Pole vaulters, by and large, are a complex and interesting group of athletes.

They reach great heights, many times in harm’s way, by the utilization of a long fiberglass or carbon fiber pole, guts and guile.

They soar majestically over a parallel bar only to tumble back to earth, oft times with the main objective unfulfilled.

For those of you who like to remain solid on foot, pole vaulting, with a history that goes back to ancient Greeks, Cretans and Celts, is not for you. Certainly, not for the feint of heart.

“I always know where the bar is and I’m always trying to avoid it. Because it does hurt to have it land on you, or for you to land on it.”

Locally, Bowdoin College can pin some of its track fortunes on sophomore Erin Jeanette Silva, who two weeks ago tied the school record with a height of 11 feet, 11 and three-quarter inches, and a couple of minutes later notched 12-02, much to the delight of a number of Farley Field House followers.

She stands all of 5-foot-5 and weighs 125 pounds with an engaging smile and long draping hair. But, don’t let her looks deceive you.

Wielding a 13-foot, seveninch, 13.5-pound USC Spirit pole, she is a competitor, first and foremost.

Growing up in Westborough, Mass., Erin had been heavily involved in gymnastics since the third grade. She also played a little softball and got into track her sophomore year.

“I had a friend in gymnastics who pole vaulted and it really translates well. I went in with the intention of definitely running and pole vaulting.”

Her initial thoughts?

“It was a fun extension of gymnastics for me. I had a great high school coach (Doug Lang), who ran his own pole vault club, so it was perfect.”

“Erin was a very good high school jumper, so I knew she had potential,” said Bowdoin’s longtime coach Peter Slovenski. “But until she arrived and competed in some meets I couldn’t tell if her potential was to jump 11, 12, or 13.

“And, Bowdoin is a great school for Erin because she is a very motivated student taking tough science classes. Student/ athletes at Bowdoin are expected to have academics as their top priority. Sometimes she arrives at practice late from a lab or tired from studying. She’s very good at concentrating on high level academics, and then practicing the pole vault at a high level afterwards.”

“With pole vaulting it’s so much technique, a lot more strength and speed. A lot of arm strength … more so than a lot of other track events. But, I think one of the biggest difficulties is the mental component. You can be completely ready to vault and your technique can be great. And you can be strong and fast, but if you’re not mentally prepared, or if you psyche yourself out, you cannot get a height sometimes.”

‘A little scary’ Her first go-round with the sport was a bit trying.

“It was definitely a huge mental thing and a little scary. In the first meet I jumped 6-6 and slowly progressed from there.”

Eventually, she qualified for the state meet and in her senior year took second place, advancing to the New England Interscholastic Outdoor Championships, competing at the D.G. Weaver Athletic Complex in Burlington, Vt. She placed fourth with a height of 11-03, just six inches out of first!

That was her best height, which she has attained several times since, beginning in her junior year.

“That was really exciting because I won Districts that day. It was down to me and one of my very good friends, whom I had vaulted with before, going 11-3 so it was exciting for both of us. In my senior year I didn’t get to 11-3 until the New Englands.”

She admitted that coming to Bowdoin “was a long, long decision process.”

She had juggled Division One Brown University and Division Three Bowdoin.

“I really wasn’t sure I wanted to do Division One track because I think I perform better when I’m more relaxed. I like putting pressure on myself and not having others, necessarily, putting the pressure on me. So, that was great that Bowdoin had D-3 track. And, I just love the sense of community here … everyone’s so friendly and nice.

“And, when I got in and told coach (Slovenski) that I had been accepted he had a bunch of people from the track team e-mail me about Bowdoin. I just felt a real connection.”

Her practices are geared to helping her fulfill her vast pole vault potential.

“In high school it (practice) was very vaulting heavy, but here there’s a lot more. Every other day we do gymnastic things to build body strength. Strength that you can not necessarily get by doing pull-ups or push-ups.”

“Erin’s got wonderful runway speed, and she’s mentally tough in competition,” praised Slovenski. “She’s also very brave about moving up to the next heaviest pole which is the extreme sport part of pole vaulting.

“When we watch high school results or talk to high school students, I can tell how high they are vaulting, but you can’t really tell that much about an athlete’s mind until they get here. I was hopeful she would be the kind of athlete who could go 12 feet and higher in college, but now that I’ve seen her in practice, I think she can go 13 feet in college. She is very coachable and has a great mind for vaulting.

“Some sports reward athletes for being aggressive or hard-working or creative,” Slovenski continued. “Pole vaulting rewards people who have good minds for science and for mental toughness. The vault is a very scientific event, and you have to be mentally tough to put it all together in practice and competition.”

Strength, energy

Pole vaulting always comes down to that strength thing with the running, sticking a pole into a small area, and then a sudden burst of energy and torque to lift the human body. It can be scary, sometimes down right intimidating.

“I don’t let myself think about things like that. I’ve had a few scary vaults before.”

Her indoor height last year was 11-11 and three-quarters and last spring she did 11-8, working on consistency at the 11-foot measure.

Leading up to last week’s meet she had a game plan.

“I just wanted to relax … I would say I’ve had more PRs when I was laughing before. Pole vault’s very mental and there’s so much to think about, so you can’t think about everything. If you try to before you vault, it’ll be a mess.

“Laughing keeps my mind off of it. Last year I had to jump 11-11 and three-quarters to make it to Nationals, so that was a lot pressure on me. It was the last meet before Nationals, last chance to make it. I really wanted it. I had two of my friends at the meet and I told them, ‘OK, when I’m going for 11-11 and three-quarters come over and talk to me. Say something funny before I go and make me laugh.’”

She missed her first vault. “I was like ‘oh, no!’ And they came over for my second vault, made me laugh and I cleared it.”

Erin finished 12th overall at Nationals, the third-highest freshman finisher in all of Division III.

It also helps that she has someone like Slovenski, a pole vault extraordinaire, in her corner.

“He helps with a lot of technique things, like maybe changing my steps. As you warm up, steps may move back and as it gets later in the meet, your steps may move in because you’re slowing down.”

Not all pole vaulters are cut from the same cookie cutter.

“I feel there are some pole vaulters who have really great technique. And, others who are very strong and fast. So, with either of those you can jump pretty high.”

Going into this indoor campaign she wanted to work on the complete package.

“I feel I have a lot to fix with my technique, so I really wanted to focus on that. I needed to work on my plant, which is when you put the pole into the box. Because all through high school I didn’t run while carrying the pole, which is not correct. I just had it on the ground, which really slowed me down. That was a big adjustment last year … still working on that.”

In that first meet, she cleared that 12-2 in her first attempt. Two more attempts at 12-4 and she was done for the day, mentally and physically drained.

“Coach likes to go (higher) in smaller increments when you’re going for a PR or a cleared PR because it’s good practice to get in as many vaults as you can. That was a great meet to practice.”

What heights? Where does she go from here? What heights await her?

“I’m just going to keep working on my technique. I’m really glad I got that mark in so that I can now fix the more technical things in my vault. Sometimes those don’t pay off right away, so I might be jumping lower for a few meets before it pays off. Still, it’s nice to get that high mark early on, so that you can work on some things and not worry about it.”

She remains a big fan of the indoor season, with too many variables outside.

“I would say that the wind is a huge factor. I had only done outdoor, so with indoor at Bowdoin I immediately loved it. I didn’t have to think ‘oh, which way is the wind blowing? Do I need to move my steps in, or do I need to move them back? Is there a tailwind … is there a crosswind? Is my pole going sideways? There’s just so much more to think about (outdoors), like is it too hot, or too cold?”

Division III athletes should be commended for their daily balance of work, study, play. No scholarships to fall back on. Academics are held so high. Personal commitment and pride come into play dayin and day-out.

Ditto for this bio-chemistry and Spanish major.

“It is hard, but surprisingly, I’m so much more focused in season. I don’t do anything in the fall, so those two hours that I would be at practice I would probably be doing nothing … not necessarily getting anything done. So track adds a lot of structure to my day and I really like that.”

So, realistically, what is her ceiling? Thirteen feet, 14 feet?

“It’s really hard to say because in pole vault sometimes you hit plateaus, you reach the maximum that you can jump, so I don’t really know. I feel like I can jump higher that 12-2, but I don’t know when I’ll reach that plateau.”

She does find herself maturing physically and she’s her biggest critic.

“And, I can definitely spend more time working out. But, for me, the biggest results will come from technique. There’s a decent amount wrong with my technique.”

Last words from Slovenski?

“The team admires Erin for her humility. In 2011 she did her practice drills in November, and then broke the school record in her first meet in December. Freshman teammate Stephanie Lane said, ‘I didn’t know she was that good.’

“In 2012 Erin did her practice drills in November, and then broke the school record in the first meet in December. Freshman teammate Emily Lambdin said, ‘I didn’t know she was that good.’

“Erin is someone who knows how to let her actions speak for her. She has a wonderful sense of humility, not meaning that she has low selfconfidence, but low levels of self-pre-occupation. She’s thinking of the team and her teammates often embarrassed by the attention she gets for doing so well.”

Well, then, it’s up, up and away for Erin Silva.

GEORGE ALMASI is the Times Record sports editor. He can be reached at galmasi@timesrecord.com