Taylor Meeks
Sports Writer
Finally, it was his turn to hoist the pole in the air, race down the runway and vault himself up and over the 15-foot bar. Though it was only warm ups, his heart still pounded in his chest, his knuckles turned white from his tight grip and sweat droplets formed across his forehead. With a deep breath, he pushed his nerves to the side and went for the jump.
Maybe it was the weight of being the highest-ranked freshman in the Big Sky Conference for the pole vault, or maybe it was the weight of the change to a bigger-sized pole in his hands. Whatever the reason was, Harlan Benedict didn’t build enough momentum to finish a proper vault. The bottom of the pole didn’t stick in the box, and without enough leverage to complete a full front flip in his bail out, things went south.
From 15 feet in the air, Benedict nosedived straight into the pit instead of safely landing on his back like he had planned. The freshman came down hard, catching himself with his arms. When he rolled over and glanced at his body for injury, it appeared he had a second elbow. Both bones in his left arm had snapped, marking the conclusion of not only the Indoor Track and Field Big Sky Conference tournament but the end of his freshman season.
“I am really lucky that I caught my arm and that it wasn’t anything else,” Benedict said. “To this day, I don’t know how I didn’t hit my head or my neck with me being straight up and down.”
Benedict grew up in a small town called Mountain View, Wyoming, where the population doesn’t even reach 1,300. Without the resources or high levels of competition due to the rural, frontier-like population of the state, it wasn’t until he started practicing on a Utah club team that Benedict became serious about pole vaulting.
The Wyoming native would leave after school and travel two and a half hours to his club practice twice a week in order to utilize their resources and
improve his abilities. As a senior in high school, Benedict decided that he wanted to compete at the next level and started talking to college coaches to begin the recruiting process.
One of his club coaches helped him by reaching out to her contacts that she knew in order to get Benedict’s name on the radar.
“It was hard, but I definitely think it helped me get better, and it gave me a place to practice and a place to borrow equipment from,” Benedict said about his track and field club. “I don’t think I would be competing in college if I wouldn’t have reached out to them and practiced or competed with them.”
After considering a few serious offers, Benedict ultimately chose Idaho State to further his athletic dreams. The freshman has always admired the school, and with its history of excellence in the pole vault, it was a no brainer for him to commit to the university.
As expected, the transition from high school to college was slow going at first. Going from just showing up and pounding out a fast workout before heading home in high school to practicing for three and a half hours at the collegiate level, Benedict had to adjust quickly and build his endurance to finish practice every day.
“Harlan is positive and a team player,” said head coach Hillary Merkley. “He is a lot stronger, faster and he has improved in his technique in the vault. He is always working hard himself, and one thing that makes him a great member of the team is he is always wanting his teammates to also have success.”
Benedict’s hard work paid off. Going into the tournament, he was ranked fourth in the conference for pole vault. According to Merkley, one of his goals was to be in a position to become All-Conference.
The dream was about to come to fruition for the star freshman. Unfortunately, after the accident, that dream will be postponed until next season.
After having surgery to fix the broken arm, Benedict’s main focus has been on rehab and getting back his strength to be 100 percent by next season. Though the process has been agonizingly slow and frustrating, his healing is going better than expected.
Hoping to be back to pole vaulting by midsummer, Benedict keeps reminding himself to not dwell on the little things and that he can’t change what has already happened. Moving forward, he hopes to learn from this experience and come back stronger than before.
“We talk with our team about character skills and traits that will help us be successful in all aspects of our lives,” Merkley said. “Some key ones on our list are working hard, being focused, learning to be resilient, being positive, selfless and committed. Harlan represents what all of these things mean.”
