Mt. Hood freshman Jayce Giddens decided in middle school that pole vault was his thing.
Before he tried pole vaulting, Giddens, 19, thought that track was boring, “just running around in circles,” he said. But after he jumped in, he found that he was hooked.

Giddens quickly excelled in his sport, even capturing fifth place in state when he was a sophomore at Junction City High School. While in high school he also participated in football, wrestling and club soccer, but decided to pursue track when he entered college.

“I chose track because I wanted to compete in sports all the way through college and I’m too small for football. Track is basically the one sport that I liked the most,” he said.

Giddens, an art major, spends most of his free time doing homework, sleeping, playing X-Box, chatting on his computer, drawing and working on his car, a ’95 Dodge Neon. He even belongs to a car club called Neon Exotics, run by one of his friends.

He said he enjoys working on cars because he is “fascinated by learning.”

Giddens, a Florence native, likes listening to hip-hop, rap and ‘80s music, “basically anything but country.” He also likes what he calls “heartbeat music” (subwoofers in cars) because the maternal definition of it tends to “take the thugness away.”

Although he doesn’t have a lot of time for drawing, Giddens is pursuing a career in either animation, cartooning, or graphic design. This term, he is also taking a pottery class to help expand his artistic horizons.

One quote that he tries to live by daily is a statement by “The Great One,” retired hockey star Wayne Gretzky. He said, “100 percent of the shots you don’t take don’t go in.”

Giddens takes the quote as motivation. “Basically he means never give up and, if you don’t try you can’t accomplish anything,” he said.

At the NWAACCs, Giddens’ goal is to make a vault of 14 feet, six inches or better. “I know that I’m capable of at least 15, but I just want to try my best,” he said.
He said that he is glad the championships are at home this year. “Now I don’t have to wake up as early.”