Vaulting to new heights

Senior hopes to repeat regional trip, advance to state

 

By LAUREN JOHNSON/Editor

Imagine flying 14 feet in the air. The fear of falling is overwhelming. The adrenaline rush is indescribable. For Taylor Higdon, it's more than his imagination. It's his life.

Higdon, a senior, has been pole vaulting for five years. With the help from his dad and a coach with a history, he hopes to break records all the way to the state meet.

“The school record is 13'7”, and I want to beat that,” Higdon said. “Last year, regional jumpers in the lower 14s qualified for state to place at state, and I vault 14' feet consistently in practice this year.”

Higdon started pole vaulting in seventh because “Coach G and Coach O told me to,” but later his interest in the sport became personal.

“When I found out my dad pole vaulted for Baylor I got really into it,” Higdon said. “He gives me moral support and comes to all of the meets to help coach me.”

Then, Higdon's pole vaulting career got a huge boost last year when Coach Jeff Bray began coaching the vaulters. Since Coach Bray still holds the pole vaulting record at Florida State as well as four Atlantic Coast Conference records, he obviously knows a few things about the sport.

“Coaching vaulters is easy and natural for me,” Coach Bray said. “I can relate to just about any issue because I have been there and know what it takes to overcome specific technical flaws.”

Coach Bray said he focuses on the mental aspect of the sport as well as the physical side.

“I am always trying to improve their mental outlook,” he said. “Vaulters have to have a very strong mental toughness to be successful.”

Demonstrating that mental toughness with a vault of 17'7 ¾”, Coach Bray was the top high school pole vaulter in the country while attending Elk City High School in Oklahoma . His record-setting college jump was 18' 6 1/2”.

Hoping to one day be as good as his Coach Bray, Higdon has been working on his form and the top of the jump.

Higdon's work ethic at the pit has shown through in his five years of pole vaulting.

“ Taylor is one of the most talented young men that I have coached in the vault,” Coach Bray said. “He has a lot of natural ability in the pole vault and I think that with hard work, he has a chance to be successful.”

Being a successful pole vaulter takes more than just a little practice.

“The key to vaulting success is spending a lot of time in practice with repetition and working on individual parts of the vault,” Coach Bray said. “The pole vault takes many years to master, and an athlete has to really love doing it.”