Ryan Dall - North Rockland 1994
As the son of a track coach, Ryan Dall was exposed to the sport at an early age. Ryan’s parents, Gene and Lonnie, are both former athletes and Ryan’s athletic potential became evident at age 3 when his parents enrolled him in gymnastics school. The flexibility and kinesthetic awareness Ryan developed during his seven years in gymnastics equipped him with fundamentals that would springboard his eventual pole-vaulting career.
Ryan would tag along with his dad to Saturday morning practices at North Rockland simply because he enjoyed being around the team and soaking up the atmosphere. He tried his hand at a gamut of events in age group meets, never practicing beforehand. He absorbed knowledge about all the events with close-up views of top athletes, even photographing pole vaulters and high jumpers at meets like the Millrose Games and Golden West Invitational.
North Rockland has developed a constellation of pole vaulting stars, but not more stellar than Ryan. Thoroughly grounded in the event as a youngster and loving the exhilarating rush of going airborne, Ryan pushed the vertical envelope higher than anyone in Rockland ever has. That’s no mean feat, considering Rockland County has produced a parade of state champions and record holders in the event, from Dave Mumme and Tim St. Lawrence in the ‘60s, to Lance Arietta, Brendan Murphy and Stanley Thomas in the ‘70s, to Ryan’s teammate Rob Ossman in the ‘90s.
During his six-year varsity career (starting in seventh grade), Ryan won two New York State championships, capturing both the winter and spring titles his junior year, 1993. He established state records indoors, 15 feet 9 inches, and outdoors, 16-4 ¾ (both since broken). He still holds the state class records for grades 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.
Ryan’s list of blue-ribbon performances spans all levels of competition. He won the National Scholastic outdoor championship in 1994 and finished second indoors the year before. He also had second- and fifth-place finishes at the U.S. Junior Nationals in 1993 and ’94, respectively, won the Penn Relays title in 1993 and was runner-up at Penn in ’94.
A pulled hamstring at the indoor State Qualifier threw a monkey wrench into his senior-year plans. He missed a solid month of training and didn’t return to competition until the Penn Relays, where he finished second on misses after less than a week of practice. Ryan cites his Penn victory during his junior year (held indoors due to a cold rain and hail) as one of his two most memorable performances. “I had been going to Penn as long as I could remember,” he says. “It was a big meet to me personally, watching people win championships and knowing everyone’s reactions to someone who had been Penn champion.”
His other prominent highlight was an unexpected runner-up showing at Junior Nationals in Spokane, Wash., his junior year. Although he was seeded in the bottom quarter of the field and opening height was equal to his best jump at the time (15-9), he mastered the shifting winds that day and outperformed all but Lawrence Johnson, a Tennessee freshman who later was silver medalist at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Ryan made opening height on his first attempt and proceeded to keep clearing until maxing out at 5.00 meters – 16-4 ¾ – a state record by 3 ¾ inches and a mark that stood for six years.
“I went in with the attitude that it was a fun experience and that I had nothing to lose,” Ryan remembers. “I didn’t have aspirations of the top two. But I didn’t want to no-height, come all the way across the country to take three jumps and go home. Being from the Northeast, I was used to all kinds of conditions. Guys were coming in at higher heights and no-heighting. I moved up to a pole I hadn’t used before and I kept clearing bars until it was just me and Lawrence jumping.”
On the local level, Ryan was a gold-medal machine at the County championships, winning the outdoor crown four straight years – the only male athlete to win an individual County title four years in a row. He also won the County indoor championship twice. Displaying great versatility, he was County champion in the 110-meter high hurdles and made the State finals in that event, and also was Section 1 Class A champ in the high jump.
An outstanding student, Ryan graduated 15th in a class of 450 and was heavily recruited by several schools. He accepted a full scholarship offer from Miami and took full advantage of the hospitable Florida climate to excel for the Hurricanes. Ryan, a team captain for two years, won two Big East Conference titles in the pole vault and added third-place Big East finishes in the vault and decathlon. He scaled a personal-best and stadium record 17 feet ¾ inch at the USATF Regional championship at the University of Albany at the end of his freshman year.
After graduating from Miami with a degree in history, Ryan followed his father’s footsteps into the track coaching profession. He spent four years as assistant coach at Florida International, where he groomed one All-America athlete – a 234-foot javelin thrower – and Sun Belt Conference champions in the javelin, hurdles, high jump and long jump. He then served as assistant coach at Duke for five years, handling the pole vaulters, sprinters, hurdlers and multi-event athletes, before landing a head coaching job in 2008 at Texas A&M at Kingsville, a Div. II school.
Ryan, who’s 33, has attained a measure of notoriety in recent years by appearing as a hurdler in ads for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials and in Track & Field News, as well as on the cover of Rotary International’s magazine, The Rotarian. He also appeared in a short video clip on the popular quiz program Jeopardy! showing him vaulting at the Duke facility to illustrate a question about the vault’s planting box.
Ryan cites former teammate Rob Ossman, a 1992 state champion vaulter, as having a major influence on his budding career. Others who were instrumental in helping him include teammates Dave Walsh (a former County champ) and Marcus Colucci, Pearl River vaulter Chris Nicholson and John Nepolitan, then a rep for UCS, the track equipment company.
Above all, Ryan credits his dad with helping nurture his love for the sport and guiding him toward a successful athletic and coaching career.
“There was never any pressure on me to be a track athlete,” he says. “While I was growing up, my dad never said I had to do it. I did it because I enjoyed it. Being at the track and going to meets was just a lot of fun for me. Watching people do the events helped me understand how they should be done. It paid off for me in coaching, too. Since I’ve watched the events so many times, I can focus in on the athletes and pick up a lot of little things.”
Ryan would tag along with his dad to Saturday morning practices at North Rockland simply because he enjoyed being around the team and soaking up the atmosphere. He tried his hand at a gamut of events in age group meets, never practicing beforehand. He absorbed knowledge about all the events with close-up views of top athletes, even photographing pole vaulters and high jumpers at meets like the Millrose Games and Golden West Invitational.
North Rockland has developed a constellation of pole vaulting stars, but not more stellar than Ryan. Thoroughly grounded in the event as a youngster and loving the exhilarating rush of going airborne, Ryan pushed the vertical envelope higher than anyone in Rockland ever has. That’s no mean feat, considering Rockland County has produced a parade of state champions and record holders in the event, from Dave Mumme and Tim St. Lawrence in the ‘60s, to Lance Arietta, Brendan Murphy and Stanley Thomas in the ‘70s, to Ryan’s teammate Rob Ossman in the ‘90s.
During his six-year varsity career (starting in seventh grade), Ryan won two New York State championships, capturing both the winter and spring titles his junior year, 1993. He established state records indoors, 15 feet 9 inches, and outdoors, 16-4 ¾ (both since broken). He still holds the state class records for grades 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.
Ryan’s list of blue-ribbon performances spans all levels of competition. He won the National Scholastic outdoor championship in 1994 and finished second indoors the year before. He also had second- and fifth-place finishes at the U.S. Junior Nationals in 1993 and ’94, respectively, won the Penn Relays title in 1993 and was runner-up at Penn in ’94.
A pulled hamstring at the indoor State Qualifier threw a monkey wrench into his senior-year plans. He missed a solid month of training and didn’t return to competition until the Penn Relays, where he finished second on misses after less than a week of practice. Ryan cites his Penn victory during his junior year (held indoors due to a cold rain and hail) as one of his two most memorable performances. “I had been going to Penn as long as I could remember,” he says. “It was a big meet to me personally, watching people win championships and knowing everyone’s reactions to someone who had been Penn champion.”
His other prominent highlight was an unexpected runner-up showing at Junior Nationals in Spokane, Wash., his junior year. Although he was seeded in the bottom quarter of the field and opening height was equal to his best jump at the time (15-9), he mastered the shifting winds that day and outperformed all but Lawrence Johnson, a Tennessee freshman who later was silver medalist at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Ryan made opening height on his first attempt and proceeded to keep clearing until maxing out at 5.00 meters – 16-4 ¾ – a state record by 3 ¾ inches and a mark that stood for six years.
“I went in with the attitude that it was a fun experience and that I had nothing to lose,” Ryan remembers. “I didn’t have aspirations of the top two. But I didn’t want to no-height, come all the way across the country to take three jumps and go home. Being from the Northeast, I was used to all kinds of conditions. Guys were coming in at higher heights and no-heighting. I moved up to a pole I hadn’t used before and I kept clearing bars until it was just me and Lawrence jumping.”
On the local level, Ryan was a gold-medal machine at the County championships, winning the outdoor crown four straight years – the only male athlete to win an individual County title four years in a row. He also won the County indoor championship twice. Displaying great versatility, he was County champion in the 110-meter high hurdles and made the State finals in that event, and also was Section 1 Class A champ in the high jump.
An outstanding student, Ryan graduated 15th in a class of 450 and was heavily recruited by several schools. He accepted a full scholarship offer from Miami and took full advantage of the hospitable Florida climate to excel for the Hurricanes. Ryan, a team captain for two years, won two Big East Conference titles in the pole vault and added third-place Big East finishes in the vault and decathlon. He scaled a personal-best and stadium record 17 feet ¾ inch at the USATF Regional championship at the University of Albany at the end of his freshman year.
After graduating from Miami with a degree in history, Ryan followed his father’s footsteps into the track coaching profession. He spent four years as assistant coach at Florida International, where he groomed one All-America athlete – a 234-foot javelin thrower – and Sun Belt Conference champions in the javelin, hurdles, high jump and long jump. He then served as assistant coach at Duke for five years, handling the pole vaulters, sprinters, hurdlers and multi-event athletes, before landing a head coaching job in 2008 at Texas A&M at Kingsville, a Div. II school.
Ryan, who’s 33, has attained a measure of notoriety in recent years by appearing as a hurdler in ads for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials and in Track & Field News, as well as on the cover of Rotary International’s magazine, The Rotarian. He also appeared in a short video clip on the popular quiz program Jeopardy! showing him vaulting at the Duke facility to illustrate a question about the vault’s planting box.
Ryan cites former teammate Rob Ossman, a 1992 state champion vaulter, as having a major influence on his budding career. Others who were instrumental in helping him include teammates Dave Walsh (a former County champ) and Marcus Colucci, Pearl River vaulter Chris Nicholson and John Nepolitan, then a rep for UCS, the track equipment company.
Above all, Ryan credits his dad with helping nurture his love for the sport and guiding him toward a successful athletic and coaching career.
“There was never any pressure on me to be a track athlete,” he says. “While I was growing up, my dad never said I had to do it. I did it because I enjoyed it. Being at the track and going to meets was just a lot of fun for me. Watching people do the events helped me understand how they should be done. It paid off for me in coaching, too. Since I’ve watched the events so many times, I can focus in on the athletes and pick up a lot of little things.”