Alex Vagle
Stillwater Area High School
Personal Records:
400 relay split - 54
5K (xc) - 17:06.60
Pole Vault - 13-4
MSHSL State Meet Participation:
2017 15th Place Pole Vault
Where were you born? What were your first sports?
I was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. I currently live in Oak Park Heights, which is a suburb of Stillwater. My first sport was basketball which I started playing in kindergarten with my dad, and I also started playing baseball and t-ball around the same time. In second grade I started playing flag football. I played football until 9th grade when I sustained an injury. I was a starter at tight end for the ninth grade team at that time. I started track & field in seventh grade as a hurdler and 400 meter dash sprinter. I began cross country in my sophomore year.
What sports do you play now?
I will probably have four letters in track & field and two in cross country when I graduate. My varsity events in track have been the pole vault, and 4x400 relay. I ran two varsity races in cross country this year and last year I lettered due to the fact I ran under 17:30.
Why did you begin pole vaulting?
One of my best friends convinced me it would be fun. I fell in love with it right away.
What were your marks year by year?
Freshman year I made 8 feet, sophomore 11 feet, junior year I made 13'4," and this year I have made 13 feet so far. Currently I have an injury to my MPFL on my knee joint.
MPFL stands for Medial Patellofemoral Ligaments and it helps keep the kneecap centered along the front of the knee so that it tracks well during knee movements.
I am seeing a physical therapist who gives me exercises and from there it is getting comfortable running again. I use the stationary bicycle, take ibuprofen, and ice daily. I was hoping to be back for Sections and qualify for the State Meet this year, but I unfortunately had to miss out.
Who are your toughest competitors from other teams?
Calvin Ciganik and Mike Louderback of Mounds View and Alec Wittman of East Ridge.
Who are teammates who help you?
Eric Norton, 300 hurdles/high jump; Tyler Cullen runs the 200, pole vault, long jump, and triple jump; Will Seck in the 400, 800, and 1600; and James Franke who does hurdles and high jump.
What do you do besides sports?
I am pretty busy with sports but I do have a 3.4 GPA and I have had three jobs in the past including the one I work now as a dishwasher at The Dock Café.
Do you have any plans for college?
Yes, I plan to walk on at Minnesota State University at Mankato and be a pole vaulter there. My major will be Business and specifically for sales.
What does your team do for fun?
For big meets we like to have pasta feeds and play Ultimate Frisbee afterwards.
What do your coaches do for you?
Ben Straka, my pole vault coach, has been with me my entire high school career. He knows me well and pushes me to go higher all the time. Scott Christensen, who I also had in cross country always tells me that the work you put in will show in the results. He used to be the pole vault coach at Stillwater, so it helps to have him there for us.
Who is in your cheering section?
I would include my parents Andy and Amy Vagle; grandmother Jean Vagle; younger sister Nicole Vagle, who is in the hurdles, high jump, and 400 meter dash; and two identical twin brothers who are distance runners for Stillwater Middle School.
Technical Tips for the pole vault from Stillwater jumps and hurdles coach Ben Straka:
(Straka ran cross country and track & field for head coach Scott Christensen. He was a 54 second 400 meter runner for the Ponies. Christensen recruited Straka as a coach and told him of an online course where he could become nationally certified. Straka is now in his seventh year coaching for Stillwater. He had one kid, Connor O'Neil who went 15'2." O'Neil is now at the University of St. Thomas.)
To recruit you want to look for people who are willing to go upside down such as gymnasts. We do not have many male gymnasts around, so you look for kids who like to wakeboard, go on trampolines, or guys that have kind of a wild side to them. They must have some body control.
The first thing we teach them is pole safety. First and foremost is you do not let go of the pole until you are in a safe position to let go of the pole. Gravity takes over if you let go of the pole to early and you do not want that to happen. They learn how to save themselves once they are on the pole. There is always some risk in pole vaulting.
Once we get through that we teach them how to hold the pole, how to go through the progression of vaulting. Right-handed pole vaulters will take off on their left foot. We have two left-handed vaulters and it totally looks weird because they have to do it the opposite way taking off on their right foot.
Next we teach them three-step grass-vaults. They use a modified height for their grip which is basically one or two hand holds above where their height is. Then they take three steps with the pole and try to go over it. So that pole has a hypotenuse of maybe two feet in front of them. This creates a little bit of distance for them to be able to feel for what it's like for them to plant the pole. This gives them the chance to work on driving the knee to get high on the pole.
This then takes us to the runway where we work on doing the same thing but now working with the box. We generally start two feet away from the box to begin with, and we might work on that distance for a week or more. Even older jumpers might start out with one-step drills to start the season.
In Minnesota it's hard to find a place to practice but what you can do is try to find an area where you can work on these one-step drills and move to two-step drills. You can also work on their approaches and experiment with longer approaches and higher hand holds.