Murray Cartwheels into the Pole Vaulting Record Book

A cartwheel and a pole vault record might seems worlds apart, but not to Stuart Shepherd.

Three years ago, the assistant track coach saw freshman Gabby Murray doing cartwheels and, even though she hadn’t signed up for the track team, he made an interesting boast.

“I thought, ‘There’s someone who could be a jumper,’” Shepherd recalled of the chance encounter. “I told her, ‘If you join the team, I will make you a champion.'”

Just two weeks later, Shepherd says, Murray set the San Rafael pole vault record.

“She's really, really dedicated,” the coach assured.

Three years later, the fruits of that dedication have fully blossomed. Murray is far more than just a school record-holder these days. She’s the Marin County Athletic League’s all-time best and an athlete who’s bright future could very well include a trip to the State Meet.

And, yes, cartwheels have played a major role.

“Having done gymnastics, I know a lot about my body -- what positions to put it in,” the senior explained.

“When you’re pole vaulting, you’re upside down. It was difficult, but mainly it was just really weird,” she said.

But the weirdest part, Murray said, is the pole itself. “I’ve never done anything in gymnastics with an object in my hand,” she noted.

Nonetheless, she kept moving the bar upward. And with it went her expectations.

“I’m setting my goals high,” she said on the eve of this week’s MCAL Championships at Terra Linda. “I’m still learning. On one hand, I feel like I know what I’m doing. But there’s always something new that I learn.”

Murray cleared 10 feet at last year’s MCAL meet to finish second. This year, having already soared over 11-4, taking first is a foregone conclusion.

“My goal is not really concentrating on winning. It’s concentrating on vaulting as high as I can,” she said. “I can get higher than 11-4. My goal is to go to the (North Coast Section) Meet of Champions. I want to go to state.”

Clearing 11-4 is great in Marin, but not in the greater vaulting scene. When Murray competed at the Sacramento Meet of Champions recently, she just missed at 11-7.

Alas, even that was one foot lower than the eventual winner – and state leader – from Granite Bay.

“I’ve seen the top-level girls jump. I know I have the same capabilities as them,” Murray claimed. “I’ve been training just as hard as them. I just have to put my training into action.”

The Bulldogs’ standout plans to continue pole vaulting next season at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. The Mustangs’ coach already has said he’s like her to have cleared 11-7 this season.

Shepherd believes the sky’s the limit.

“You have to be a little crazy. You have to be fearless,” he said. “Pole vaulting is an unnatural act. There’s nothing else you can compare it to.

“When you first learn it, the coach tells you what to do and your muscles tell you, ‘Huh?’ But her gymnastics background has really helped her in learning the difficult moves. She picked it up really quick. Some people, it takes a year. She got it right away.”

It should culminate in an MCAL championship this weekend and perhaps in an automatic qualification for the State Meet should she clear 11-9.

“I am very surprised. I would never have expected to have this much success,” she admitted. “I’ve been training hard. I know I can go a lot higher.”

And if she does, don’t be surprised if she celebrates with a cartwheel.