By Ed Piper
Covering high school sports in my capacity as a sports reporter in the greater San Diego area, I became enamored with UC's Kai Anderson, a pole vaulter, when I did a story on him a year ago.
Well, Kai, at 16 feet-plus, went on to win the state title at the Fresno meet last May.
In somewhat of an upset this year, Anderson, who is built big and strong, not light and lithe like a long-distance runner, placed second in the CIF San Diego Section finals Sat., May 24, at Mt. Carmel High.
The finish had to do with the number of attempts made, and Dylan Yarbrough of San Dieguito Academy won out on that count.
It's all good and legitimate, and that's the way first and second place can be decided.
But at the state meeting this coming weekend, Kai can still repeat as state champ if he makes the grade. The lower finish at the local meet doesn't lock him in to a runner-up spot to Yarbrough at the succeeding meet.
In any case, both athletes are having great seasons.
What's fascinating to me is that Kai Anderson is a former gymnast, who spent eight years of training in that sport. His vault coach at UCHS, Mike Hogan, says that is a key to his success: As he put it, "being upside down" in the air comfortably is a big part of vaulting. And Kai has had that experience and worked well with it.
As Hogan tells it, speed, strength, and the upside-down comfort element combine to make a top vaulter.
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