Amanda “Jackie” Barnes Reaching New Heights

“Jackie Barnes is an explosive bundle of red-headed joy to coach, smart, athletic, and aggressive on the runway; always pushing her personal boundaries.”
– Coach Gibbes McDowell

The absolute epitome of effervescence and enthusiasm, Amanda “Jackie” Barnes is going places. In March of this year, in just her second year of participating in the sport, Jackie became the nation’s top female high school sophomore pole vaulter at the 50th Annual Bob Hayes Invitational in Jacksonville, FL. Breaking a seven year old meet record, she reached a winning height of 12 feet, 9 inches!
In a way, Jackie followed predecessor Maddie Aune’s footsteps into the sport at Beaufort High. Jackie’s mom knew Maddie and tried to interest Jackie in pole vaulting, but Jackie was a gymnast and preferred to stick to her sport. Maddie had also started out in gymnastics at a young age, but she got hurt and segued into pole vaulting. Sure enough in her freshman year at age 14, as Jackie says, “I got hurt in gymnastics and that’s when I realized I needed to explore another sport. My aunt knew Coach Gibbes (McDowell) and reminded me again about pole vaulting. I met Coach (Herbert) Glaze who was very enthusiastic and introduced me to Coach Gibbes. Coach Gibbes got me started and then sent me to Rusty Shealy.” Coach Shealy is a nationally prominent pole vault coach who has coached champions at all levels of pole vaulting, from middle and high school students to international competitors.  It’s a small world of competitors in this sport and so the girls had the same coaches and similar schedules. Whereas in her junior year, Maddie won the 2012 State Championship with a vault of 12 feet 6 inches; Jackie beat her Beaufort High School record. No matter what the fraternity is among competitors, the kinship, the friendships, the shared understanding, the athletes are there, after all, to compete and win.
About her, Coach Rusty Shealy says, “This is a time in Jackie’s life that is creating wonderful memories and lifetime friendships through pole vaulting. It is such a technical event that is developed in steps. This process is helping to shape her for life after pole vaulting, showing her that she can accomplish anything she wants in life by taking the steps necessary. She is doing it now, literally, inch by inch. From day one, Jackie has been great to coach. She is very athletic, and very intuitive. It is rare for a pole vaulter to be able to make adjustments mid-flight, when most everyone else would give up on a jump.”
The stakes are high, and Jackie’s dreams are lofty. First she is hoping for a college scholarships. With a thoughtful look accompanied by a burst of laughter, she explains that she can’t be recruited until this fall when she is a junior but she has had the opportunity to meet many of the college coaches at meets and competitions. “The first one I talked to was at at East Tennessee and I thought – wow, I’ll go to East Tennessee and vault. Then I met the coach from Wake Forest and I thought – that’s the place for me, I’ll go to Wake Forest; then it was VA Tech and that’s where I thought I’d go until I heard from UCLA and Oklahoma and I changed my mind again. I can’t even imagine what it will be like when they can actually recruit me! Coach Glaze is very helpful, he talks to me about college and scholarships as well as my goals in sports and life.”
Beyond that, at the top of her dream list, are the 2020 Olympics. Statistics on athletes who aspire to participating in the Olympics must be staggering. The dedication, training, focus, and pressure is only really comprehensible to those who are involved. It is so easy to watch any sports competition and cheer for your favorite, bet on who wins, and enjoy the sport, without having one iota of knowledge of what it takes to get there.
Jackie competes at school, in state, regions, and national tournaments, as well as the Junior Olympics. In addition, she works out at least 3 days per week with her strength and conditioning Coach Daniel Mickel; she emphasizes that working with him has taken her to the next level as an athlete. As a result, she has thirteen medals, two trophies, a state championship and a letter of congratulations from Mark Sanford on impressive United States House of Representative stationary.
This July, Jackie went to Houston, Texas for the 2014 USATF National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships where she competed in the 15 – 16 year old age group. This was a big event with over 10,000 athletes expected to attend. Jackie finished 3rd earning herself a bronze medal and prestigious status. The whole Barnes family accompanied her – Jackie’s mom, Mandy, dad Ben, and brother Ben.  A highlight of their summer will be a two week road trip back across the country with a stop at the Cascade Caverns and whatever other adventures may present themselves.
For those who are not familiar with the particulars of the sport, this is a painstakingly simple overview. Historically, poles were used to pass over natural obstacles such as drains and canals in the marshy areas of the Netherlands and parts of the east coast of England. To get across these areas without getting wet or taking the long way around, jumping poles were kept at every house. One of the earliest pole vaulting competitions took place in 1843, and became an Olympic sport for men in 1896 and only as recently as 2000 for women.
The pole vaulter sprints down a runway carrying an upright pole, as the vaulter approaches the landing pit, the pole is lowered and the tip is planted in a box, the vaulter jumps off of one leg while bending the other knee forward, the pole bends, the vaulter goes up and forward and swings herself up, turns over, and sails over the bar at the top, then turns back toward the pole to release it so that neither it, nor she, hits the bar, then she falls and hopes to land in the middle of the foam mats, face up. Jackie says that “Coach Gibbes’ explanation of pole vaulting is ‘Transferring horizontal speed into vertical height.’”
If that sounds easy, it isn’t. Additionally it is expensive; there is equipment, Jackie rents eight poles. Entry fees and travel and accommodation costs are also associated with tournaments. Jackie trains three times a week, and admits to having gotten a little burned out this spring, but she bounced quickly back, “I was in a slump but I was determined to win the State tournament – I wanted to be #1 by a lot!”
What was it like, that first time of going up and over a bar placed high off the ground? “It was different – I got to fly and everyone thought that was so cool!”
A typical teenager in every way, on the day of the school prom, Jackie competed and won the state championship, then rushed home to get ready for the prom. She enjoyed getting photographed for this article on the track while wearing her prom dress and carrying her pole. Jackie thinks about the future and what she might like to do eventually, “ I like the health field, both my parents have been in that field, but it requires math and science. I like math when I get it, and not so much when I don’t. I’m worried about taking chemistry next year.”
Jackie is a girl on a mission: to compete, to succeed, to set new goals, and conquer higher bars. With her totally engaging personality, easy humor, and gritty determination, she is sure to succeed. Gibbes McDowell sums it up perfectly, “She’s a great kid, with a great support system – her parents coaching and driving to vault camps twice each week; Coach Glaze, Coach Mickel, Coach Shealy, and yours truly. Hers is the success story many kids should emulate: set high personal goals and refuse to settle for less!”

Story by  MARY ELLEN THOMPSON

Photography by PAUL NURNBERG