Vidor's Parker vaults 16 feet at Cardinal Relays

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Vidor's Parker vaults 16 feet at Cardinal Relays

Tom Halliburton

The Orange Leader

BRIDGE CITY — Jared Parker may have a future in his track and field passion called pole vaulting. To believe it has consumed his interest is an understatement.

The Vidor junior finished third in Class 4A at last May’s state UIL championships. He cleared 15-0 last year as a sophomore. Then Friday at the 35th Bridge City Cardinal Relays, the 17-year-old Parker literally broke the screw on the right standard after he went over the crossbar at a meet-record height of 16-0.

Plenty of great pole vaulters have competed at this meet over the past three decades, but Parker picked a perfect mid-afternoon with a south tailwind and a worthy competitor, Hamshire-Fannett’s Curtis Gaspard.

Before the sun faded west, this turned into a most entertaining exhibition of high school boys pole vault competition. Each cleared 13-6 on his second try, but Gaspard missed three attempts at 14-0 while Parker easily over 14-0 on his first try.

“You just need a stick,†Parker said, genuinely seeking to encourage his Hamshire-Fannett challenger. “Go with your bigger one.â€

It may have seemed as if Parker gambled by attempting 13-6 for his OPENING height, especially after Jared knocked over the bar on his first try. Yet he surpassed 13-6 by more than a foot on the second try.

So when Parker easily made 14-0 on the first attempt, he wisely would ask BC coach and pole vault official Terry Meyer to raise the bar from 14-0 up to 15-6. Parker cleared that new personal-best with a good six inches to spare on the first rundown.

Conducting a four-hour competition, Meyer was then requested to hike up the bar to 16-0. The bar wobbled a bit on Jared’s first rundown. It looked as if Jared might have ascended into the air a bit too early in order to get all of his body over the bar. But the bar stayed in place. It was moments later that the screw was broke as officials would attempt to raise the bar to 16-3.

“Usually we don’t have any people getting 16 (feet),†Meyer said.

The accident of breaking a screw on the pole vault standard required a little extra time before Parker attempt his first of three unsuccessful rundowns at 16-3. His adrenaline had escaped him by then. But Parker’s 16-0 on the first try surpassed the previous meet record of 15-6.

“No doubt I had my adrenaline flowing at 15-6,†Parker confessed. “When you sit around, your nerves kinda get away from you. You crash.â€

When Parker crashed, the Vidor junior vaulted higher than any Golden Triangle athlete in the last five seasons.

Parker was one of three athletes to establish a Golden Triangle-area best in a boys division event at Bridge City's meet.

Standout Deweyville distance runner Joe Dooley became the area's first 2008 runner to dip under the two-minute clocking with a 1:59.39 in the 800-meter run. The area's fastest 200-meter dash was recorded by West Orange-Stark's Seth Thomas who covered the distance in a hand-held time of 22.12. Because the honor roll, district, regional and state times are listed electronically, the official time for Thomas will be labeled a 22.37.

Hamshire-Fannett's girls exactly doubled second-place Orangefield 218-109 for the girls team title while WO-S edged host Bridge City 157-124 in the boys division.

[hurdleguy]

i have the video of him jumping