Ben Peterson (WY) 16-6

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Track teams qualify 11 for state during Sheridan Invitational - By Amber Peabody


The CHS track team qualified 10 individuals and one relay for state in the first meet of the season.

“The team competed really well, and it was a good meet for everybody,â€Â

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Ben Peterson set a stadium and meet record in the pole vault, clearing 16'-2.â€Â

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On the boys side, Ben Peterson cleared 16' in the pole vault to win first.

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http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles ... invite.txt

Billings Invite

Pole vault -- Ben Peterson, COD, 16-5 3/4 (record, old record 15-6, Steve McMorris, Laurel, 1989); Garret Buer, HP, 15-0; (tie) Nathan Kardos, COD and Spencer Sheffield, COD, 13-6; Jake Bowman, HAR, 13-6; Eric Buer, HP, 13-0.

Pole vault -- Courtney Kosovich, BS, 11-6 (record, old record 10-10, Lindsey Karlik, Cody, 2001); Miranda Fehilly, SID, 10-0; Diana Dimarco, BOZ, 10-0; Kim Martin, SID, 9-0; (tie) Katelyn Koch, SID and Brittney Martin, BS, 8-6.

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Vaulters soar in Invite
Cody's Peterson clears 16-53/4; Senior's Kosovich also sets meet record
By ED WEST
Of The Gazette Staff

Seventeen years ago Laurel's Steve McMorris went 15 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault at the Billings Invitational.

That stood as the record until Saturday when Ben Peterson of Cody, Wyo., beat it by nearly a foot with an impressive 16-53/4 vault at MetraPark's Dutcher Memorial Track.

McMorris happened to be on hand to witness it.

"That was neat," said McMorris, who was helping with the event and is in his first year on the Billings West staff. "He hammered it. It was a good day for the vaulters."

The girls record also fell as Senior's Courtney Kosovich soared 11-6 to beat the old mark by eight inches.

Lexi Halvorson of West surprised herself by breaking the discus mark, the second oldest on the books and helping West's girls to a second straight team trophy with 1141/2 points.

Huntley Project's Clark Cranford erased his own mark in the 300 hurdles as the Red Devils and ran away with the boys championship with 86 points.

Last year Peterson fell short of McMorris' mark, falling one and half inches shy. This year there wasn't too much doubt what would happen. Peterson earlier cleared 16-9 at an indoor meet in Idaho and 16-6 outdoors. He came in at 15 feet and quickly tied the record at 15-6.

On his third try, Peterson made it over 16-53/4. The bar was raised to 17 feet and he barely brushed it on his last attempt.

"It felt good," said Peterson, who's headed to the University of Minnesota. "I came down on it (bar) just a little. Anytime I'm over 16-0, I'm happy with it. It's great to break the meet record. Hopefully, I can go 17."

McMorris was glad see his record fall, never expecting it to hold up this long.

"I'm surprised it lasted 17 years," McMorris said. "He's (Peterson) so fluid on the runway. He does a lot of things well."

McMorris was also happy for his former pupil Garrett Buer of Huntley Project, who broke the school record at 15-0, and for Kosovich. McMorris spent three years at Project before moving to West.

The balmy day got off to a good start for Kosovich, who won the long jump (17-51/2) before heading to the vault. She broke the old mark of 10-10 by Cody's Lindsey Karlik in 2001 by going 11-0.

After making 11-6, Kosovich failed to get over 12-0.

"I wish I could have done better at 12, but it was fun," Kosovich said. "It was my PR (and a school record)."

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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."