After another stellar all-around performance, the Hopkins men’s track team looks prepared heading into the Centennial Conference playoffs this weekend. Last weekend, the Jays traveled to Haverford, Pa. to take on several rival schools in the Keogh Invitational, the last meet to train and qualify for conferences. While the day was filled with several memorable moments of play, the record-shattering performance from freshman Andrew Bartnett stood out. Bartnett was spectacular as he broke his previous pole vault record of 4.65 meters with a jump of 4.70 meters to not only finish first overall in the event, but also to top the previous Hopkins freshman record. As a result of his achievement, Bartnett was named the Centennial Conference Field Athlete of the Week. Bartnett was the third Jay to receive this honor during the season. For his recent success and his record-breaking performance at the Keogh Invitational, Bartnett was awarded the honor of Athlete of the Week by The News-Letter. We were able to catch up with the freshman star and ask him a few questions about the Conference playoffs, his personal goals, and the goals of the team moving forward.
The News-Letter: What training program do you follow to prepare for the pole vault event?
Andrew Bartnett: Preparing for pole vault involves a lot of sprint training and a lot of strength training, but the main way to get better at the vault is to vault. It is such a technique-intensive sport that a lot of time and effort has to be put into getting all of your body angles right so that you get thrown as high as possible.
N-L: Having broken the freshman pole vault record twice in one season, what is the next thing you want to achieve this season?
AB: My goal for this season is twofold. First, it is to break the overall school record of 16 feet. The second, building off of the first, would be to accomplish qualifying for the national meet in Nebraska later this season.
N-L: You were recently honored as Centennial Conference Field Athlete of the Week. What does this accomplishment mean to you?
AB: I was really excited to be named Athlete of the Week, but I have to keep reminding myself that the real goal has not yet been reached, and while this honor is really cool I still have a lot of work to do before I get to where I want to be.
N-L: What is your greatest source of motivation for performing well at every single meet?
AB: My biggest source of motivation at meets is the awesome feeling that I get when I clear a high height. Pole vault can be a very frustrating sport. You can shoot for a height in meet after meet and still be defeated, but when you finally clear that height that you have been working for, you get that feeling so strongly. You immediately want to feel it again and again and again.
N-L: The team has had a very successful start to the season. What do you believe will be the key factors in continuing this success heading into the conference playoffs?
AB: We have so many high performers on the team that have helped lead us to the great place where we are now. All we need is for everyone to do what they have been doing all season. The key component to our success has been working harder every day to get better and showing off all that work by setting new personal records in competition. However with every sport, your body starts to deteriorate towards the end of the season so staying injury-free is also a big factor.
N-L: What are your personal goals heading into conferences? What are the overall team goals?
AB: My personal goal at conferences is to jump 15 feet, 9 inches, which will most likely qualify me for nationals where I can jump my goal of 16 feet. Our team goal is to win conferences so that we can be one step closer towards achieving the Triple Crown: winning conferences in cross country, indoors track, and outdoor track.
Bartnett will look to pursue all of his goals this weekend when the mighty Jays travel back to Haverford College to compete in the Centennial Conference championships. The playoffs are set to start on March 1st in the afternoon. The Jays will look to be repeat champions in the conference after capturing the conference title last season by defeating Haverford by a small margin of five points.
With all of their focus directed towards conferences, we wish the Jays the best of luck this upcoming weekend in the hope that they can bring home another conference championship.
