Coshocton’s Kirkpatrick’s drive propels him to state
COSHOCTON – Pole vaulting is a distinctive sport. It’s fast-paced and, to be good at it, an athlete must be comfortable being upside down at least 10 feet above the ground.
Coshocton High School’s Nick Kirkpatrick is comfortable doing that. So comfortable that he qualified to compete at the state track meet Friday at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium at Ohio State University.
“I love the thrill of doing it,” he said about pole vaulting. “So many people get hurt doing it, and I don’t know, it’s just fun to do.”
Every jump starts the same way for Kirkpatrick. In his mind, he counts his steps — 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 — he plants his foot and then, on step 6, it’s jump as he flies toward the bar.
Things went a little differently last week at the regional final track meet. Instead of flying forward, his pole snapped.
“I started to rock back, and right when I thought it was going to unbend it snapped,” Kirkpatrick said. “I was like, ‘Why does this have to happen right now?’ I was jumping really good on that pole all day, and then it snapped on me.”
Not only did the pole snap, but it sprung up and smacked him on the elbow. Instead of ending his day then, knowing he already qualified for the state meet, he took a break and went back to jumping.
“He is a hard-nose competitor,” said Coshocton’s head track coach, Craig Hamilton. “He has that drive that he wants to be first, he wants to win. That competitiveness in him has given him the drive that no one is going to get in his way and stop him.”
Kirkpatrick finished second in the meet, with a height of 14-03, losing his first meet of the season.
“I thought I had a chance to beat the kid that won the regional,” Kirkpatrick said. “I honestly thought I was going to beat him. Then (the pole) snapped and I couldn’t go much higher, because when it hit me in my arm I couldn’t really use it.”
That will to win has carried Kirkpatrick since he began competing in the event, but it wasn’t until halfway through his sophomore season he thought he could make it to state. That’s when he cleared 12-09 and saw that somebody in the Division III state meet cleared 11 feet.
“I was like ‘OK, if I add a little more, I can go to Division II state,’” Kirkpatrick said.
Kirkpatrick has been working with Thomas Addy, the Newcomerstown High School athletic director and track coach.
He began that training in the middle of his freshman year. Since then, he has improved from an athlete who could not jump 9 feet to the sophomore who cleared 12-09, and his is now a junior and state qualifier who jumped 14-06 at the district meet.
“That’s a big leap,” Addy said. “He has made great progress, even from this year.”
While some people may think Kirkpatrick has come out of nowhere with his progress, this is something he said he expected to happen.
“This was my goal at the beginning of the year, and I was going to call this year a failure if I didn’t make it,” he said.
Now, after winning every meet except the regional meet, he has met his goal, but he isn’t finished yet. Kirkpatrick made the trip, as a spectator, to Columbus last year for the state meet and was able to get a lay of the land.
“It’s really strict,” he said. “I will be nervous, but I think I will be alright.”
At the state tournament, the top eight finishers in each event make the podium and earn All-Ohio honors. That is a feat both of his coaches think he will reach.
“I don’t think Nick will be rattled at all on the big stage,” Hamilton said. “I anticipate him being in the top four spots.”
Kirkpatrick’s mind hasn’t wandered. He continues to stay focused and count out those six steps, then jump. That is something Kirkpatrick expects to continue.
“My mindset doesn’t change. I honestly think I jump better under pressure,” he said.
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