Vaulting higher
MERIDIAN — Adam Marzullo has lofty goals, and he's taking a big step toward achieving them.
The 17-year-old Meridian resident, who will be a senior at Butler High, is headed to the Junior Olympics National Track and Field Championship in Greensboro, N.C. later this month to compete in the pole vault event.
Marzullo has been vaulting since his seventh-grade year.
"I remember a few years ago, I'd watch the really good pole vaulters at meets, thinking, 'They have really good technique,'" he said. "Now I have it, too. My technique has really improved. I like the challenge of the event."
"Pole vault is such a technical event," said Marzullo's coach, Paul Schwab, who has been working with the young vaulter for two seasons.
"It can be a matter of a small part of the technique that makes a big difference. And, with Adam, he even has an apparatus set up in his backyard that he practices on," he added.
Marzullo is an independent athlete, meaning he is not attached to a track and field club during the summer, though he does practice with the Butler Stealth.
Marzullo began competing in Junior Olympic events as a freshman.
"I just wanted to experience it, see what the competition was like out there," he said.
To earn a spot at nationals, Marzullo placed first with an effort of 11 feet, 6 inches at the Three Rivers Association Championships at California (Pa.) University in May, then was third at the Region II meet in Jamestown, N.Y., last weekend with a height of 12-6.
His career best is 13-6, set in April at the Butler Invitational, where he finished second.
"My goal at nationals is to get between 14-6 and 15 feet," Marzullo said.
This will not be Marzullo's first trip to nationals. He went to the 2007 event in Los Angeles, where he placed 19th in the intermediate division (15-16 year olds) with a height of 10-10.
"I really do think that experience will help me this time, just knowing some of the competition that will be there," he said.
"I expected to make it this far this summer. I knew I was capable of it."
But Marzullo's goals reach beyond his next meet.
While he wants to pole vault in college, he also has some unfinished business to take care of next spring.
"I want to get 15-6, which would break Butler's school record," he said. "Jared Farabee (15-5 in 1998) has it right now."
The national championship meet will be held July 28 through Aug. 2.
