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Cody's Peterson soaring into history
By PATRICK SCHMIEDT
Star-Tribune staff writer
Somewhere on one of Ben Peterson's 23 chromosomes, there is a morph, some kind of natural feature that makes him lighter, springier and more adept than his competition.
His coach, Scott Shaffer, calls it "the pole vault gene."
"He just gets it," Shaffer said.
Finally, there's a reason -- albeit a somewhat flawed one -- for Peterson's success. Even the Cody senior can't explain how he cultivated the talent that appears so natural both on the runway and in the air.
"(I) just went over to try it one day," said Peterson, who started vaulting in seventh grade motivated by nothing more than pure curiosity. "Worked out pretty good."
That's an understatement. Peterson has been the state's best pole vaulter for close to two years now.
He won the state meet last May with a vault of 15 feet. This winter, he won the state indoor meet by launching himself 16 feet, 5 inches off the ground.
This spring, Peterson has bigger goals in mind before moving on to pole vault for Minnesota. And absolutely obliterating the state record is among them.
"Hopefully, anything over 17 (feet)," he said. "Seventeen feet's my primary goal."
That goal is even more impressive when you consider the all-class state meet record is 15 feet, 7 inches, set by Worland's Ben Mischke in 1995. Not only that, the Class 4A record is just 15-3.
With the way he vaulted at the Wyoming Track and Field Classic on Friday at Harry Geldien Stadium, Peterson may break the state record on his opening height. Peterson didn't even waste his time vaulting until the bar reached 15 feet. By then, teammate Nathan Kardos was the only other competitor remaining.
Kardos couldn't clear the height; Peterson did on his second try. On his next vault, Peterson cleared a meet-record 15 feet, 9.5 inches, then bettered that by clearing 16-3 shortly thereafter.
Peterson only had once chance at 16 feet, 9.25 inches, a mark that would have been his personal best, before the wind came up and ended his day prematurely.
Shaffer said his senior pole vaulters, Peterson, Kardos and Spencer Sheffield, have pushed each other every step of the way. He said that, for most pole vaulters, even clearing 12 feet can be a challenge -- but that becomes less of a challenge in a group setting.
"If a guy you're with every single day is going 12-6, you think, 'I can do that,'" Shaffer said.
There's another secret, though, for the success of Peterson and his classmates, a secret that was clear on Friday. Whenever he wasn't vaulting, Peterson was sporting one of two shirts, either his sweatshirt from the Nike Indoor Nationals or a white t-shirt with a big picture of laid-back reggae singer Bob Marley on the front.
"It's just a good time," said Kardos, who will also pole vault at the collegiate level while attending Chadron State. "We try not to be too serious about it.
"We're always laid back about it. We probably have the most fun doing it."
Obviously, it's working. Peterson, Kardos and Sheffield came into the weekend with the three best marks in the state this spring. That kind of success has even infected their coach.
"When I get around those guys, we have fun," Shaffer said. "I don't have to be the head track coach when I'm around them."