07.19.07
Would-be Junior Olympian needs pole for competition
Would-be Junior Olympian needs pole for competition
BY EMILEIGH BARNES, Californian staff writer
e-mail: ebarnes@bakersfield.com | Wednesday, Jul 18 2007 9:25 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Jul 18 2007 9:28 PM
Jim Diller, 15, has dedicated his entire summer to the decathlon.
Six days a week, he runs between five and eight miles in the Bakersfield sun and trains on his own at Centennial High School.
When he traveled to Fresno for regional qualifiers in June, the “all-around athlete” placed first in his division.
Now, only days before the National Junior Olympics begin, Jim is facing a different kind of hurdle.
He has no pole to use in the vaulting competition.
Jim, who only competes in track and cross country during the school year, doesn’t own a pole. And regulations prevent schools from lending him one.
All other decathlon equipment is provided to Junior Olympics competitors, but poles are not because they must match an athlete’s weight and height and cost between $200 and $500 each, said Marci Diller, his mother.
The decathlon is a two-day event set to begin on Tuesday in Walnut.. If Jim doesn’t participate in the pole vaulting, he’ll be docked several hundred points, an obvious disadvantage, Marci said.
It’s getting down to the wire,” she said. “He’s gotten this far, and it’s sad if he can’t compete.”
New at parenting a track star, Marci said she only heard about the Junior Olympics when Jim’s coach said in May he had a chance to win.
Jim has looked forward to the competition ever since, even running with a local track club to get in some extra exercise, Marci said.
She added that she has exhausted several venues looking for a pole and even considered making fliers and passing them around the neighborhood.
Although one man said he may have a pole Jim can borrow, Marci said she isn’t counting on it.
Marci has asked that anyone who could lend her son a pole for the competition call her at 205-4348.
