LAFAYETTE — With winds whipping and a storm on the horizon, David Warner finally defeated his biggest challenger this track and field season.
The Harrison senior set a goal of clearing 14 feet in pole vault, but it continued to just be a quest.
Until Tuesday night at Salisbury Athletic Complex.
When heavy rain caused the cancellation of the City/County meet on May 5, four of the six Tippecanoe County teams agreed to participate in a four-way meet, squeezing in one last meet before the postseason.
When Warner found out that meet would be at West Lafayette’s complex, where he’d already broken Harrison’s school record by clearing 13-9, he walked in with a preconceived notion this would be the night he eclipsed the obstacle he’d long been aiming for.
“I’ve jumped here since middle school and I’ve always liked this place jumping,” Warner said. “It’s kind of like a second home almost. I was hyped and I was like, OK, we’re going to go get whatever height. We’re going to get 14-whatever. We’re going to go do it.”
Track and field was a natural gravitation for Warner.
His great grandfather is in numerous halls of fame, including Cornell University’s where he was a longtime head coach. Warner’s grandfather, the former head coach at Purdue, followed the same path after a college career where he was a standout pole vaulter. His dad became a pole vault coach and Warner’s mother formerly was a cross country and track coach at Harrison.
Pole vault, however, wasn’t as seamless a gravitation.
He attempted pole vault in sixth grade. It wasn’t until eighth grade that he’d give the event a second chance. Two years after that, he was Harrison’s top pole vaulter as a sophomore and last season was a sectional champion.
Only for self-admitted burn out and mental blocks to show up in a disappointing regional performance where Warner finished 11th.
On Tuesday, Warner followed his new personal best with three attempts at 14-3. The first try engineered enough height to launch over the bar, only for him to clip it on the way down. Those missed attempts though were self validation that he’ll do it at next week’s sectional meet.
“He figured out the mental part of it now, which is obviously in pole vault huge,” Harrison track coach Chris Crum said. “He is eager. He is confident now, which in the past he hasn’t been confident. It’s going to be fun to watch. He’s turning it on at the right time.”
That confidence came from rigorous work and countless repetition.
Rain, wind or snow, Warner used the luxury of year-round pole vault pit use to train in all conditions.
“He’s put in all the work outside of practice, at home, on a weekend, and all of that is coming in and connecting and it’s being put together for him at the right time in the season,” Harrison pole vault coach Amanda Reyes said.
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on X and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Harrison’s David Warner clears 14 feet in pole vault
