Of Babies & Snakes--A Book Review

The title of this post will explain itself in due time, but first I must offer a disclaimer.---

I ordered one copy of Stuart Kantor's book "18 Months Raising the Bar"--and received two!
He'd told me beforehand, so it wasn't a shock, but I just wanted to let you know.
Both copies were autographed by the book's protagonists--Demi Payne and Sandi Morris--but they'd autographed many copies, I believe.
I want to make it clear that the following review has not been influenced in any way by this generosity!
I feel totally free to tell the TRUTH about how I feel about this book.

18 Months Raising the Bar in Women's Pole Vault
by Stuart Kantor
Book Review
by Aaron Krohn

I remember that weekend well.
As a blogger whose core focus is on Records & Marks in Track & Field--and who compiled a 600 page T&F Record Book over 40 years ago (continually revised)--I was super excited to see the Collegiate Record in the Women's Pole Vault broken not once, but twice within one day--by two women in 2 separate venues.
Rare are Major Records broken--especially in mid-January--and even rarer do you see THAT Record broken AGAIN just hours later!!

But that's how Kantor's book begins--with a fully detailed account of both Records!
Every height, every attempt, every emotion.

As I read on from there, I was reminded of Frank Murphy's book "The Silence of Great Distance", published in 2000.
That book was about distance runners of the female gender.
It had beautifully written descriptions of running, the flow & rhythm of the sport, followed by a History of Women's Middle & Long Distance running.
It too focused on two Women--Stephanie Herbst & Kathy Ormsby.
On their whole careers, from High School on, but especially their time competing in College!

"18 Months" does the same for the Women's PV!
In fact, this History doesn't just cover the modern era, the "elite" Women's Vault only being known from the late-90's on, but goes back to 3370 B.C., to ancient Ireland's Tailten Games!
It moves forward in chronological order to this time, where we've seen Women literally fly over bars set at 13, then 14, then 15, and now 16 feet above Mother Earth!
It names all the names, such as Emma George and Stacy Dragila, and Yelena Isinbayeva.

But it wasn't until 2014 that Kaitlin Petrillose "raised the bar" of Women's Collegiate PV'ing to the level of 15 feet.
Entering 2015, Petrillose's 15-1 was the INdoor Record for Collegiate Women!
However, Tina Sutej was the first over 15 as a Collegiate, doing so OUTdoors in 2011.
But even in the latter case, it wasn't until Sandi Morris went over 15-1.75 that we saw another Collegiate Woman over that barrier.

And that's why having TWO Women soar over such a height--in the space of just 17 hours--was so special!

And it didn't end there!
For the next year and a half, these 2 Women made 15 feet a near every-competition occurrence!
By INdoor season's end , they'd separated themselves from their competition by almost a full foot!
And OUTdoors 2015 was the same!
There too, no other Collegiate Woman could reach 15 feet even once, let alone multiple times!

Yet it wasn't just their amazing rise to the top in Pole Vaulting that the author describes.
It's their personal history, their different, but fascinating personalities, their unique paths to the Pinnacle, what motivated them, who inspired them, what PV'ing MEANS to these Women!

One (Morris) loves snakes--and all kinds of other creatures!
The other (Payne) gave birth to a daughter (Charlee) early in life (while in her 1st College).

One has long blonde hair!
The other's is wavy & brunette.

Both are fairly tall (Payne is over 6 feet!), muscular, yet lithe and "feminine".
Both are gregarious and outgoing, flashy and funny, and filled from head to toe with a very special talent--to race down a runway holding a pole equal in length to the heights they wanted to top, then planting it in a hole, stretching their bodies as the pole bends almost at a 90 degree angle, then pushes their bodies over the bar set at heights only imagined by the event's modern pioneers!!

This 205 page book (It was initially promoted as having 192 pages!) has several photos--in color!
At book's end, there's a complete listing of their many accomplishments--their Marks & Records, but also their many Awards!
(This is similar to other biographical books about T&F athletes--See "Pre!" by Tom Jordan!)
And the book generally is presented chronologically, so it's easy to follow--and made as exciting as it was following their friendly battles through 18 months of back-and-forth Record-breaking, INdoors, then OUTdoors, and back again in 2016, finally ending at the 2016 Olympic Trials!

Is this book perfect!
(Hint: NO book is "perfect", not even the "Classics"!  IMHO!)

As a writer (of 52 years standing) myself, my pet peeve is seeing sloppy grammar, misspelled words, and poor editing in books that DO otherwise SEEM perfect!
I must state that there ARE typographical mistakes in the book.
For example, on pages 67-68, Petrillose's attempts at the metric heights of 4.46 and 4.56 are BOTH said to be 14-11.50!
4.46 is 14-7.50 in English measure, while it's 4.56 that is the same as 14-11.50!
In a book about a sport which DEPENDS on accuracy to the nth degree, such errors are egregious!!
Better editing would have caught those errors before going to print!

Also, while the photos are wonderful, they are too small.
There are a couple of photos of their progression charts in some competitions--the "x's & o's" you see for misses or makes!
But I had to use a magnifier to be able to read the numbers.
(I don't think it was due to my poor eyesight!  LOL)
Full page photos would have been nicer!

Bottom line is--Buy & Read this book!!
Not only do you get History, but too, some very interesting accounts of the towns where they were raised (Morris in Greenville SC, Payne in New Braunfels TX).
There are transcripts of interviews they've done, written out in Q&A style.

It's a well-presented, colorful & (at times) poetically written account of a truly Historic era in Women's Pole Vaulting!

Sandi Morris and Demi Payne are beautiful Women (inside & out) who dominated their event over a long period of time, who (literally) rose to the top while building a fierce (& friendly) rivalry which makes T&F such a great sport.
And breaking Records at such a pace as to make this Record Keeper's fingers cramp, trying to keep up with all the changes this dynamic pair brought to the Women's Collegiate (& in Sandi's case, to the Professional level) Pole Vault!

This is well-worth a read!