Two years ago, Dylan Bell was a high schooler excited to compete in the Cadet Field House. Today, as a nationally-ranked pole vaulter, it's part of his daily routine. Photos by Alan Versaw.
During the winter of 2011-12, Dylan Bell was spending a big chunk of his discretionary time honing his pole vault skills in an abandoned elementary school where an indoor pole vault pit had been set up for that purpose. Before the brief Texas winter bloomed into spring, his father came to him and said, "Pack up the poles, we're going on a trip!"
That trip would take him on a 12-hour drive from suburban Fort Worth, Texas, to the Air Force Academy, just north of Colorado Springs. The specific destination was the Cadet Field House, where Bell would compete in the pole vault competition at the Air Force High School Indoor Open.
"I had wanted to attend the Air Force Academy since fith or sixth grade," reports Bell, "so I was really amped up to come here."
Despite an injury that forced him to take a shorter approach that day, Bell fought through and won the pole vault competition at 15-6. He remembers the watch he was awarded as an event winner, but he was still more impressed by the facility.
"It's one of the nicest facilities you can ever jump in--coming here was really a blessing."
Bell had vaulted off of elevated indoor runways before, but, "None this nice. The width [of the runways] is very comfortable. And everyone who comes here says, 'Wow it stinks to jump anywhere else because they're so slow compared to the runways here."
Since coming to the Air Force Academy and training under Coach Steffan, Bell has upped his pole vault PR to 17-5 and, as a sophomore this year, has hopes pinned on making the NCAA DI Nationals indoor meet in two months in Albuquerque. He figures it will take about 18 feet to get there, and you can see the look of anticipation in his eyes as he talks about the possibility. And, it doesn't hurt a thing that he gets to practice at one of the very best facilities in the nation every day.
Not all athletes who come to the Air Force High School Indoor Open share Bell's dream of becoming a cadet at the United States Air Force Academy, but several do. For those athletes who come to this meet with that dream, it is often a first taste of feeling what wearing the blue-and-silver of the Air Force Academy feels like.
Whether or not athletes come to the meet without the dream of attending the Academy, all come with the vision of competing against top-tier competition in a first-class venue. The coaching staff at the United States Air Force Academy view this event as an important part of the mission of their program, not as something they have to endure once a winter. The details of the meet get the adminstrative attention they deserve.
This year's version of the Air Force High School Indoor Open will take place on Saturday, February 8. Competitors will converge on the Cadet Field House from Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and almost certainly a few points beyond. Once there, they will be greeted by the same atmosphere that Bell found so invigorating in his senior year of high school.
And, for some, that experience will prove to be the same sort of catalyst for a successful college career as it has been for Dylan Bell.
