| Ron Barela |
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Former Sun Devil Ron Barela returns for his fifth season as a volunteer assistant coach with the Arizona State University track & field program and, following a highly successful 2007 season, will continue to work with the men's and women's pole vault student-athletes.
Barela's career with the program has seen great improvements, from school-records set and broken in the women's event to April Kubishta's national outdoor title at the 2007 NCAA Championships. Under Barela's tutelage, Kubishta had a strong outdoor season in which she placed second in the Pac-10 before winning both the NCAA West Region and NCAA Outdoor Championships, where she cleared 13-11.25 to win the national crown.
Along with Kubishta's national crown came All-America honors, the first of her career and the fifth for an athlete working under Barela. His first All-American was Brandon Glenn, who finished seventh at the 2005 NCAA Indoor Championships, before he worked with multi-event athlete Joshua Kinnaman, who earned honors in the indoor heptathlon (2006, 2007) and outdoor decathlon (2006).
Heading into the 2007 season, Barela has three women among ASU's Top 10, including No. 1 Kubishta, No. 3 Alana Waterford (12-11.75) and No. 5 Angela Piana (12-01.50). Overall, his women hold nine of the Top 10 outdoor clearances and all of the Top 5 indoors, including Kubishta's school-records in both (13-11.75 outdoors and 14-01.25 indoors). Kubishta's indoor best also marked the first time an ASU woman has cleared 14-feet in competition. The women also have posted two outdoor marks and three indoor marks of 13-feet or better, all of which have come under Barela's watch. On the men's side, he guided a pair to marks in the Top 10 all-time at ASU, marking the first time a new name had been added to the oudoor list since 1992, while three indoor Top 5 marks were attained, including the No. 2 position by Glenn (17-08.50). Glenn would go on to represent the United States at the IAAF World Junior Championships following a second-place finish in the American meet.
Barela has been a part of the Arizona State track and field program in the past as a student-athlete. Following one year at New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs, N.M., Barela came to Tempe where he competed in pole vault and decathlon events for the Sun Devils. A member of ASU's 1977 NCAA Championship team, Barela still ranks among the best in pole vault at ASU. He is tied for ninth on the outdoor lists with a mark of 16-8 achieved in 1980 and is tied for fourth indoors with a mark of 16-6.
In 1997, Barela returned to the coaching ranks and began overseeing the pole vaulters of Desert Vista High School in Phoenix. In his seven years with DVHS, he guided six vaulters to state runner-up crowns. He also assisted in leading the team to state tram titles. In 1999, the girls won the Arizona 5A title before finishing as runners-up each of the last three seasons.
Barela also coached two vaulters to Junior Olympic national titles in 2003 as Kubishta and Glenn each brought home gold medals. Barela also coached Kubishta to back-to-back 4A state titles. She also still holds the state record of 13-0.25. One year prior to his national success, Barela took on more coaching duties as he began to guide the pole vaulters at Mesa Community College in 2002. In his two years at MCC, his vaulters finished as national runners-up six times total in men's and women's indoor and outdoor pole vault while also earning All-America accolades.
Barela continues to compete following his return to the track in 1998. That year, he competed in the USA Masters Championships in Orono, Maine, in the 40+-age division. He won the national tournament with a vault of 15-1 and earned a berth into the Nike World Masters Games in Eugene, Ore. Competing in two events, Barela finished as the runner-up in both the pole vault and the pentathlon. He is still in training as his goal is to break the world record for pole vaulting in the 50-59 age division.
Ron and his wife Christine reside in Phoenix with their three children, Chris, Patricia and Cynthia. All three of his children enjoy competing in track and field events with Chris and Cynthia both participating in pole vault and Patricia in distance running.
NCAA Champions under Barela
April Kubishta - Outdoor Pole Vault (2007)
NCAA All-Americans under Barela
Brandon Glenn - Indoor Pole Vault (2005)
Joshua Kinnaman - Indoor Heptathlon (2006, 2007), Outdoor Decathlon (2006)
April Kubishta - Outdoor Pole Vault (2007)
