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Before Megan Clark met Tim St. Lawrence, pole vaulting was merely running down a runway and hoping for the best. St. Lawrence helped teach Clark the intricacies and nuances of the vault, and coached her into a state high school champion in New York and Georgia. Student and teacher will meet again on Friday on the runways of Drake University when Clark competes at the U.S. Junior National Track and Field championships, with St. Lawrence perhaps offering a few tips from the sidelines as he coaches a couple of his students. A top-two finish would enable Clark to compete for the United States at the Pan American Junior Championships in August in Colombia. Clark won a state title at O’Neill High School in 2011 while under the tutelage of St. Lawrence at his pole vaulting club in Warwick, the Flying Circus. Clark moved to Georgia right after her junior year, won a state title there and broke the state record. She now jumps for Duke University. “My time at the Flying Circus was probably the most fun that I have had in pole vaulting,” Clark said. “Before I vaulted for coach Saint … I wasn’t serious about pole vault. I knew I was good at it but I didn’t really see a future in it for me. Competing for coach Saint really opened my eyes to it, and just how phenomenal vaulting is because of the community and the spirit of the vaulters and the parents.” Clark made a successful transition to college. She improved her personal bests for the first time since her O’Neill days, bumping up three marks to a career-best 13 feet, 7½ inches at a meet at Virginia, the best mark ever for a freshman at Duke. She qualified for the NCAA East Regionals, but had a disappointing finish there last month. more at Times Herald-Record
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