By: Rick Ryan
Charleston Gazette-Mail, West Virginia Sports Writers Association
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Tristan Slater not only likes to dream big, he likes to go big.
The record-breaking Capital High School pole vaulter, now competing at the University of Tennessee, has been selected as the Ray McCoy Award winner for 2016 by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association as the state’s top male track and field/cross country athlete.
Slater established a West Virginia high school record by clearing 17 feet, 1 inch at the Marshall University Indoor Open last February. At the state meet in May, he became a rare Class AAA boys four-time champion in an individual event, capturing his fourth consecutive pole vault title at University of Charleston Stadium.
His winning ways have continued with the Volunteers, as the 19-year-old Slater took the vault in his first collegiate meet, clearing 16-8 3/4 (5.10 meters) at the Indiana-Tennessee Dual.
That effort currently ranks him second in the Southeastern Conference indoor season and ties him for 31st in the nation among NCAA Division I programs. His next event comes Friday at the SEC Challenge, an indoor meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Slater’s quick success in college is a bit surprising, considering that he’s had to acclimate himself to new arenas and, more significantly, newer, shorter poles and shorter run-ups than he preferred in high school.
“I am actually enjoying it,’’ Slater said of the changes in his routine. “It’s made me a lot faster and a lot stronger, for certain. I don’t believe it’s set me back at all. If anything, it’s helped.’’
In the offseason from collegiate competition, Slater continues in his quest to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo as a member of Team Canada.
Slater, who was born in North Bay, Ontario, and moved to the United States before the age of 2, holds dual citizenship in both countries, but has elected to seek an Olympic spot with Canada, which pays for all his international trips, including recent ventures to Nanjing, China, for the Youth Olympic Games and Edmonton, Alberta, for the Pan American Junior Championships. He placed fourth in each of those events.
His next international competition is scheduled for Aug. 19-30 in the Summer World University Games in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei. At some point, he must clear the qualifying standard of 18-8 1/2 to be eligible for Olympic consideration.
That sounds like a big jump, but Slater has a history of big jumps and rising to the challenge. At Capital, he became the first-ever four-time individual state champ for coach Willie Ruffin, who has been coaching track for 16 years.
“Basically, it’s been his family, his upbringing,’’ Ruffin said of Slater’s development, “and the [Capital City] Striders and all that bunch. They tutored him pretty good. It takes a lot of family and hard work and dedication.’’
Even though Slater fell shy of breaking the state meet record of 17-0 set by Parkersburg’s Casey Freed in 1995, he said he left his high school career with few regrets.
“I believe there were times I could have pushed myself further than what I was already doing,’’ Slater said, “I was fully capable of doing more than what I cleared — 17 feet — but other than that, I don’t have any regrets. I did 17-1 indoors, did 17 feet at a street vault in Louisville [the 2016 Vault in the Ville] and 17 feet at a track meet my senior season.’’
At last year’s Class AAA state meet at UC Stadium, Slater also finished third in the long jump at 20-10 1/2, and in the regular season was one of the state’s top-ranked runners in the 100-meter dash as well as part of Capital’s 4×100 relay team.
Finishing a distant second to Slater in the McCoy Award voting were Wheeling Park hurdler Richard Cummings and South Harrison sprinter Freddy Canary, with Valley Wetzel jumper Tucker Cain fourth.
Slater will be one of the honorees during the 71st Victory Awards Dinner, set for Sunday, May 21 at the Village Square Conference Center in Clarksburg.