Hunter Verner Article (WWU)

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http://news.bellinghamherald.com/storie ... 3642.shtml

Western's Verner aiming to clear 16 feet today
Western pole vaulter Hunter Verner practices on campus in preparation for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Ellensburg today. RACHEL E. BAYNE THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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JOE SUNNEN, THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

Western Washington pole vaulter Hunter Verner has spent most of his life raising the bar.

At the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships today, he would like to push it just a few inches higher.

"I'll need to go over 16 feet to go to nationals," Verner said. "Probably about 16 feet, 3 inches."

Verner, a junior, met the national provisional mark of 15-9 at the Ralph Vernacchia meet in early April, also a WWU record. He injured a ligament in his left leg doing so.

"After meeting the provisional and setting a school record in the first meet I thought this was going to be a great year," Verner said. "Then my leg started hurting."

Verner has spent the last three weeks working his way back to form but still isn't 100 percent healthy. He wears a brace at practice and fatigue has been an issue.

"I am hoping to take the brace off this weekend and see how it feels," Verner said. "I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life otherwise."

Verner and teammate Tyler Thornbrue share the conference lead in the pole vault entering the championships at Central Washington.

Thornbrue tied Verner's school mark last weekend and is also looking to secure a spot at nationals. The two went to the indoor national championships in the event and would like to get to the outdoor together as well.

"We definitely push each other," Thornbrue said. "Having competition at practice helps gets the adrenaline going. It keeps me serious."

The competition has helped Verner as well.

"I wouldn't be going nearly as high as I am without Tyler, Scott (Romney) and Charlie (Tribe) to push me," Verner said. "We always want to jump higher."

While Thornbrue admittedly vaults better at meets than at practice - relying on adrenaline as much as skill - Verner is more of a technician.

"I need to be relaxed do to well," Verner said. "It's important that I get in the right place mentally before I vault."

One of the reasons is that Verner has been around the sport most of his life. He was first exposed to it when he was a child growing up in Tennessee.

His father, also a vaulter, used bamboo chutes to train Verner to run with a pole in his hands and how to approach a pit before he was nine.

"Technically Hunter is very sound," WWU pole vault coach Dick Henrie said. "He still needs to work on his strength but he's a very good vaulter."

Verner, a converted distance runner with a slim build, moppish brown hair and puffy sideburns, began refining his vaulting skills in high school. He improved his speed and approach while working with former Olympic decathlete Greg Kinder.

"I had to really work on the rate my legs turned over," Verner said. "I used to run cross country and it's a slower movement. I needed to be faster and more explosive."

If Verner's approach to the pole vault seems more mature than the pin-your-ears-back and go ideal, there is a reason.

He's spent much of the last six years traveling the world for various reasons, including trips to Cyprus, France, Israel and Eastern Europe.

"People have this image of the loud, obnoxious American," Verner said. "If you are respectful and make an effort with people they are usually very nice."

On Verner's most recent trip to Israel he visited a hospital for victims of terrorist attacks. The experience was unlike any he had before.

"I was nervous that there would be an anti-American sentiment," Verner said. "But I didn't experience that. There was a time that I could hear gunfire and mortar shells exploding. But I never felt that I wasn't safe."

Those kinds of experiences have helped Verner keep pole vaulting in perspective.

"It's been an up and down year," Verner said. "It's been frustrating at times but I think sometimes people take it too seriously. There is a lot more to life."