The stadium starts to quiet down, with everyone watching closely to see if the athletes are able to clear the height. It’s at this point that an athlete will find success after weeks of hard work, or they will get eliminated from the round, forced to wait in the hopes of scoring better at the next track meet.

World Athletics says that pole vaulting, a field event, is a highly technical sport involving intense speed, accurate timing, and gymnastic strength to launch over the bar. Junior Austin Ruhter has recently found great success in this event.

“Right now, I have a personal record of 12 feet. I think I am the ninth-best vaulter in Millard North history right now,” Ruhter said.

His passion for track and field didn’t just spark during high school, as he had experience in middle school and wanted to continue learning more about the sport.

“This is my first year doing pole vaulting, and I really just wanted to try something new this year. I’ve always been encouraged to try new things, and I’ve always kind of had a little bit of the adrenaline junkie gene, so I decided to give it a try. I loved the people and everything about it,” Ruhter said.

His inspiration to pursue pole vaulting stemmed from his family and their experience in high school and college athletics.

“My mom was honestly a big influence. She always told me she feels like it’s something that I would have a gift for. Both of my parents were in track in high school, and they did a bunch of different events, so they always encouraged me to do whatever I wanted to try,” Ruhter said.

MN’s pole vaulting coach, Baden Luna, works closely with Ruhter and believes that he has a great amount of potential to pursue even more in the future.

“First things first, he works very hard. And then second, he’s very technical, and he thinks about every step of the vault. Once he’s done, whether he’s cleared the height or missed the height, he asks me questions, and if he needs to make a change to swing his leg harder or try to invert better,” Luna said.

Additionally, Luna believes Ruhter has shown good consistency in his approach and takeoff in vaulting, even though it’s his first year.

“He was a long jumper before he actually jumped over to pole vaulting with me. You have to be very precise on a takeoff when you’re long jumping. And so if I move him back at a 10 foot 6 inch on takeoff, he pretty much hits it every single time,” Luna said.

In terms of Ruhter’s future plans, he’s looking forward to getting as good as he can in his event.

“I’m kind of looking at a bunch of college camps I can go to. There are a couple of camps in Washburn, Kansas, and in the Midwest. I’d love to learn everything I can do to improve it. I love to just be around this sport. I am thinking about coming back and coaching maybe a few years from now, like whatever keeps me involved with the sport,” Ruhter said.

His short-term goals for high school include matching or breaking the school record.

“I feel like that would be something that, with hard work, would be attainable. And I think my goals are beyond just me, where I want to be able to pour out into my teammates, too. I want to be a positive influence and help them grow too, where I’m not just pushing myself and pushing other people too, and I’m encouraging them daily,” Ruhter said.

Being just six inches away from tying the junior record, Ruhter seems to channel his inner drive and motivation toward this sport. The future looks bright for him, seving as a reminder that after every mistake comes an opportunity to try again, to give every jump 110%.