Bittersweet Taste of Success

TRACK & FIELD

For five months Pole Vaulter John Pennel, 25, has traveled--from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to Los Angeles, to Boston, to Baltimore--all with the notion of be coming the first man ever to vault 17 ft. indoors. Along the way he competed in 16 meets, won his event in 13 of them, set two new world records (16 ft. 9 1/2-in. and 16 ft. 10 in.). In Boston, he soared cleanly over the bar at 17 ft. i in., only to dislodge it with his arm on the way down. In Los Angeles, he cleared 16 ft. 10 in. with almost a foot to spare, only to fail three times when the bar was raised 2 in.

Two weeks ago, at the most important meet of the indoor season--the National A.A.U. championship at Albuquerque--the 17-ft. barrier was finally broken. But not by Pennel. By his 19-year-old roommate, pal and protege, Bob Seagren.

A sophomore at Glendale College in California who plans to enter U.S.C. next fall, Seagren has been vaulting ever since the seventh grade back in Pomona. His best jump until this year was 16 ft. 4 in., and he almost quit jumping last December when he pulled a hamstring in Saskatoon. Pennel made the difference. The two vaulters met at a track meet in San Diego last summer, hit it off well from the start. They traveled to Brazil together last fall, and in January moved into a four-room apartment in Glendale furnished mainly with prizes won by Pennel: two TV sets, a tape recorder and a stereo phonograph. Pennel works days as a wine salesman, and the household chores--including cooking--fall to Seagren. "Mostly," he says, "we eat steak, because it's easy." Along the way, Pennel persuaded Seagren to keep trying.

At Albuquerque last week Seagren tried once at 17 ft. 1/4 in. and hit the bar on the way up. Pennel's turn came next. "John just barely missed when his hip hit," said Seagren later. "And then on my second try, everything just went perfectly, and I did it." Returning to the bench, he sat there, fists clenched, urging: "Come on, John. Come on. Come on." Twice more Pennel leaped; twice more he failed. "John just tried too hard," sighed Seagren, who acted more embarrassed than elated.

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