District track & field championship can often be noisy affairs, but such was not the case on Friday evening.

  The Glen Allen High School stadium grew eerily quiet as Atlee pole vaulter Chris Pillow readied at the end of the runway. The silence stood as an unspoken tribute to the outstanding athletic ability of the fair-haired haired senior.

  Minutes earlier, Pillow had reached his cut-in point in the Capital District pole vault championship. Nearly two hours had passed since the district vault competition had begun and as usual Pillow had spent the time cheering on his teammates, hoping good friends Trey Rydel, Scott Elwood and Matt Thompson would set personal records.

  Facing Pillow’s talents there was little chance of anyone else taking the district title.

  When Pillow finally stepped onto the runway for his first vault no competitors remained to face him. But that was nothing new for Pillow during his monumental final high school run.

  “For most of the outdoor season, he’s come in after everybody else has been eliminated,” said Atlee head coach Jim Triemplar.

  Pillow has reached a level of ability where virtually his only competition comes on a national level. Earlier this year at the New Balance Nationals, Pillow claimed a 6th place finish. More recently at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, an even that drew 22,000 track & field competitors from across the nation, Pillow cleared 15-08 ½ to take third place among the country’s best.

  In the Capital District Championships, Rydel, Elwood and Lee-Davis’ Michael Panton capped their days with vaults of 12-06.

  Pillow’s first vault of the day was to tie the 14-08 Capital District record he set last year.

  He cleared the bar by at least two feet.

  The bar was then raised to 15-08, which Pillow also cleared.

  When Pillow attempted to once again break his own record with a vault of 16-03, darkness had fallen over Glen Allen’s stadium. That too was nothing new for Pillow. “I actually kind of like it in the dark,” he said. “It makes it a little eerie.”

  With the attention of the entire stadium on him, Pillow failed to clear the bar in his first two attempts.

  Being the lone remaining vaulter also has its disadvantages. “It’s a little tough to be the only one going back to back,” Pillow said. “It gets a little tiring after a while.”

  All other competition stopped and the stadium grew completely silent as Pillow set up for his third and final run at the height.

  When Pillow cleared the bar a roar erupted. “That’s really cool,” he said. “They’re all looking at me and cheering me. That really helps.”

  Triemplar was equally impressed. “When it’s done at the level that he competes at, that’s really pretty to watch that achievement,” he said.

  In the growing darkness, Pillow made three attempts to raise the record to 16-4.75 but was unable to clear the bar. Still, the senior walked away knowing he had broken the previous district record by nearly two feet.

  “It feels really good,” Pillow said, pointing out that he was not even aware of what the record was until that morning. “I’m really satisfied about that.”

  After years of hard work, Pillow’s pole vaulting career has come full circle. Every vaulter starts off ignoring competition and setting goals of increasing their PR’s (personal records).

  “When you first get into the sport PRs are important,” Triemplar said. “But then you reach a certain point and you start competing against the competition. You develop little rivalries against people from other schools and because you’re helping your team your place becomes more important, PRs will come.

  “Then when you get so good, like (Pillow) is, or like (Lee-Davis distance runner) Cody Snyder is when he’s on, or like (Atlee sprinter) Marques (Atkinson) when he’s on, then you start competing against numbers again.”

  Hence, for Pillow, competition has evolved to a point where success is no longer measured in trophies or titles. “Not so much as trying to get those heights up, maybe break a state record or something even higher,” he said.

  Pillow’s success can easily be attributed to pole vault coach Kyle Bishop, who has produced some of the best vaulters in Central Virginia. For Bishop, the sky is the limit for Pillow.

  “He’s still growing, that’s the cool thing about Chris,” Bishop said. “Chris is only 17 years old so when he goes next year to Rice (University) he’s still going to be able to compete in some National Junior competitions. Under the conditions that he’ll be able to have in college, he’s going to jump really high. He’s a kid to watch in the future.”

  The AAA state meet record of 16-06 was set in 2005 by Michael Morrison of Great Bridge. Morrison also holds the unofficial state record vault of 17-6 ½. Fellow Great Bridge vaulter Lawrence Johnson is the number two vaulter in the state and he went on to claim an Olympic Silver medal.

  Bishop believes Pillow currently ranks 5th in the Virginia record book.

  With this weekend’s Central Region tournament at Sports Backers Stadium and the AAA State meet at the same location in two weeks, Pillow will get a pair of shots at breaking Morrison’s marks.

  Can he do it?

  “One practice two weeks ago I was clearing 17 foot bungees,” he said. “I’m just trying to hit that again in the meet.”

  Central Region field events begin Friday at 3 p.m. then continue Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m.