No restrictions for Gibsonburg senior Cole Owens
Cole Owens couldn’t run around curves last season, which said enough about his body.
The fact the Gibsonburg senior was sprinting and vaulting says it all about his mind power.
He missed seven football games with a knee injury as a junior, returned for the postseason and reinjured his knee. He had surgery that December.
“Junior year was a hard year,” he said. “I didn’t get cleared to vault or do anything until three days before the first meet. I couldn’t get ready; I was doing therapy all the time. I couldn’t run and get on the poles I wanted to early.”
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Doctors told him it would be six months before he could return to track.
“It made me proud to overcome the injury,” he said. “I was cleared in three months. I never expected that. I expected to come back at the end of the season for district, not the first meet competing on the 4x100 and running the 100.”
Owens finished third in the pole vault at the state meet in Division III last year. He was sixth as a sophomore and fifth at regional as a freshman to miss advancing by one spot.
Owens was part of a 4x100 relay that qualified to regional, and he placed at district in the 100 last season. He wasn’t allowed to do the turn for the 4x200 relay but is no longer restricted.
“Technique,” he said of working to improve. “I’m trying to get on a bigger pole. Last year I used 14-7. This year I’m trying 15 feet for an extra boost. Get my form down; my trail leg straight all the way through so I can swing it up.
“Make sure I’m inverted so I can rip out of that to get myself higher in the air.”
He injured the same left knee on senior night last year. He missed the final four games but didn’t require surgery.
He took a few months off and felt great since January. He’s occasionally sore, but it doesn’t concern him. He was able to qualify for the Adidas Nationals indoor meet in Virginia Beach.
The kicker since his freshman year, he contributed at running back when healthy the last three years.
“I was determined to play after my surgery no matter what with those guys,” he said. “I didn’t want to get hurt, but if I did that’s what it was. I wanted the guys to have some seniors to help out so they understood what they had to do.”
Despite his misfortune, he never considered life without football.
“If you give up, you let yourself down,” he said. “Being tough and never to give up, especially after last year. I could have not come back to jump and rested my body. That’s not how I was raised. My dad wanted me to play every sport I could.
"I didn’t want to give up, especially with my dad as coach. Senior year, I could have taken it easy but I’m in the best shape I could be in, even having an injury from football this year.”
Owens established a school record in the pole vault at 14-6 at district as a junior. He cleared 14-2 to tie for third at state and took a Sandusky Bay Conference championship his first three seasons.
“I want to bring the school record higher,” he said. “State champ is too far ahead. I’m focused on the moment with my teammates; track for the last time.”
He has 15 feet on his optimal to-do list. Actually, he’d really love to clear 15-3 to top a mark his dad, Glenn Owens, reached as an adult.
Glenn Owens is Cole’s team and vault coach for track. The elder Owens cleared 12-6 to establish the Gibsonburg record when he was in high school.
“That was one of the things that brought me in,” Owens said. “My cousin [Payton Balsizer] vaulted for him. All that and then to be the best vaulter in program history is cool to do with your dad and cousin.”
Owens had no expectations when he got to high school. He vaulted 13-8 to set the school record for the first time by one inch.
“I just wanted to clear a decent height,” he said. “Breaking the record freshman year, I never expected that to happen. Seven people have cleared 13 feet for the program. Being the only person over 14 feet is one of the coolest things I can think of.”
Owens plans to study finance at Bowling Green State University, although the door isn’t completely closed on a college career. Gibsonburg football and track enabled him to reap the benefits of his resilience and perseverance.
“My story is rewarding to see how I’ve come along in four years and come through and fought back to do what I’m doing,” he said. “Some people couldn’t. Some would have given up. That’s not me. In middle school my coach [Mike DeAngelis] told me, ‘If you do good things, good things happen.’
"I had a bad thing happen, but I did therapy every day and good things happened. Other people have stories to fight through adversity, but my story is one of the coolest I could have thought to happen for me.”
mhorn@ganett.com
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This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Golden Bears' Owens works to return to OHSAA boys state track tourney
