Records are meant to be broken...

A little track and field and some baseball, too.

The sports world we live in...

I'm no longer skeptical about anything that's related to the world of sports. Records are meant to be broken. It's been 25 years since I wrote the article below. Young athletes continue to jump higher and higher, run faster and push the envelope.

Women's prep pole vaulting in 2022...from Athletic.net

Amanda Moll, 11th grade, cleared 14' 9.5, a personal record in Washington State in March, Kenna Stimmel vaulted 14' 6.25, another personal record in Ohio in June for the Virginia Tech commit, Hana Moll, Amanda' sister, vaulted 14' 5.25 at the Oregon Relays in April, Molly Haywood, a junior in high school, cleared 14' 4 in Texas, also in April, and Tessa Mudd, in the 17-18 division in South Carolina, vaulted 14' 3.25 -- all of them personal bests.

Back in 1997, I covered a high school track meet in Phoenix and witnessed first hand the beginning of girls' prep pole vaulting in Arizona.

I was sceptical.

That year, most of the girls were having trouble out-doing the boys in the high jump, who were consistently jumping over six feet...some near the 7-foot mark.

I figured there would come a day when I would be shaking my head at the progress of women's pole vaulting. It has come to pass. In 2003, April Kubishta of Lake Havasu set a state record with a vault of 13 feet, 1 1/4 inch and, in doing so became the first female to clear 13 feet in Arizona. She went on to become a star vaulter at Arizona State University and in 2008 set a personal best of 14-1 indoor and 13-11.75 outdoor. In contrast, Alec Hsu vaulted 16 feet, 1 inch in May of this year as he completed his stellar senior season at Phoenix Desert View High School.

Tolleson's Nick Hysong still owns the boy's state prep record at 17 feet, 4.75 inches. And then there's world record holder Sergey Bubka (Ukraine) who owns a vault into outer space with a remarkable vault of 20 feet, 1 3/4 or 6.14 meters. (I hate that meter thing).USA's Tim Mack vaulted 5.95 meters at the Athens Olympics. But getting back to the girls, Russian Yelena Isinbayeva vaulted 16 feet, 6 inches (5.03 meters) in Rome at a meet in 2008.

Remarkable! Hats off to all vaulters, especially the Arizona female vaulters who got it all started back in 1997.

And let's get back to baseball. You knew I would -- primarily Little League baseball in Williamsport, Pa., where yesterday the homer derby was held. A young man, 12, from Marana, Arizona hit 47 home runs to beat all competition. Jayson Veit (family photo below) cleared the fences time and time again like it was a walk in the park.

Times are changing in the world of sports. I'm lucky I'm still around to witness our youth as they push the envelope. Mind-boggling stuff.