Victorious Vaulters
JHS Dynamic Duo Soar to Success
By Amy Morgan
This summer, many were captivated by the Olympic games. We watched in amazement as Swedish phenom Mondo Duplantis pole vaulted 20.505 feet to set his ninth world record! As exciting as the world stage may be, Johnson High School can count not one, but two, state level pole vaulters among their roster of athletes.
Thomas Bucks and Taylor Fuentespina train together at Elite Sports Pole Vault in St. Hedwig under coach, Anicka Newell, who herself competed in the 2024 summer games. Elite Sports, located in a transformed airplane hangar, has produced two Olympians — Logan Cunningham and Anicka. Thomas and Taylor are nipping at their heels, as both have qualified for State competition more
than once – most recently Thomas finished fourth at 16’ 3”, with Taylor’s 12’1’’ earning a seventh-place finish.
When the two started pole vault as middle schoolers, they quickly outgrew JHS’s facilities, which is how the pair ended up at Elite Sports. Pole vault is expensive, Taylor explained. The 15-16’ poles average $1000 each. An athlete might use up to 10 poles at a meet. Elite Sports has a variety of equipment and an updated pit.
Time at the gym has fostered camaraderie. Taylor and Thomas’s moms also have become close friends, sporting matching sweatshirts displaying the word, “Fly,” and chatting in the bleachers during spring track season and club meets representing Elite Sports across the country. Both Thomas and Taylor qualified for nationals last summer and are gunning for this year’s biggest outdoor meet sponsored by Nike in Eugene, Oregon.
Taylor transitioned to pole vault and diving from a background in gymnastics, while Thomas followed the footsteps of his father, who also pole vaulted in high school.
“It was really fun for me to do, and I started to get good,” Thomas said. “I’ve broken my own height record at JHS. I’m trying to make it unbeatable
this year!”
Taylor enjoys the close-knit community and appreciates how pole vault combines skills she acquired on the bar and vault. “It leaves a lot of room for improvement and allows you to excel in one thing,” she said.
Thomas serves in student council and played saxophone in the JHS band for three years, including region band twice. He marched in the BOA national competition last year. Thomas also is involved with Young Life and CBC youth group. As a hobby, he follows the financial markets and has started day trading. Not surprisingly, he hopes to study business and continue pole vault in college. He recently committed to the University of Pennsylvania.
A consummate athlete – Taylor was just one spot away from qualifying for state in diving as well as reaching district competition on the JHS water polo team. She also coaches younger divers at Alamo Area Aquatics Diving and builds sets in JHS’s theater department. She’s hoping to study international affairs or mechanical engineering at West Point, High Point or UNT. While her professional aspiration is to join the CIA, going to the Olympics has been her dream since she was in gymnastics.
Both Taylor and Thomas have younger siblings who attend JHS. The two volunteer during the track season to teach potential pole vaulters from Tex Hill and Tejeda, hoping to inspire the next generation of JHS athletes to follow their footsteps.
