Burroughs High’s Matt Schwartz sets different standard

Burbank, California –Fifteen feet, nine inches.It’s the statistic most closely associated with Burroughs High senior Matt Schwartz.The Indians pole vaulter advanced to the final day of the 96th annual CIF State Track and Field Finals in Clovis in early June because he hit a distance of 15-9.Schwartz set a new personal record and broke a month-and-a-half long stalemate thanks to 15-9, while simultaneously replacing an unwelcome bout of frustration with a cocktail of relief, unabashed joy and satisfaction.”When I landed on that mat, it was crazy,” Schwartz said of the moment right after he cleared the bar at 15-9 at Buchanan High. “Everything disappeared and I didn’t remember any of my faults, just making it. It was amazing and I went a little nuts because I couldn’t believe it.”While such an accomplishment may be enough alone to merit Schwartz selection as the 2014 All-Area Boys’ Track and Field Athlete of the Year as selected by the sportswriters of the Burbank Leader, Glendale News-Press and La Cañada Valley Sun, there’s so much more to the UC Berkeley-bound senior than just 15-9.  more