Bellevue's Rowland commits to Akron for track and field

By BRAD FRANK
Gazette Sports Editor

Pic­tured with Belle­vue High School senior Matt Row­land, front left, is Belle­vue head boys track and field coach Nick Lilli, front right, and Rowland’s par­ents, Mark and Jan, back row from left. (Gazette photo by Brad Frank)

AKRON — With his suc­cess as a pole vaulter, Belle­vue High School senior Matt Row­land was one of the most sought after vaulters in the country.

Row­land, a two-time state cham­pion, holds the top mark in pole vault for BHS, in the North­ern Ohio League, in the North­west Dis­trict and in Region 6.

Row­land, who is coached by his uncle Shawn Beamer, received let­ters, phone calls and emails from col­leges through­out the nation, detail­ing their inter­est in Row­land join­ing their track and field programs.

Despite the nation­wide atten­tion, Row­land said his col­lege choice came down to two in-state schools, the Uni­ver­sity of Akron and the Uni­ver­sity of Cincinnati.

His choice was Akron, mak­ing that offi­cial Tues­day by sign­ing a national let­ter of intent. But his choice to attend Akron was vir­tu­ally a done deal for quite some time.

“I’ve known Akron was going to be for a lot of years,” Row­land said. “I’ve been jump­ing with them since my sopho­more year there. I know the coach really well. It was kind of easy.”

In his spare time, Row­land has been pole vault­ing at the Uni­ver­sity of Akron and with its head coach for a cou­ple years now. His rela­tion­ship with Akron men’s track and field coach Den­nis Mitchell has grown in those two years, and it was the decid­ing fac­tor in Rowland’s committment.

“He’s a great coach. He’s one of the best in the nation, so (choos­ing Akron) was an easy pick,” Row­land said about Mitchell, a 15-time Mid-American Con­fer­ence coach of the year.

Row­land calls Mitchell one of the top pole vault coaches in the coun­try. Mitchell coached a four-time All-American pole vaulter at Akron in the mid-2000s.

Akron has won back-to-back indoor and out­door MAC Cham­pi­onships, as well as the 2008 and 2009 out­door MAC Championships.

Mitchell’s suc­cess with the Zips attracted one of the top pole vaulters in nation — Shawn Bar­ber from Texas.

Bar­ber, a fresh­men at Akron, is rated the No. 1 pole vaulter in the country.

And so Row­land, one of the nation’s top high school vaulters, will join the best col­le­giate vaulter at Akron start­ing this fall.

Row­land said it is a dream for him and Bar­ber to qual­ify for the 2016 Sum­mer Olympics.

One of the main attrac­tions at Akron for Row­land is a $20 mil­lion indoor track and field facil­ity — the Stile Ath­let­ics Field House.

“It’s a very nice cam­pus. It’s not too big of a cam­pus,” Row­land said, before men­tion­ing the field house. “They have great vault­ing facil­i­ties and their track is the best in Ohio and prob­a­bly one of the best in the nation.”

Belle­vue boys track and field coach Nick Lilli shared his thoughts on Rowland’s sign­ing with Akron.

“I know the entire school, the track pro­gram and coaches are excited about him tak­ing the next step. The sky is the limit,” Lilli said. “I knew he was going to be a good pole vaulter, because it’s in the fam­ily line,” Lilli said. “The blood is good in the pole vault, just look­ing at state cham­pi­onships in the family.”

Row­land is the third mem­ber of his fam­ily to win a state pole vault title at Belle­vue. Beamer’s chil­dren and Rowland’s cousin — Chad won two while Kelly won one.

Lilli described how Beamer and Mitchell are similar.

“They push him to do the things you’re not good at. That’s hard as an ath­lete. This coach [Mitchell] will bring the best out of him.”

Lilli has always felt Beamer is one of the best pole vault coaches in the coun­try, too.

Lilli said he believes Rowland’s com­pet­i­tive­ness is his best trait and that Row­land is not only a great pole vaulter but a great athlete.

So with his col­lege choice out of the way, Row­land is set to begin his senior year of high school, aim­ing for a third straight state title and a shot at the state record.

Posted by Brad Frank on Feb 12 2013. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.