Delaney: Raise the bar? Not always
Linda Hadfield and Kelly Benfey were mentally spent before they got to RFA Stadium for Saturday's Rome Free Academy's girls track and field invitational. For pole vaulters that's bad, though the duo had good reason.
"It's really a mental, mental sport," said New York Mills' Hadfield. "It's your head going to kill you."
The technical nature of the pole vault makes it nearly impossible to pull off a perfect attempt, Benfey and Hadfield said. The juniors were admittedly far from perfect. They both did 10-feet, 9 inches.
"We took SATs this morning," said RFA's Benfey. Hadfield rolled her eyes. Hadfield's season best is 11-6. Benfey's is 11-0.
Hadfield and Benfey are worth more than an inquisitive raising of the eyebrows. How do two athletes from the same area become pole vault junkies?
"Sometimes it just happens," RFA coach Brett Couchman said.
The girls met at the RFA meet three years ago. They have competed at national meets, and Section III and state championships. At times opponents, they are also training buddies. It's a friendship formed from long carpool trips to Cornell University for weekly wintertime practices. Since they were in ninth grade, they've trained at the Tompkins County Pole Vault club with coach Matt Scheffler. Jeff Willis of Canastota also works with Scheffler, a man Hadfield calls one of the most patient ever. Benfey said it's not a coincidence two good athletes from the same area would go for the same sport. Pole vault, though, isn't the run-of-the-mill sport of choice.
"It pushes both of us," Benfey said.
Hadfield said she gives herself 20 minutes to shrug off a bad meet or performance. Benfey needs more time. In the pole vault, an athlete's seeding or reputation doesn't mean much. One day's A 10-9 vault can be 12-feet the next. By the end of Saturday's meet Benfey found something good from her 10-9.
"For me it was a good day," she said. "I've been in a slump for a year and I hadn't been at 11-feet for a while."
"It's really a mental, mental sport," said New York Mills' Hadfield. "It's your head going to kill you."
The technical nature of the pole vault makes it nearly impossible to pull off a perfect attempt, Benfey and Hadfield said. The juniors were admittedly far from perfect. They both did 10-feet, 9 inches.
"We took SATs this morning," said RFA's Benfey. Hadfield rolled her eyes. Hadfield's season best is 11-6. Benfey's is 11-0.
Hadfield and Benfey are worth more than an inquisitive raising of the eyebrows. How do two athletes from the same area become pole vault junkies?
"Sometimes it just happens," RFA coach Brett Couchman said.
The girls met at the RFA meet three years ago. They have competed at national meets, and Section III and state championships. At times opponents, they are also training buddies. It's a friendship formed from long carpool trips to Cornell University for weekly wintertime practices. Since they were in ninth grade, they've trained at the Tompkins County Pole Vault club with coach Matt Scheffler. Jeff Willis of Canastota also works with Scheffler, a man Hadfield calls one of the most patient ever. Benfey said it's not a coincidence two good athletes from the same area would go for the same sport. Pole vault, though, isn't the run-of-the-mill sport of choice.
"It pushes both of us," Benfey said.
Hadfield said she gives herself 20 minutes to shrug off a bad meet or performance. Benfey needs more time. In the pole vault, an athlete's seeding or reputation doesn't mean much. One day's A 10-9 vault can be 12-feet the next. By the end of Saturday's meet Benfey found something good from her 10-9.
"For me it was a good day," she said. "I've been in a slump for a year and I hadn't been at 11-feet for a while."
posted by Anne Delaney at
7:54 PM
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