Drake Mall Vault and Relays

Its Monday morning and im busy packing and preparing for a very exciting week in Des Moines Iowa.  As many of you know the mall vault at the Jordan Creek mall in Des Moines is one of if not my favorite place to jump in the world.  3 years ago at the mall I went in with a PB of 5.50m/18' and came out with a new PB of 5.71m/18'8", I ended up finishing 2nd to Derek Miles on misses.   Then 2 years ago I jumped 5.61m/18'4" but ended up winning the competition.  The atmosphere of the mall is really what makes it so awesome, the crowd is within 6 feet of the runway on both sides as well as crowded around the balcony on the 2nd floor looking down on the runway and pit.  Couple that with the loud music and the energy is unlike anywhere else in the world that Ive been.  This year they're doing a team format where every guy will be coupled with a girl with the best combined height crowned the champion.  The main sponsor of the event is Scheels, a huge sporting goods store in the mall, the prize money for the event is a shopping spree at the store which is a lot of fun.  This year is going to be an awesome competition, the guys competing are Derek Miles, Brad Walker, Jeremy Scott, Giovanni Lanaro, and myself.  The ladies are Mary Saxer, Kylie Hutson, April Steiner-Bennett, Lacy Jansen, and Becky Holliday.  The comp is Wednesday at 6:15pm and if your anywhere in driving distance this event is a cant miss.

Then on Saturday we all vault again at the Drake Relays, which as long as the weather permits is also a great place to jump.  Training and practice has been going really well, Im jumping higher on the same poles and the same run so we must be doing something right.  Im really excited about this week and the possibility of jumping really high, another 7 inch PB wouldnt be so bad.

Always Pursuing -Mark-