Career
Sefton broke the pole vault world record several times in 1937 and placed fourth in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Early career
Sefton was a good pole vaulter already in 1932, while still at Polytechnic High School. He vaulted 13 ft 5 1⁄4 in (409 m) for a national high school record and shared first place in the California interscholastic championship meet.
In 1934 he vaulted at least 14 ft (426 m) on four occasions, clearing 14 ft 1⁄2 in (428 m) at Santa Barbara on April 28, and tied for first at the national junior championships with a new meeting record of 13 ft 6 in (411 m).
Sefton and Earle Meadows were teammates at the University of Southern California and collectively known as the "Heavenly Twins". They also tied at the national championships, both clearing 13 ft 10 3⁄8 in (422 m) to share first place.
1936
Sefton and Meadows tied at the National Collegiate Athletic Association meet again in 1936, this time vaulting 14 ft 1 3⁄4 in (431 m) to improve their meeting record by a fraction of an inch. However, the Olympic trials were held separately the following week and there Varoff only placed fourth and was left off the team, while Sefton, Meadows and returning Olympian and University of Southern California graduate Bill Graber all cleared 14 ft 3 in (434 m) to tie for first.
lieutenant was the first time one university had swept the three Olympic spots at the trials.
Sefton almost failed to qualify for the Olympic final, missing twice at 3.80 m (12 ft 5 5⁄8 in) in qualifying but clearing cleanly on his third attempt. Sefton lost the jump-off and thus finished out of the medals in fourth place. 1937
Sefton broke the world record several times in 1937.
He first improved it in Los Angeles on April 10, clearing 14 ft 7 3⁄8 in (445 m) to beat Varoff"s mark from the previous year.
A month later in San Francisco he cleared 14 ft 8 1⁄2 (448 m) in a dual meet against Stanford, but Meadows equaled that height later in the same competition. Finally, in the conference meet on May 29, again in Los Angeles, Sefton vaulted 14 ft 11 in (454 m), clearing that height on his first attempt.
Meadows, despite missing on his first two attempts, again tied the new record on his third and final try. The two were not able to attempt 15 ft (457 m) that day as the standards maxed out at 14 ft 11 in and the bar couldn"t be raised any higher.
Only these last records were officially ratified by the IAAF. lieutenant was only in 1951 that Don Laz of Illinois broke that record.