Freshman Gorzkowski sets newest pole vaulting record

Lily Mitchell

On April 25 at Redondo Union High School, freshman Tomek Gorzkowski competed in the Bay
League pole vaulting finals against Redondo Union, setting a new freshman record of 13’1 for
Costa.

According to Gorzkowski, he took up pole vaulting in eighth grade and has continued it ever
since. After working with Costa’s pole vaulting coach over the summer, Gorzkowski now
practices five days a week for about two hours. According to Gorzkowski, he both vaults and
works out during his training sessions as both are crucial for the sport.

“When I first started vaulting, I went to group sessions to practice, and over the summer I
worked a lot with our pole vault coach here,” Gorzkowski said. “Now that I can vault for Costa, I
typically practice Monday through Friday. This usually spans from 2:45 to 4:30 p.m., but on
some days I go until 5 p.m.”

According to Gorzkowski, he tried a lot of sports before discovering his passion for pole vaulting.
However, ever since he started vaulting, it has become the sole sport he focuses on.
“When I was younger, I tried a lot of sports, lacrosse being one I played a lot,” Gorzkowski said.
“However, in eighth grade my parents wanted me to try pole vaulting because I had learned how
to do backflips before. They thought I had good body control in the air and that pole vaulting
would be great for me.”

Costa’s pole vaulting team consists of 10 people; however, people come and go wanting to try
the sport, according to Gorzkowski. After playing the sport for only a short period of time,
Gorzkowski tied the freshman record of 12’7 on March 8 at a Costa meet.

“When I tied the 12’7 record at a Costa meet, we were the last event still going at that meet, and
the sun had already gone down,” Gorzkowski said. “I vaulted over 12’7 with two back lights
shining on the box. At the time, I thought I had broken the record, but when I checked later that
day, I found that I had only tied the record.”

On March 11, Gorzkowski continued to break the 12’8 vault record during an away meet at
Redondo Union, taking the freshman record all to himself. He later surpassed that record on
April 25 during the Bay League finals, also at Redondo Union. Gorzkowski now proudly holds
the latest freshman record of 13’1.

“It means a lot to me that I was able to achieve something that has some sort of longevity,”
Gorzkowski said. “It will be cool to see how long the record will stay up for. My goal this year
was to put it so high that it wouldn’t be broken for a while.”

Although Gorzkowski may be the freshman record holder, he still has more goals to achieve.
With practice and determination, Gorzkowski plans to set more personal records, hoping to vault
over 16 feet sometime in his high school career.

“I would love to vault over 16 feet before I graduate from high school,” Gorzkowski said.
“However, a goal I’ve had for a while is to set every record for each grade. I think I’ll be able to
clear the school record during my junior year, as I will have had a lot more time to work on some
important stuff in my vault.”

According to Gorzkowski, being on the track team has opened doors to many new friendships.
One aspect that he loves about pole vaulting is that most athletes are focused on beating their
own personal records rather than getting wrapped up in trying to beat the other competitors in
the meet. This gives him the ability to set new goals for himself and be the best vaulter he can
be.

“Track in general is a great place to make friends, and pole vaulting especially is an extremely
friendly environment,” Gorzkowski said. “I, and many others, think about it as trying to beat your
own personal record rather than trying to beat the others in the meet.”