by Jason Creasy, MileSplitNC

Jan. 11, 2017

This season is the second year that competitions at Pole Vault Carolina (located in Durham, North Carolina) can qualify you for the NCHSAA State Championships, and many vaulters in North Carolina are taking advantage of that, and the excellent training facilities that Pole Vault Carolina has to offer.

Aside from offering many Pole Vault meets throughout the season, Coach Jose San Miguel offers training clinics ranging from beginner’s clinics, to major clinics that are lead by Olympic coaches such as Jim Bemiller and recent Olympic Bronze Medalist coach, Scott Kendricks! They regularly offer 5 training sessions per week with the following schedule below:

Beginner’s Clinic (most) Sundays at 1:00PM
Sundays 3:00 PM open session
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday open session at 5:00PM
Pole Vault Carolina guarantees results. If an athlete attends practice 3 times a week for 60 days and does not improve at least a foot, they will receive a month of coaching free!
More information on these can be found on their website, www.polevaultcarolina.com.

Last season Coach Jose coached 8 athletes to the indoor state championship, 30 athletes to outdoor regionals, and 17 to the outdoor state championships. Also, during the 2016 season, Pole Vault Carolina athletes improved an average of 21.5 inches! During the current season, the results seem similar with many athletes kicking off their indoor season with new PR’s, notably Jacob Hickerson (Chapel Hill Sophomore) who has jumped a state leading 14-0, which is a 28″ PR; Elise Hall (Leesville Road Sophomore) who has jumped 11’1, an 11″ PR; and Skyler Noble (East Chapel Hill Sophomore) who has improved to 11′ this season, with an 17″ PR.

Coach Jose has three children, Jose San Miguel (Cardinal Gibbons, High Point University), Sofia San Miguel (Cardinal Gibbons, App State), and a 10 year old son Antonio San Miguel who all have or currently pole vault. Coach Jose himself pole vaulted for the University of Tennessee and the Puerto Rican National Team.

In addition to coaching, Pole Vault Carolina is a silver level dealer for Gill Athletics and is currently running a promotion for North Carolina High Schools: Buy 2 Poles get 1 free or buy 3 Poles get 2 free. Freight is $99 to NC. More information can be found by emailing Coach Jose at polevaultcarolina@gmail.com and is also posted on our forums here. Pole Vault Carolina also sells used equipment.

Pole Vault Carolina’s next meet is the Pole Vault Carolina I Have A Dream Invitational on January 18th. More information can be found on the Events page of their website.