Mike Vani Sets Cape Coast Conference Record and Personal Best With 15′9″ Vault

On the day preceding the Florida Relays, Mike Vani set a new personal best of 15′9″ at the Cape Coast Conference Championships held at Titusville Astronaut High School.  Vani’s previous personal best was 15′7″ which was set at a quad meet at Merritt Island High School on March 13th.  The 15′7″ personal best was not recognized by flrunners.com due to the fact that the meet was not run with Hytek or similar software, so many questioned the feat.  No need to question it now, as Vani thrilled spectators with his first meet at 12 steps.  Vani won the meet by over two and a half feet as the nearest competitor cleared 13′1″.  The preliminary round of qualifying for the meet was originally scheduled for Tuesday, however, the qualifier was cancelled due to strong storms.  Mike has been working with the coaching staff at Pole Vault City since a camp this summer.  Vani will probably have mixed emotions as he competes at the University of Florida tomorrow due to the fact that he has always wanted to be a Florida Gator, but the University of Florida never made contact with Vani at all, so he chose to sign a scholarship with the University of South Florida.  Coach Marsh must have known what he was doing when he signed Vani, who at the time only had a 14′6″ personal best.  That may be one of the great recruiting stories of modern day pole vaulting.  Let that be a lesson to vaulters everywhere - it’s better to go to a school that wants to have you than it is to go to a school that you want to have.  Sounds like the very same thing that happened to a young pole vaulter in 1990, by the name of Bobby Haeck.  Thanks Coach Long and FSU for giving me a chance!