The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

CARIFTA record breaker Brenden Vanderpool added another accolade to his collection when he was selected as the 2023 Male Field Event Athlete of the Year for the Georgia, Atlanta Track Club.

The award was presented to Vanderpool on Wednesday, June 7. He was one of four athletes who received awards as the Male and Female Track and Field Athletes of the Year.

“It’s kind of a surreal experience for the fact that I’m kind of being recognised, not just for the pole vault,” Vanderpool said. “This is my first time that I have been compared to the outstanding athletes in all of the events and I was declared the winner.”

Just before he was announced as the winner, a video was played featuring Sam Kendricks, the highly acclaimed American pole vaulter, declaring the female field champion.

Vanderpool said when he saw the video with Kendricks, he knew he had won the male field award.

“I was kind of taken aback. I wasn’t expecting it,” Vanderpool said. “It’s funny because I did see him at a local Atlanta meet where he was competing.

“I didn’t meet him because I had to compete. But when he made the announcement, he said he saw me competing in the meet and he was impressed with my performance.”

Vanderpool was also named to the 2023 All-Metro Track and Field team. The All-Metro team is selected based on scholastic performances in the Metro Atlanta area. Athletes are selected to represent each discipline based on their season best, head-to-head competition, and state performances.

“This has certainly been a great year for me,” Vanderpool stated.

“I’ve surpassed all of the expectations that I wanted to do and what I was able to do this year.

“Last year, my outdoors was really bad. I didn’t like it at all. I jumped just about one inch better than my personal best, so this year was like a redemption for me.”

Vanderpool, 17, repeated as the champion of the under-20 boys pole vault at the CARIFTA Games held during the Easter holiday weekend at the Thomas A. Robinson National stadium.

He soared 16-feet, 7 1/4-inches or 5.06 metres to shatter the games’ record of 16-6 3/4 (5.05m) set by Baptiste Thiery of Martinique in 2018.

His 57-year-old father, Brent Vanderpool, a former Carifta gold medalist in the same event, said he was thrilled to see the progress that his son has accomplished.

Prior to coming home for the games, Vanderpool broke his father’s national pole vault record of 16-0 ½-inches that he established in 1987 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

“I think everything he’s getting is well deserved,” said Brent Vanderpool. “He had some stiff competitors in the competition, but I’m proud to see that he was able to outshine them all. It’s just a great feeling. Well deserved.”

Over the weekend, Vanderpool competed in his latest meet where he captured another first place with a leap of 15-9. He will now compete in the Adidas Nationals next weekend in North Carolina.

Vanderpool, who is completing his senior year at Whitefield Academy, will enrol at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama in August where the head coach is a pole vaulter who has ensured him that he will be able to improve on his performances.