Merritt Van Meter is one of the top pole vaulters

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Country Day's Merritt Van Meter is one of the top pole vaulters in the country
Ryan Chatelain, Contributing writer, February 18, 2010 12:56 p.m.

Country Day pole vaulter Merritt Van Meter has become one of the best in the country - (Brett Duke/The Times-Picayune)

Country Day's Merritt Van Meter will be the favorite in the girls pole vault event on Saturday. - (Brett Duke/The Times-Picayune)
Whether Merritt Van Meter was playing soccer, riding horses or running track, she knew the second she heard that deafening whistle resonating from the bleachers that her father was there to cheer her on.

Those first few track meets after Clifford Van Meter, a surgeon at Ochsner Health System, died of plasma-cell leukemia in May 2008 were particularly difficult for Merritt, now a senior at Country Day.

"If anyone would whistle out there at the track, my head would just snap off, " she said. "I was looking for Daddy, and I knew he wasn't there. It was just so hard to come down the runway and not think about him."

The death of Van Meter's father was only one of several life-altering events she endured in a tumultuous five-year span. She also dealt with the flooding of her Old Metairie home during Hurricane Katrina and hasattended four schools in three states since eighth grade.

But this season, without any major distractions or tragedies, Van Meter has finally been able to be a normal teenager. As a result, the pole vaulter literally is reaching new heights.

At the National Pole Vault Summitt in Reno, Nev., last month, Van Meter vaulted 13 feet 3 inches, the top jump of any female high school athlete in the nation this indoor season. The vault also ranks 11th all-time.

Van Meter will be competing in the high school state indoor championship meet Saturday at LSU.

"This is the first year that I could really stand up tall and not have to bench-press the weight of the world, " she said. "And I think that when you don't have to do that, you really see how far you can go when you've already found out what you're made of."

The daughter of a former Tulane football player and an Iowa track athlete, Van Meter said she, too, has been an athlete since she was old enough to walk.

"You could ask my parents. I think the first thing they said when I came out of the womb was, 'Look at those calves, ' " Van Meter said.

Since she was a child, Van Meter has been involved in soccer, softball, rodeo, gymnastics and many other track events -- sprints, hurdles, long jump, high jump and javelin. But this year she is focusing on her primary passion of pole vaulting.

She has been drawn to the event since she was in sixth grade, when she attended a track and field camp at the University of North Carolina and got in trouble for sneaking off to watch the pole vaulters.

Soon after, Van Meter, who has committed to the Tar Heels, expressed her desire to vault to Doug Fraley, coach of the Mardi Gras Track Club. Wanting her to mature first, he asked her to wait until she was 14.

In the meantime, Fraley said, Van Meter was laying the foundation to become a great pole vaulter by competing in other events.

"The thing about pole vaulting, it is so multi-disciplinary, " said Fraley, who still coaches Van Meter. "You take a person, and you have to develop the speed of a sprinter, the jumping ability of a long jumper, the body weight-strength ratio of a gymnast, and you really have to wrap that all into one.

"So her background from a little girl doing all the track events that she did, all the gymnastics and volleyball and softball and everything, it's really allowed her to be a good athlete."



Fraley said he is not surprised by Van Meter's recent success. She was, after all, vaulting around 12-6 last season, won a high school outdoor state championship, finished sixth in the Nike Outdoor Nationals and second at the Junior Olympics.



But in addition to dedicating herself to pole vaulting, Van Meter has matured physically -- she lost 10 pounds and became stronger -- and mentally since last season, Fraley said.

"I could just see after (the Nike Outdoor Nationals and Junior Olympics), when I require her to take three weeks off before starting fall training, there was just kind of a maturity that came over her, that at that point she became a very serious athlete, " he said. "It was like, 'OK, I've been exposed to some really good athletes. I've competed with them really well this year, but I'm ready to take that step and get to the head of the pack.' "

Van Meter downplayed the significance of holding the nation's top vault, saying she is more concerned with her own progress.

"I think even if there were several girls (in Reno) that were jumping higher than 13-3, I would still be absolutely delighted with where I am right now, " she said. "That's the best feeling, that I have so much potential, and I really see some higher heights coming out throughout the end of this year and definitely after that."