Daryl Burrell, Kris Allison and Chaney Turney give Meredith Driskell a boost during a rare break in a Lone Star Pole Vault Club workout session. Burrell, Turney and Driskell will all be going for the gold at the Class 4A UIL State Track and Field Meet Friday at UT-Austin’s Myers Stadium. They will try and follow in the footsteps of former Hays state gold medal winners in the pole vault Britni Lawrence and Jessica Doyle. Since Lawrence made her first appearance in 2003, Hays High has had at least one athlete compete in the state pole vaulting meet, all of whom were coached by Allison. (Team photo by Jason Gordon)
by JASON GORDON
The Hays High pole-vaulting crew didn’t hesitate when asked what the single most important influence has been on their athletic careers and the building of a Rebel dynasty in the sport.
Kris Allison and his Lone Star Pole Vaulting Club, now housed in New Braunfels, is unquestionably the key reason Hays can boast three current vaulters headed to state and a decade worth of dominance in the event.
“Kris is the main reason we’re all here,” said senior Daryl Burrell, who will be making his first trip to the state meet. “He gives us the mindset that we’re the elite, but he also lets us know how much hard work we have to put in to maintain that status because it can be taken away so easily if we get complacent.”
Burrell will be joined by fellow Hays vaulters senior Chaney Turney, who made state the past two seasons, and junior Meredith Driskell, who is making her first trip to the prestigious event.
They will compete in the Class 4A UIL State Track and Field Meet at Myers Stadium on the University of Texas-Austin campus on May 13.
Turney, who won silver at state last year, agreed with Burrell that the Lone Star Pole Vaulting Club has been a pivotal part of her life.
“It all starts from here,” Turney said. “Kris is such a good coach that some people have to travel three or four hours to get here. We’re lucky he’s so close.”
In the last nine years, Allison has coached Hays’ Britni Lawrence to gold medals at the Class 5A state meet and the Texas Relays in 2003 and 2004, Jessica Doyle to state all four years of her high school career and gold medals her junior and senior year, Jonathan Johnson and Turney to state in 2009 and 2010, and he hit the trifecta with Turney, Burrell and Driskell this year.
“I had no clue about Hays until I met Britni,” Allison said. “When I first opened my club in San Marcos, most of my best vaulters were from New Braunfels High so I thought they were going to be the program to dominate. That started to fizzle once they had some graduates, and then Hays got strong and never stopped.”
Currently Allison coaches a total of 14 vaulters from the Hays High feeder pattern, eight in high school and six in middle school.
“We could have an entire practice here filled with Hays kids,” Driskell said. “We love to volunteer to help the kids in middle school that are just getting into vaulting. We know it will keep the tradition alive.”
Another key has been the camaraderie that is apparent among Hays vaulters.
After she finished her college vaulting career, Lawrence returned to coach at the Lone Star Pole Vaulting Club. She currently is an assistant track coach who focuses on pole vaulters at Trinity University in San Antonio.
That didn’t keep her from attending the regional meet to root on the current Hays athletes and other members of the club.
“It’s been really exciting to see what the Hays pole vaulting legacy has become,” Lawrence said. “I think I’ll always keep up with how everyone is doing. I think buzz that we’ve created over the years with our success gets people talking. That’s why you have so many young people come out year after year. That’s what keeps our tradition going.”
Doyle agreed that she hopes the Hays vaulting tradition lasts for a long time to come.
“Seeing that we have three vaulters going to state makes me as excited, if not more, than when I was there,” Doyle said. “You develop a passion for the sport and the hard work you have to put in to reach that level and it’s great to see the legacy live on.”
As expected, Allison, who has coached 13 state champions during his career, has lofty goals for his three Hays vaulters on Friday.
“I think we have an excellent shot for one, if not two gold medals,” Allison said. “You don’t prepare this hard for this moment and not expect to reap the benefits of that work.”
