By AL LESAR

South Bend Tribune

 

There's no better feeling than that special vault. Eighteen feet, 10 inches.

"You know it's high when you have time to celebrate on the way down," Mark Hollis said. "Eighteen-10. That's a great ride."

It's a ride that validates the obstacles along the runway.

Juggling coaching jobs at Elkhart Memorial High and as a volunteer at Notre Dame. Shoveling cow manure at a farm near Goshen for a couple weeks. Loading freight in the dead of winter at South Bend Regional Airport.

Hollis, 25, is a transplant who now calls Michiana home. Raised in Freeport, Ill. College at Olivet Nazarene, an NAIA school near Chicago. Two outdoor NAIA national pole vault titles. One runner-up. Degree in sports management.

"In high school, I was fast but I was short," Hollis said. "Height helps in the pole vault."

Between high school and his senior year in college, Hollis sprouted from 5-foot-8, 140 pounds, to his present 6-2, 185. With the physical growth, came a work ethic and drive to be the best in the world.

The difference between good and great is commitment.

"I got hungry for knowledge," Hollis said. "I became a student of the sport."

The student was on the cusp of being a master in 2008. With the Olympics looming, a vault of 18-10 in an open meet before the U.S. Olympic Trials put the spotlight on Hollis. Suddenly, he was a leading contender for one of four spots on the U.S. team.

That's pressure. That's when inexperience is exposed.

At the Trials, he made 17-9, but missed three times at 18-0. What made the situation worse, he saw that 18-10 would have earned a bronze medal in the Olympic Games.

"I learned that you don't have to be the best — you only have to be the best on that day," Hollis said. "It's about who can make the best of the conditions and the competition. The guys who are inconsistent are going to struggle. We're all competing against gravity."

In this case, gravity won. Hollis finished fifth, the first alternate for the U.S. team. The difference between fourth and fifth is huge.

"The guy who finished ahead of me is getting financial help," Hollis said.

Instead, he's shoveling out cow stalls.

No complaints, though. He and his bride of nine months Amanda, a substitute teacher in Elkhart, do what they have to do. Hollis trains at least three hours a day. He coaches. He makes a difference. He gives back to the sport.

"The high school and junior high athletes who start to pole vault are usually good athletes who aren't attracted to any traditional track event," Hollis said. "It helps to be a little crazy."

Hollis, in his second year at Memorial, refuses to take any credit for Peter Roach's state finals third-place finish (15-6) in the pole vault last year. Roach is now competing at Cornell.

The pole vault continues to grow in popularity at the high school level.

"At the start of the season, we almost had too many wanting to do it," he said.

Hollis, who is working with six boys and six girls at Memorial, recognizes bad situations and has managed to avoid disasters — for himself and the athletes he coaches.

"I've had four poles break, that can be scary," he said.

Other than the normal by-products of the event — pain in the back, legs and Achilles — a broken toe has been his worst injury.

Coaching's a focus, but there's still 2012 and '16. The Olympic dream still burns.

"It can be a tough life, there are lots of bills to be paid," Hollis said.

Lots of cow stalls to clean. Tons of freight to unload.

But the split-second euphoria of clearing 18-10 — and the dream of more — makes it all worthwhile.

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