JOSH FIELDS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Sophomore Megan Cassidy hurls herself at the bar April 2 during the Arizona Invitational at Drachman Stadium. The success of the UA pole vaulting team may largely be because of their teamwork.

Led by seniors Chris Chappell and Kevin Opalka, the Arizona men's pole-vaulters have the potential to send five athletes to Eugene, Ore., May 27-28 for the NCAA West Region Championships.

"What they're doing right now, in terms of qualifying for the regional meet, it could be pretty impressive," Arizona track and field head coach Fred Harvey said.

The unique event features athletes hurling themselves at heights as high as 16 feet on the men's side.

"It's a real exciting event, and it's one of those things - it really fires up their teammates, and the crowd," Harvey said. "People understand the stress, the fear factor of vaulting, the danger of it. When you see a good vault, I think it raises the level of excitement."

Vaulting coach Eric Boxley found it hard to put into words how much skill it really takes.

"Well - wow - considerable," he said. "It takes considerable talent, and I think a diverse set of skills, to be able to do this."

"You have to be a sprinter, a gymnast and a daredevil," Harvey said.

Sophomore women's vaulter Becky Gausepohl said that while vaulting is second nature to competitors, for the average person, it's like "driving stickshift, talking on the phone and eating all at once."

Gausepohl said that her favorite part of pole vaulting might be not clearing the bar.

"It's a lot of fun flying around," she said.

On the men's side, meanwhile, the athletes' success breeds competition.

"It raises the bar, so to speak," Harvey said, smiling. "When one person's doing well, and you have a whole group of (vaulters) starting to perform, no one wants to be left out."

Boxley said having all the athletes compete together creates a winning atmosphere.

"I think that's been one of the vital components of this program," he said. "We've always had a group that will push each other, challenge each other. It just makes for a good training environment when you have that."

The vaulters themselves acknowledged how helpful it is to have team success.

"I don't know if I'd call it a rivalry," Chappell said. "But I know for me, jumping against (Opalka), neither one of us likes to lose to each other."

Junior Adam Zimnisky agreed, adding that it's important to see his teammates succeed as well.

"We all want to beat each other," he said. "But we want to beat each other on all of our best days. I don't want to beat somebody who has a bad day. I want to beat them with a (personal record)."

"We want to see everybody jump their best and hope, personally, that we can jump a little bit better than their best," said junior Sam Jacobsen.

Harvey said that the vaulters' competitiveness is evident, even in practice.

"If you're ever out there and you're watching them get at it, they definitely start challenging each other, just pumping each other up. Even if it's during stretching, they are definitely challenging one another," he said.

Harvey recognized the importance of having a vault specialist this season. Instead of handling all the jumping events, Boxley now focuses specifically on pole vault.

Harvey took over for Boxley in the other events.

"I think me taking over the jumps really has made a profound impact on what (the vaulters) are doing," Harvey said. "I'm not saying it's all about me - because it's not about me - but it just really gives (Boxley) that opportunity to focus in on what they are doing."

Heading into Friday's Cardinal Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., Chappell, Opalka, Jacobson and freshman Andrew Rademacher had all qualified for the West Regionals. Zimnisky is the lone member of the group to have not yet qualified.

Zimnisky has a chance to qualify in Tempe, as the Wildcats face ASU Saturday in the Arizona-ASU-NAU Double-Dual.