‘Underdog’ Luke Martinez had ‘hope, lots of hope’ in bid to bring home PIAA gold
The top-ranked competitors in the PIAA Class 2A pole vault didn’t pay much mind to Luke Martinez coming into the state championships.
Martinez was seeded 13th after winning the District 3 championship at 13-0. A year ago he finished 14th at the PIAA Championships, topping out at 12-3.
“Nobody knew who he was,” said his coach, Dan Shuman.
They found out soon enough. When Martinez cleared 14-6 on his first attempt at that height Saturday a buzz began around the pole vault pit. When he hit 15-0 he opened some eyes. People began paying attention.
“People were coming up to me saying: ‘Seriously, 14-3 is his best ever?’ ” Shuman said.
Officially it was, but what few knew is that Martinez changed his run-up this week, went to a longer approach and cleared 15 feet on his final attempt at practice Wednesday.
That filled him with confidence.
“That helped me get a little faster, a little more speed into my jump,” the senior said of his longer run-up. “It’s a little risky (changing it the week of the state meet), but I knew I jump better from a seven cycle. So, I just went back and ripped it.”
Martinez stunned the field when he cleared 15-6 on his first attempt at that height, a vault that was as good as gold for the Schuylkill Valley senior.
“I’m thrilled,” Martinez said after becoming a state champion. “I did not expect this to happen.”
Seneca’s Reed Yost, Danville’s Gavin Holcombe, and Richland’s Logan Gossard each cleared 15-0 but missed on three attempts at 15-6, making Martinez Schuylkill Valley’s second pole vault champ in six years. Joe Jardine set the PIAA Class 2A record at 16-3 in 2018.
Yost and Holcombe each came into the meet after hitting 14-6 last week; Gossard hit 14-0.
Martinez’s PR had been 14-3, in a dual meet in mid-April. He won the Stephan, Firing and District 3 Meets but had never cleared more than 13-6 in a major competition. He topped that by two feet Saturday at Shippensburg’s Seth Grove Stadium.
“I was mad from last week at only getting 13-0,” Martinez said. “All week I worked my butt off. I had a feeling I was gonna get something good this week.”
Martinez competed in the triple jump earlier in the day. During the season he also competed in the long jump. He’s had success in each of his events. He won the county championship in the triple and finished second at districts with a personal-best 43-5. He was second at the Firing Meet and third at districts in the long jump.
Competing in so many events comes at a cost, both physically and in training time. There are only so many hours available at practice. Because of that, Shuman said, Martinez hasn’t always been able to spend as much time working on the pole vault.
“He was beat up all season doing long jump and triple jump,” Shuman said. “We’ve been conservative with him (practicing the pole vault), hoping that when it really mattered he would peak. He certainly peaked. Going easy on him (at practice) was definitely was the right strategy.”
Martinez enjoyed coming into the state meet as an underdog. That fueled him and played to his advantage. It helped, too, that he hit 15-0 in practice; he had never done better than 14-0.
“I was pretty excited for this weekend,” he said. “I don’t know, I just had hope, lots of hope.”
Martinez’s performance was extraordinary for a number of reasons, including the fact that he missed just once before going for 16-4 and the state record after he had the gold medal wrapped up. He came in at 13-6 (he usually starts a foot lower) and hit that, 14-0, and 14-6 on his first attempt; he made 15-0 on his second attempt.
Shuman said that kind of consistency is “very rare.”
When Martinez hit 15-6 on his first attempt he put pressure on the other competitors; none could match him.
“I was hyped up,” he said of his meet-winner. “It was my first attempt. I did not expect to clear it, but I just pulled up to it as high as I could and I got over it. It was just crazy. I had a feeling I could clear it, but I didn’t think I’d clear it first try.”
Before Saturday Martinez was planning to pursue a career as a welder. Now? His winning mark will certainly catch the eye of college coaches.
“Fifteen-six, that’s no joke,” Shuman said. “He can compete with the big boys, for sure.”
