http://www.argusleader.com/article/2011 ... t%7CSportsReaching for rare air
Freshman pole vaulter makes USD history by advancing to Division I track meet
9:02 PM, Jun. 8, 2011 | 3 Comments
USD freshman pole vaulter Bethany Buell ranks 12th in the event entering the Division I national meet. / Aaron Packard / For the Argus Leader
Written by
Mick Garry
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Sports
University Of South Dakota
VERMILLION - The physical and mental circuitry has to be in good working order to continue to climb as Bethany Buell has in her short time as a college pole vaulter.
Equipped with what her coaches say is a unique ability to synthesize information, Buell, a redshirt freshman at the University of South Dakota, will compete in the NCAA Division I National Outdoor Track and Field Championships this week in Des Moines, Iowa. She carries with her some USD history, in addition to her own aspirations.
As a testament to the difficulty in advancing as far as she has, no other college athlete in the state is joining her. Nor are any of the former standout high school athletes from the state who have gone on to compete at major colleges elsewhere.
"She's what I'd call our featured athlete as we go through the transition to Division I," said USD women's track coach Lucky Huber. "It seems like that is working out pretty well. Our plan was to have Bethany come in, develop and get better and by doing so attract other kids, whether it's in the pole vault or other events, and keep leap-frogging up."
Buell is the one doing the leap-frogging for now, with a personal best of 13 feet, 9.25 inches that broke the Howard Wood Dakota Relays record in May. She won the Great West Conference pole vault this spring, and, because USD was able to fast-track its outdoor track programs this year to full eligibility, advanced to the NCAA West Preliminary Meet in Eugene, Ore., two weeks ago.
Then, with a jump of 13-3.5, she finished tied for 10th place in Eugene and qualified for a trip to Des Moines. It was a first at USD.
"It was a goal all season long," Buell said, recounting the moment when she learned she'd advanced. "Then I heard my name called that I'd made it. It has been a blessing."
Like a lot of female vaulters, Buell has a strong background in gymnastics, which eases the adjustment to using a pole to try to flip yourself over a bar. But athletic ability is not where Huber, nor assistant coach (and two-time Olympic pole vaulter) Derek Miles start when telling you why this 5-foot-4 St. Louis native is nearing the 14-foot mark in the vault.
"What's unique about Bethany is that I can see three things wrong in a jump, and she can work on all three things in her next jump," Miles said. "In my first year working with her, I'd see her jump and then say, 'These are the things we're going to try to fix.' "
Miles would then list them, indicating which of the three they'd focus on in the next jump.
"She'd say, 'Well, why don't we fix all three things in one shot?' " Miles said. "It's not often you see an athlete who can process one of the things you give them to work on, let alone two or three."
Making the grade
It's not just what you'd call a "knack" on Buell's part that she's adept at the mental management side of the pole vault.
With a 3.97 grade-point average in psychology, she obviously picks up everything pretty quickly, not just instructions from an Olympian.
The combination has been a good one for Miles, who has a great grasp of the technical elements of the event, and Buell, who has a great appetite for them.
"I think the secret is that you can't get too far ahead of yourself," Buell said. "You have to concentrate on what you're working on at the moment. If you're worrying about five things you haven't accomplished yet, your brain is going to get overloaded and you won't be able to do the first thing you were trying to do."
In recruiting Buell, a two-time state high school pole vault champion in Missouri, Huber and Miles saw someone they suspected would be able to handle the sometimes painstaking process of improving technique.
"Quite honestly, and this is kind of a cliche, but you look for really smart kids," Huber said. "Pole vaulting is a complex event. The combined GPA of our pole vaulters here is off the charts. With Bethany, you have those kinds of qualities. Then you bring in Coach Miles' ability to not only teach it, but bring a passion to the event, and you can see why things have come together."
Eager to learn
Buell's introduction to vaulting began in middle school, where Chris Moore, a gym teacher and one of Rockwood Summit High School's track coaches, suggested she try the event in high school. A year later, Moore, himself a former pole vaulter, began teaching her the basics.
"It wasn't until her sophomore year that you could tell she was going to be really good at this," Moore said. "The thing with Bethany is that she had that drive to be really good at whatever she tried to do. That drive is what kept her going."
On the flight to Oregon for the West Regional, while others were talking, relaxing or sleeping, Buell was reading the meet's participation manual. Perhaps a little nerdy, but the coolness of hitting 13-9 balances it all out.
"She's kind of a look-ahead-and-plan type of kid," Huber said. "She wanted to know how the warmup was going to start and how everything was going to work. To me, that's a big part of why she's been successful. She wants a lot of information. When you're as smart as she is, you can handle all the things that come at you in the pole vault. Some kids get a little overwhelmed by it."
Reaching higher
Buell's vault at the Howard Wood Relays ranks her No. 12 nationally going into the Division I meet, where Tina Sutej, a Slovenian who vaults for Arkansas, is the top-ranked athlete, having cleared 15 feet.
Buell was the only freshman vaulter to advance to the national meet from the West Regional and is the only freshman ranked in the top 20 in the event.
Because success in the event is so tightly strapped to technique, the better vaulters are usually upperclassmen. It is why Miles, Buell's tutor, remains a world-class competitor at age 38, having cleared 19 feet three different times in 2010.
It is also why Buell can realistically expect to keep climbing. The higher you go, though, the tougher it gets.
"The inches become far more expensive pieces of real estate," Miles said. "The difference between 14 feet and 14-3 is much bigger than the difference between 13 feet and 13-3. It becomes exponentially more difficult.
"My job with Bethany is to prepare her for that without making it sound negative. If we can go through the process, we can still get to those heights."
With Miles' presence at USD an obvious selling point, the Coyotes this fall signed two of the nation's top five high school vaulters - Emily Grove of Pontiac, Ill., who has gone 13-5; and Kaitlin Petrillose of Austin, Texas, who has gone 13-8.
They will very quickly next year be compared to their slightly older teammate, who is intent on continuing to push her school record higher.
"I'd love to be a 15-foot vaulter someday," Buell said. "But I have to get to 14 feet first. It's one step at a time, but it's great knowing that when you get to that next step, Coach Miles is going to know what to do."
