Any other year in history, Brandon Hinkle would have walked away with the 2A state meet record with the height he cleared this year. Photo by Jeff McCoy.
Brandon Hinkle's Best Marks
Pole Vault: 14-11
Long Jump: 19-9.5
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You opted for the Colorado School of Mines. How much of that was an academic decision and how much an athletic decision?
I was first attracted to Mines because of its academic reputation. After I met the coaches and the track team, I knew that the school would be a perfect fit for me both academically and athletically.
What do you plan to study at the School of Mines?
I plan on studying Mechanical Engineering.
You have never been exclusively a pole vaulter in high school. You've done cross country, and you've done other events in track. Do you see this steering toward all pole vault in college, or do you hope to continue to do other events as well.
I would definitely like to focus exclusively on pole vault in college, but I know that may not be the case. If the Mines coaches think that I could score some points in other areas, I will gladly give other events a try.
On balance, do you feel the other events have helped you as a pole vaulter?
I'd have to say so. Because of the size of the Yuma team, no one is exclusively a one-event athlete. This meant that everyone gets to dabble in their fair share of events. Doing sprints, distance, and the horizontal jumps gave me exposure to different types of training and increased versatility, and helped me adapt to different situations. It would also help to do something else one week if pole vault was getting frustrating. The only negative was that this year, I pulled my hamstring running a 200 about halfway through the season. It was frustrating not being able to compete for a few weeks, but since I lost a lot of speed because of the injury, I was forced to concentrate much more on my technique for the vault.
What's been, for you, the highlight of your high school athletic career?
There's been all sorts of high points, and I don't think I could pick just one, so here's three: My sophomore year, when I won the 2A pole vault championship My junior year, when my 4x400 team cut 7 seconds total off of our season best time at the state meet and improved from 12th place to 3rd. This year at state, when I set a personal best and a new school record in pole vault.
You and Cooper Daniels had quite the season bumping up the 2A pole vault record. And, it kind of started as early as indoor season. How much does having someone like that to compete against help to bring out the best in you as a pole vaulter, even when you rarely see him during the outdoor season?
If you ask any pole vaulter, they'll tell you that they jump their best when there's someone to compete with. I think that the competition between Cooper and me pushed us both to be the best vaulters we could be. Had we been spread out over different years or in different classifications, we probably would have been 13' - 14' vaulters and satisfied. Even though we didn't go to many of the same meets, the idea that we'd have to compete against each other at the end of the year kept me working to jump as high as I could. Coincidentally, this won't be the end of our friendly rivalry, since Cooper is attending UCCS in the fall. We'll get 4 more years to push each other to higher heights along with the rest of the guys in the RMAC.