have a national championship or an Olympic pedigree quite yet, he currently does have the top ranking in the NCAA.

Colwick set the tone for the competition when he reached the mark of 17-10.5, a personal best, on his first attempt. It was at this height that the competition thinned out and left only one other competitor, Mitch Greeley of Clemson University.

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Once again, Colwick put the pressure on by setting the record on his first attempt. The Owl only had to watch as Greeley failed to match his height on three straight vaults.

"I was pseudo-satisfied with my 17-10.5 jump," Colwick said. "Then, when I made it over the school record, I couldn't believe it."

Although his amazing feat last weekend was one for the record books, this season has seen its share of ups and downs for Colwick. During the indoor season, he was unable to advance in several meets after failing to reach heights that he now passes with ease. It was not until the Last Chance Meet in Arkansas on March 14 that Colwick qualified for the Indoor National Championships.

Colwick said much of his success came from the different drills that helped him correct the errors causing his lackluster indoor performance. The other help, he said, is having another standout vaulter challenging him in practice on a daily basis: Freshman Shea Kearney is the other holder of the indoor record and won the Conference USA Indoor Championship on March 15.

Kearney was unable to vault at this last meet, but the duo will be in action next week at the University of Texas-El Paso Invitational. However, most the team will remain in Houston to compete at the TSU Quadrangular.

Sophomore Philip Adam's seventh-place finish in the decathlon was the other success story from the weekend's races. His 7,157 points put him above the NCAA provisional mark of 6,900 total points.

As of last weekend's meet, five Owls have already achieved some sort of NCAA-qualifying standard just four competitions into the season, which is a higher number than the team recorded all of last season.

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