Harrisonburg High School’s Track and Field team had their first meet where seniors Nolan Beach and Zion Hunter, and sophomore Philo Wettig, three pole vaulting student-athletes cleared 12 feet, qualifying the state meet.
Wettig had not yet cleared 12 feet before, or even qualified for states before this season, making this his first time.
“I’ve done an 11 foot bungee in practice and gotten way over it. I’ve also done a 14 foot bungee, which makes it hard to say if I could have done 12 feet or not. I think I’ve done 12 foot jumps in practice but I’ve never not touched the 12 foot bungee before,” Wettig said.
After countless days of practice, Wettig was able to see his work pay off.
“It was pretty scary at first. I did my first two jumps and failed them both out of three attempts. I was really nervous. My coach told me to switch to a bigger pole and when I was about to go my coach said not to risk it and to switch back, so I was really nervous
at that point,” Wettig said. “I just needed to do a really good jump, and I jumped and got over the bar,”
After facing many nerves and taking risks, Wettig was filled with joy and excitement.
“I was really surprised. I wasn’t sure I could get it at that point. I did flip out, I was yelling and so excited. Other people were yelling and clapping. Luke was screaming in the background of the video,” Wettig said. “It feels really exciting to have qualified so early in the season. I’m really happy to have done this so soon because now the pressure’s off.”
Wettig didn’t have to experience the joy and excitement of qualifying alone. He had his peers alongside him, also qualifying.
“My indoor PR was only 10 ‘6 because of my hip injury all season. So when I got 12 feet at the first meet it was wonderful. There wasn’t really anything that could have made the meet worse after that. I was very happy after qualifying for states at the very fi
rst meet after having a terrible indoor season,” Beach said.
Beach found himself with unexpected support along with the surprise of qualifying.
“I got it on my second attempt out of three. I got over and everyone was cheering, that was really fun. Mr. Rush was there on the sideline which was funny,” Beach said. “I didn’t think that I’d immediately get 12 feet but it was a pleasant surprise. It’s very rewarding to see that my work has paid off from the last month especially because we’ve been so persistent.”
Hunter was also able to qualify for states at his first meet.
“I only went for a three-step approach which is half as far as I would usually do. It was a fun challenge to try to get over decent heights not running up that far. I performed pretty well in that aspect,” Hunter said.
Despite the challenge of running a shorter distance than usual, Hunter was able to push himself to success with the help of his peers.
“The order of jumps was Nolan, Philo, then me. Nolan and Philo had both gotten it, and I was on my third attempt so I was like okay I have to get it. I couldn’t let them beat me,” Hunter said. “I was happy to have qualified. I was more relieved, like I knew I could do it. It was kind of crazy that I cleared it with only three steps, but I knew I could do it.”
Despite being able to succeed so early, behind every success is a journey of hardship and persistence. Beach found himself facing moments of mental block.
“With pole vaulting, there’s a super big barrier that you have to get past. You see a lot of stuff with people that go up then come back down and land on the pole, or land on the standards, or the little metal things that hold it up. So you definitely have to get past the mental block and just trust your step, that you’ll be in the right spot, and trust that the pole is going to keep you up and that’s something I struggled with for a while,” Beach said.
Beach had found himself in a difficult situation, having to relearn and face new fears.
“Last year I learned it the wrong way and I had to totally relearn it. I had to learn how to bend it which was a whole new thing. It feels way scarier because you go upside down and really feel it,” Beach said. “You have to get comfortable being upside down in the air, and knowing certain cues to come up out of being tucked and that was scary to get through.”
Wettig had also found himself in a similar situation.
“Everyone has time where they have mental blocks, especially in pole vaulting. Often you can just be running down the runway and just stop. Even the professionals do it. I just switched up a pole that was a lot less bendy than the original pole I was using. I went up and didn’t hit it with enough force to bend fully and shoot up and over into the pit so I went up and then shot back and landed on the ground,” Wettig said. “It was pretty scary, my coach thought I was going to die.”
In sports such as pole vault, injuries are very common, serving as another difficult factor.
“I’m always injured. Right now my hamstring is pulled which kind of holds me back a bit. First it was my quad, before that was my hamstring, then my other one,” Hunter said.”It got to a point where I couldn’t compete or function with injuries, which now I’m almost used to.”
Despite all the difficult factors that come with the sport, these athletes are able to lean on each other.
“I have such good teammates such as Zion, he’ll keep on pushing me because he’s significantly better than me at the moment. He’s a good motivator to keep me on track and not just brush off the rest of the season,” Beach said.
Community is an important part of sports.
“There’s a vaulter at Spotswood and we’re tied for PR’s right now so I like having people around you that push you. If someone does good and you don’t, you’re going to want to try harder next time, and you’ll probably do good, and the other way around,” Hunter said. “If you don’t have any competition around you, you’re never going to reach your full potential, you’ll just cap yourself.”
Wettig looks up to his teammates, seeing them as role models.
“It would definitely have been a lot harder for me to do anything if I hadn’t had such good role models. Zion has such great physicality when jumping. He’s super fast, strong, and has great technique. The same goes for Nolan. He’s really strong,” Wettig said. “They’re good friends of mine too. It feels pretty nice competing alongside them. Zion pretty much wins every meet he’s in so it’s pretty cool to watch. With them graduating, I’m definitely going to miss them. It’s gonna get harder to improve without people around you who are better than you.”
