Eric VanAernam happy just to be there (NY)

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He's happy just to be there
Vaulter refuses to let bad break beat him


Hudson Valley pole vaulter Eric VanAernam of Wallkill High School lifts off during an attempt at the 2008 Empire State Games in Binghamton, NY on Saturday, July 26, 2008. VanAernam finished at 12'9". Times Herald-Record/CHET GORDON
Times Herald-Record/CHET GORDON

By Ken Mcmillan
Times Herald-Record
July 27, 2008
VESTAL — Temptation has been around since the biblical days of Adam and Eve, so you can't blame Eric VanAernam for being cast from his own Eden — a promising spring season of pole vault — for perhaps one lapse in judgment.

It was early April and miserable weather conditions made competing at the Rondout Valley Invitational a rather unpleasant experience. VanAernam spent the day piling up points for his Wallkill boys' track team when he arrived at his favorite destination, the pole vault area. He cleared 14 feet on his first attempt, but trouble lay ahead. He should have gotten a clue when the officials had trouble keeping the bar up at 14 feet, 6 inches — he thought about calling it quits with victory in hand, but the wind finally held and VanAernam went over.

He had the victory and the points that go with it, and he was tired. The angel of common sense said "go home," but the devil of athletic greed said, "you're jumping well, and these kinds of good days don't always happen, so keep pushing higher."

Fifteen feet was nothing new for VanAernam, a Section 9 representative at indoor states, and he really wanted the mark for seeding at later meets, so he opted to continue. VanAernam over-strided on his runway approach and he didn't plant his foot properly.

When that happens, "the pole throws you wherever it wants," he said.

VanAernam was headed for the standards, but managed to push them out of the way. He landed with great pressure on his right leg and felt a pop.

The pain felt like a "big muscle cramp," he said, but one look at the X-ray made the diagnosis real clear: "It was a clean break, clear as day," VanAernam said.

In an instant, VanAernam's spring season, and all the hopes that went with it, was over.

"I was mad at myself because I knew I should have stopped," he said.

He was sad and angry at the same time, and needed a couple days to come to emotional grips.

"It was almost like losing a family member," he said.

He could have brooded and spent the rest of the season plopped in front of a TV set, but if VanAernam couldn't improve himself, he figured he could improve others. He showed up at every Wallkill practice, plopped himself down on a five-gallon bucket for a stool and helped turn a group of young Wallkill vaulters into a promising crop.

"He is one of the best student-athletes I've ever been associated with," said Wallkill coach Eric McLaud.

The hope was VanAernam would be back in time for the Section 9 state qualifier in the first week of June, but the doctors would not clear him until two weeks later, just in time for the Empire State Games track qualifier.

It was obvious he had lost his runway speed and stamina, but VanAernam is very well-schooled in technique, and that's what helped him clear 13-6 on his very first jump since the accident, which was good enough to earn him a spot on the Hudson Valley team. Devil be damned, VanAernam asked for the bar to go up to 14-6, and he went right over that. "I was really surprised," he said.

VanAernam was surely the happiest competitor in Saturday's open event at his home for the next four years, Binghamton University. He cleared the bar at 14-9 by well over a foot and was eager for the next attempt at 15-3. The end was at hand, however, because VanAernam, who turns 19 next week, still is a far ways off from the stamina and runway speed needed for that kind of height. Still, he finished fourth. The winner, Jake Zanetti of Saratoga Springs, cleared 15-7.

No matter. VanAernam has rediscovered joy in his life.

"It's a relief to be able to come out here and jump," he said, "not for winning or the competition, but just to have fun."