A Natural at Passing the Bar : Since Outgrowing Gymnastics, Sickler Has Soared in Pole Vault

CAMARILLO — She outgrew gymnastics two years ago, but 5-foot-10 1/2 Heather Sickler of Camarillo High seems to be just the right size for the girls’ pole vault.

The Scorpion junior competed in gymnastics for six years, but she was 5-6 by the time she was 14, still growing and looking for another sport.

“I was getting a little bit tired of [gymnastics] and I started to get taller and that’s not very good if you’re a gymnast, so I quit,” Sickler said. “After I quit, I needed something to do and the [pole vault] looked like fun, so I gave it a try.”

Although she had fun, Sickler did not have immediate success in the vault.

She cleared a modest 7-6 in her sophomore season, but improved to 10 feet last summer while competing in all-comers meets.

She raised her best to 11 feet in March, topped that mark with an 11-6 clearance in the Spartan Relays at Rio Mesa High on April 26 and then exploded to 12-1 1/2 on Saturday to win the Division I title in the Southern Section championships at Cerritos College.

She set a region record and moved to second on the all-time Southern Section list, making her one of the favorites tonight in the Southern Section Masters Meet at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

Yet Camarillo vault coach John Stringer said his protege has only begun to scratch the surface of her immense talent.

“She could be a 13-6 or 14-foot vaulter in high school,” Stringer said. “She just has all the tools to be a great pole vaulter.”

The national record in the girls’ pole vault is 13-1 3/4, set by Melissa Price of Kingsburg, Calif., in 1995. But Stringer says Sickler’s work ethic and athleticism could have her sailing over that height next year.

“She’s got a great work ethic, as good as I’ve ever had in an athlete,” said Stringer, in his 10th season at Camarillo. “She does everything I ask of her in workouts and she has all the physical attributes to be a great pole vaulter.

“She’s tall, she’s very strong for her size, she has a background in gymnastics and she has very good speed for someone who has only been competing in track for two seasons.”

Sickler’s height enables her to plant the pole in the vault box at a greater angle to the ground than shorter vaulters, expending less energy to bend the pole. That enables Sickler to get a higher grip on the pole, leading to greater heights.

Sickler’s gymnastics experience has helped her in two ways. It gave her a superb strength-to-weight ratio and made it easier to adjust to the feeling of flying through the air upside down while holding on to the end of a 14-foot fiberglass pole.

“It helps with your air sense,” said Sickler, who is also a cheerleader at Camarillo. “It helps you to know where you are when you’re upside down. You’re not totally lost when you’re upside down.”

A new pair of spikes also played a big role in her record clearance last week, according to Stringer.

Sickler vaulted in tennis shoes until Saturday because she had been hampered by shin splints. The tennis shoes gave her more support than track spikes, but they couldn’t give her the same traction on the runway.

“The spikes do improve her speed,” Stringer said. “But more importantly, they give her a better grip at the point of takeoff. And when you have that feeling of power coming down the runway, you’re going to do well because you’re confident. If you don’t feel confident, you won’t do well.”

Sickler’s 12-foot-1 1/2 clearance broke the previous region record of 11-9 3/4 set by Hoover sophomore Bridget Pearson earlier this season and was Sickler’s first victory over Pearson. But she was more excited about the height.

“That was just so awesome,” Sickler said. “I couldn’t believe it when I did it. Twelve feet was my goal before the meet, but that was like a real optimistic height. I wasn’t sure I was going to clear that.”

Twelve feet was also her goal for the season, but now that she’s topped that, Sickler is shooting for 13 feet.

That goal may seem farfetched, but it isn’t to the laid-back Sickler or to Stringer, who wouldn’t be stunned to see her clear 14 feet next year.

“I’ve had a few 14-foot [boy] vaulters here in my time,” he said. “And she has all the speed and strength and size that they [did], so she should be able to jump that high.”