3-time All-American Coover joining long list of Hoosier pole vaulters

Senior pole vaulter Jeff Coover sets the bar high.

Week after week he stares down a clearance mark suspended 18 feet from the ground.

To put this height into perspective, if NBA player Yao Ming were to stand on top of an M1 Abrams tank, he would still be three feet short from the mark Coover was able to clear twice this year.

However, the standards by which Coover is judged goes far beyond a finely measured height.

In addition to being compared to collegiate pole vaulters across the country, Coover is also held to the high standard of over 100 years of IU pole vaulting; an elite group which has created a lineage of nationally recognized athletes.

Statistically, pole vaulting has been one of the most successful events in the history of IU track and field, having produced 22 All-Americans (the most of any single event at IU), 22 Big Ten Champions, three NCAA Champions and two Olympians.

Head coach Ron Helmer believes that although Coover draws much of his motivation internally but knows that the senior from La Jolla, Calif., has a deep appreciation for the past, too.

“During the competition I don’t necessarily think of the tradition that we have,” Coover said. “But, at the same time, getting to wear the IU colors and walk into a meet being one of the best guys in the country is definitely a good feeling – not only for myself, but for furthering what has already been established before me.”

Coover is hesitant to put himself in the select company of those who have come before him, but his coach, Dave Volz  thinks otherwise.

“Jeff has become one of the top vaulters in Indiana history,” Volz said. There have only been a few vaulters who have made the 18-foot mark and he has become the most recent, so he definitely deserves a spot at the top.”

Coover is a Big Ten Champion, three time All-American, Great Lakes Region Field
Athlete of the Year, and last month he was named Big Ten Track Athlete of the week for the sixth time. This feat ties him with Bob Kennedy for the most annual conference honors in IU school history.

Despite all of these accomplishments, Coover does not believe he has reached the heights his predecessors did.

“It’s in my mind when I walk onto a track at like Big Tens or NCAAs, and I try to represent not only our school, but our tradition. (Dave) Volz, (Mark) Buse and(Jimm) Stack. To be somewhere in that list of Indiana vaulters would be pretty amazing.”

Volz has the credentials to place Coover in this elite group, because Volz himself is part of it.

As a pole vaulter at IU, Volz won the 1981 NCAA Championship in his freshman year.
He went on to finish fifth at the 1992 Summer Olympic games in Barcelona after clearing a height of 18 feet 6.5 inches.

Volz said he could see Coover doing similiar things in the future.

Helmer said he believes that the tradition of IU pole vaulting has helped propel Coover to all of these accomplishments throughout his collegiate career.

“What tradition does, is it sets objective standards, compare ourselves to real people and real performances,” Helmer said. “I think that’s the great value in having the tradition in an event like the pole vault, where very real standards are in place and the evaluation of the next person in line is very fair based on the standards set before them. Jeff has matured and grown into an individual who is now living up to those standards. Jeff has a clear understanding of what greatness is and that to be included in that group is important to him.”

Now in his final year of college, Coover says he has no intention of slowing down.

He explained that part of the IU pole vaulting tradition is the accomplishments of the great Hoosiers in their post collegiate career, as well as what they did while at IU.

“Next for me is to make a 100-percent commitment to this event straight out of college,” he said. “The focus is to do what we’ve been doing on a higher level so I can become an elite pole-vaulter.”

Volz, who will continue coaching Coover past college, says that the California native has not reached his full potential.

“Jeff is capable of competing on the open circuit,” Volz said. “He’s at 5.50 [meters] now, but he’s capable of doing better than that. Jeff’s a very hard worker and if he stays dedicated to it, he could vault for years.”