http://www.vvdailypress.com/2005/112004947948211.html
Aiming Higher
Despite challenges, AAE's Hutzley is driven to excel
Story by KRIS REILLY, Photo by MICHAEL STENERSON/Daily Press Staff
Most pole vaulters who compete at the state championships have a pole-vaulting pit at their school. Tim Hutzley's was in his coach's back yard.
Hutzley, who just completed his senior year at the Academy for Academic Excellence, spent his four years training whenever and wherever he could.
Last offseason, AAE athletic director/track coach Dave Cook had the school buy Hutzley a pit. Cook's back yard wasn't big enough to accommodate the equipment, so assistant coach Aric Juarez sacrificed some of his property so Hutzley could train.
"I'd say he was probably there twice a week," Juarez said. "If it was up to him, he would have been there every day. That's just how he is; he wants to train all the time."
Hutzley's situation was typical for an athlete at AAE, a charter school in Apple Valley with an enrollment of about 350 students. The only on-site athletic facility is a cross country course. Hutzley has overcome these obstacles thanks to the dedication of his coaches and parents as well as his own discipline and determination.
Hutzley achieved a personal best of 15 feet and was the only High Desert male athlete to advance to the CIF State Track and Field Championships. These accomplishments have made him the 2005 Daily Press Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
He's the first athlete in the school's seven-year history to advance to state, and he's the first AAE student to be named Daily Press AOY.
The Knights' league, the Big Sky League, doesn't have pole vaulting as a dual-meet event, so all of his competition came at invitationals, where he faced some of the best athletes in Southern California.
He recorded his 15-foot vault at the Surf City Invitational in Huntington Beach. His mark tied for first in the meet with three others, including Greg Woepse of Mater Dei/Santa Ana, one of the top vaulters in the CIF Southern Section. Hutzley won the event because he had the fewest misses.
To put that in perspective: Mater Dei has an enrollment of 2,200 and was recently ranked by Sports Illustrated as the No. 6 sports high school in the country.
But thanks to the support around him, Hutzley doesn't feel like he's been at a disadvantage â€â€