Canino's Win is all in the Family
By Justin Feil
The Princeton Packet
June 08, 2004

PU women's pole vaulter takes East Region, looks to NCAAs

    If Chelo Canino's family can make it to the NCAA Track and Field Championship at the University of Texas this week, the Princeton University senior could be the national champion.
    At least, that's what it seems like to the family of the Tigers' record-holding pole vaulter. They were on hand as she returned to her native Florida to win the NCAA East Regional last month with a personal best of 13 feet, 5¾ inches, a new meet and Princeton record.
    "My family, that's the first collegiate meet they ever saw me perform at," said Canino, who broker her personal best by nearly 7 inches. "In high school in Florida, I was decent. They still haven't seen me lose a meet. They don't quite understand. They just think, 'She won again. Let's go eat.'"
    Canino hasn't had it that easy over her career. She came to Princeton as a three-time Florida state champion at Bloomingdale, where she had a slow start in what would become her best event.
    "When I started pole vaulting in Florida, it was a brand-new event," she recalled. "It was the second year they had it for girls. I just didn't want to run anymore, so I started pole vaulting. I went out for cross country, thinking I'd get in shape for track. When track started, I wanted to do the sprints but the coach

put me with the distance runners. I spent my whole freshman year running the 800, mile and 3200. And the end of freshman year, I said, 'The heck with this,' and went to pole vault camp.
    "I was a left-handed pole vaulter first. I was so bad at this camp, they had me switch to right-handed pole vaulting. It took a while. I was so-so as a sophomore. Then I found a coach who really knew a lot about the event. And at the end of sophomore year, I started jumping really high and won the first of three state titles. I was lucky."
    That success didn't carry over immediately because she didn't compete for the Tigers as a freshman.
    "I had a really rough freshman year," she said. "I had known who was in the conference and what they could jump. I wanted to come in and perform well and win. It was hard with everything and I ended up quitting the team. I took all year and that summer to get back into pole vaulting and almost relearn the event."
    Another of Canino's classmates, Emily Kroshus who came to Princeton with her own high school accolades, will be running in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. Meredith Lambert, a Princeton sophomore, will also compete in the 10,000.
    Canino comes into her first NCAAs off her best jumps ever. With each season at Princeton, Canino has raised her own school record. She had a personal best of 12-10 coming into this season. And her win at the East regional gives her confidence going into her first national championships.
    "Finally, I put together a decent couple of vaults," Canino said. "After watching the tapes with my coaches, there are a lot of small areas I can improve on. I definitely think I can jump higher. NCAAs, it'll just be how long can you stay in the game." Canino feels that she's entering the NCAA Championships on a high note, a perfect conclusion to her Princeton track and field career even if the week building up to the regionals wasn't ideal.
    "All year I've kind of been having some real good jumps," she said. "I've been putting some big air over lower bars. I knew I had a 13-plus jump in me. Most of the outdoor season I've been frustrated. I almost no-heighted at ECACs.
    "I went up to ECACs, and I had been having some great practices. I spent almost the whole indoor season sick, but I was in shape after 16 weeks of training and I was ready. I was disappointed with ECACs, but I knew I could do it. At the East Region, I thought that if I couldn't do it that day, there's always another day."
    Canino can use the same thought in her first nationals to ease some pressure. She'll use her final year of athletic eligibility when she competes for Florida next year as a finance graduate student. But she'd like her final meet for the Orange and Black to be memorable.
    "I had some great, great vaults last weekend at regions," Canino said. "I still have some room for improvement. I kind of ran out of pole. The name of the game at NCAAs, is see how long you can stay alive in the event. I'm pretty sure I'll make the finals Friday."
    Wednesday, Canino will compete along with 27 others for the title. She has the 11th best vault.
    "Once they cut it to like 15, they go to Friday," Canino said. "It should be fun. Texas is almost as good as Florida in terms of weather. It's the kind of weather I like."
    It's the kind that her family enjoys watching her win in as well. Of course, it hasn't mattered much what the weather has been like when they've watched. They were there to see Canino win the East Region and qualify for her first NCAA Championship to make for quite an ending her time with the Tigers.
    "It's had its ups and downs," Canino said. "It's definitely back on the up side for me. It's nice to see my collegiate years end on a good note, and I still have one more year of eligibility left, and I plan to compete for Florida."
    That should make Chelo Canino's family plenty happy, and her opponents a little leery.