Keri Laviska Article (NY)

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SV's Laviska uses Internet to learn pole vault skills
BY ARTHUR SHERMAN
Press & Sun-Bulletin
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CONKLIN -- Keri Laviska has used unique methods to learn enough about the pole vault to become the Section 4 outdoor co-record holder in the event.

Susquehanna Valley pole vaulter Keri Laviska is hoping to reach the state meet in the event for the first time. She shared the Section 4 record of 10 feet with Lansing's Lindsay Pine.

DIOGENES AGCAOILI JR. / Press & Sun-Bulletin


Laviska, a Susquehanna Valley senior completing her third season as a vaulter, gained most of her knowledge of the pole vault through Internet research and second-hand accounts.

Despite being the section record holder, Laviska has yet to reach a state track & field championship meet.

Her first of three chances to remedy that comes today when she defends her Southern Tier Athletic Conference title at Ithaca.

"It will be such a sense of accomplishment because I've been kicked out of going to states my past two years," Laviska said. "You just have to be like, 'I'll get it next year.' "

Laviska's path toward becoming one the state's elite pole vaulters -- she is one of 11 girls in the state to clear 10 feet this season according to www.armorytrack.com -- began in the spring of her sophomore year with help from her soccer coach, Ted Hudock. After having previously coached SV's sprinters in track, Hudock was switched to jumps and vaulting coach and he persuaded Laviska to give pole vaulting a try.

With his experience limited to watching friends practice when he ran for Union-Endicott, Hudock began researching pole vaulting on the Web and asking questions of any coach who was familiar with the sport. Part of the problem Hudock saw was the equipment -- the poles SV used were rated for vaulters of higher weights than the SV girls.

That all changed when Ithaca dropped by SV for a modified meet.

Hudock noticed a pole that no one on the Ithaca team was using and thought it would work for his girls. He asked if he could borrow it for practice.

On her first try with the borrowed pole, Laviska cleared 6 feet. She continued upward all the way through 7-6. It was Laviska's first opportunity to realize her work was paying off and the rewards have been following since, including a spot on the Cortland State track team beginning this fall.

"Me and my coach, we're not used to what experts know about," Laviska said. "So we have to gradually get ourselves up with the rest of them because we don't really have perfect knowledge of what pole vaulting is.

"I think it's awesome that we can get this far, really starting from scratch."

Laviska's background as a gymnast plays a large role in her vaulting success. Flexibility is obviously a key element in both sports and gymnastics maneuvers help translate to flipping her body over the bar when pole vaulting.

There is also a comfort zone both disciplines require.

"You have to be used to being in the air," Laviska said. "If you can't get in the air, and if you're afraid of heights, you won't get anywhere."

A jump clearing 10 feet -- which equals the Section 4 outdoor record Laviska reached May 2 in a meet against Greene, matching the mark set by Lansing's Lindsay Pine -- would meet the state-qualifying standard. Any athlete to reach a qualifying standard and then finish top three in their sectional state qualifier automatically advances to the state championships, June 3-4 at Cicero-North Syracuse.

Qualifying standards must be met in either a league championship or the week prior to the state qualifier, which in this area means the Section 4 championship meet.

Laviska has finished second at the state qualifier the previous two seasons, but each time she finished behind someone from a Division II classified school like SV. Top finishers from both Division I and Division II at the state qualifier automatically advance to states.

Unlike her first two seasons when the state qualifier was an all-or-nothing meet, Laviska has now risen to a level capable of taking advantage of the qualifying standard.

"Usually, it's so high that you can't come close to it," SV head track coach Bob Weingartner said.

Even though Laviska's days of high school competition are now limited to just a handful of meets, she can look forward to her understudy, Nicole Ragard, continuing the tradition at SV.

Ragard placed third at last Friday's Rotary Invitational, which Laviska took second in, with a vault clearing 9 feet. With Laviska and Pine both graduating, Ragard is likely to be Section 4's premier vaulter next season.

"Last year, I had a hard time because she was so much better than me and I struggled a lot," Ragard said of her relationship with Laviska. "But this year, she's more of a help because it's somebody to look up to and she's a good role model."