Track and field: Stevenson earns spot on U.S. team for World Championships

Don't call it a comeback.

Toby Stevenson, after all, never really went away - though he sure felt like bailing on his pole-vaulting career about a year ago.

The 1995 Permian High School graduate has had his tough moments in recent weeks, as well, but is pretty happy at this point that he stuck to his guns to compete Saturday at the U.S. Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore.

Stevenson vaulted 18 feet, 10.25 inches, for a fourth-place finish that qualified him as a member of the U.S. team for the 12th IAAF World Championships, scheduled for August in Berlin, Germany.

"Making this team was really exciting for me, definitely one of the top three or four moments in my track and field career," Stevenson said. "Kind of the way it happened, it was a huge relief and it definitely meant a lot to me."

This is coming from a guy who has won an Olympic silver medal, an NCAA title and a Class 5A state title.

In other words, Stevenson's had his share of highlights.

But on June 29, 2008, pole vaulting appeared to be a part of his past when he failed to earn a return trip to the Olympics by no-heighting in the finals of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at Eugene.

Stevenson had dealt with his share of disappointments, so the thought process of quitting the sport was based more in dealing with several years of injuries. Leading up to the Trials, Stevenson struggled not only with hip and foot injuries but exactly how to work through them with a trip to China on the line.

"It was such a disappointment last year," Stevenson said. "I was ready to quit last year because it sucks to suck. It's not fun whatsoever."

After the Trials, he had surgery on the hip and his foot injury healed through therapy and training.

The competitive fires were still burning inside the 32-year-old Odessan as the 2009 season began, so he decided to give it a go.

Confidence is huge for vaulters, and Stevenson wouldn't have tried to compete had he not felt healthy. A new problem cropped up, however - getting over the bar.

"Honestly, I was doubting myself a little bit," he said. "This is the healthiest I've been in three years and it just wasn't clicking. It's tough when you feel great but you don't perform great. I was feeling great but jumping like trash."

The key, Stevenson said, was to believe in the training he was getting at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. He had to remember the successes of his past which were borne of the days when he and his father, Eddy, practiced in the family's back yard.

Then on Saturday, everything fell in place - first at 17-8.5, then at 18-2.5 and next at 18-6.5, which was Stevenson's best vault of the season and made him one of the final six vaulters in the competition.

Another foe fell out at 18-8.25 and Stevenson's last clearance came at 18-10.25, which was the top height of the day for any vaulter. Stevenson finished fourth on misses at previous heights but still earned a place on the U.S. team - normally only the top three finishers qualify for national squads - because winner Brad Walker is the defending champion at the IAAF World Championships from the 2007 competition in Japan.

"From the moment I stepped on the track, everything felt normal," Stevenson said. "I felt together, I felt powerful and fast. When I got on the runway, I was in sixth gear - I found that extra overdrive - and when I'm like that, jumping's not a problem. Talk about waiting until the last minute for it all to come together."

Stevenson hadn't gone as high as 18-10.25 since clearing 19-1 for a second-place finish in the 2006 IAAF World Athletics Final.

That was at the end of a run where Stevenson had gone over 19 feet on a consistent basis for three seasons, but injuries and confidence issues played a major part in making 2007 and 2008 seasons to forget.

He won't, though, because the bad is a part of the good and why getting to represent the U.S. for the first time since 2005 is a special thing.

"I got out there on that day and everything felt normal again," said Stevenson, who will compete Aug. 20 in qualifying and Aug. 22 if he qualifies for the finals in Berlin. "Me on a normal day, I can make teams and I can medal at the World Championships. It's not that big of a problem. Now the goal is just building from here."