Steven Cahoy's pole vaulting title is not a product of luck

Should Steven Cahoy improve as much in the next 12 months as he has in the last five, then the sky is the limit for the Grand Island (Neb.) junior pole-vaulter.

Cahoy, the son of former Husker and U.S. Olympic gymnast Phil Cahoy, gave up high school baseball in January to see if he could truly fly. Relying on his gymnastics background to get started, Cahoy improved by leaps and bounds, and on a weekly basis.

Saturday Cahoy accomplished the ultimate in Nebraska high school track and field, winning Class A gold over North Star (Lincoln, Neb.) senior Andrew Tate at Omaha Burke Stadium. Cahoy's vault of 15 feet, 8 inches also netted the first year vaulter the All-Class gold.

After failing on his third try at 16-feet, in an attempt to eventually break former Kearney (Kearney, Neb.) pole vaulter Brett Maher's 2008 state meet mark of 16-2, Cahoy's thoughts turned quickly to his senior season – a season in which he aims to take down Maher's mark as well as the Nebraska state record of 16-7 set by Beatrice's Seth Burney in 2006.

"I still have a lot of improving to do. I can still get much better with all of the coaches helping me," Cahoy said in reference to having gone to workouts with Nebraska pole-vaulting coach Kris Grimes and Hastings College coach Dave McNeel in the offseason. "I still have next year to do it."

Cahoy was satisfied with playing both football and baseball through his sophomore seasons. But he gave into the pleadings of Islander pole vaulting coach Geoff Cyboron and Cahoy's parents Phil and Diana. Last July Cahoy, asked if he could join his younger brother Kevin, a Grand Island freshman who has been vaulting since middle school, for a street meet in Aurora.

Cahoy cleared 12-0 then with a bungee cord in place of the crossbar and hasn't looked back since.

As he prepared for his first high school season of vaulting, Steven joined Kevin for workouts at the University of Nebraska, on Wednesdays, and at Hastings College. Cahoy cleared 13-0 one week at Hastings, 14-0 the next and then 15-0 the week after that.

At his first meet this spring, Cahoy claimed the Grand Island school record for himself by going 15-1. At the Heartland Athletic Conference meet in Lincoln, Cahoy really got people talking by clearing 16-0.

"I was just trying to get 13 feet," Cahoy said of the expectations he had for himself going into the 2012 season. "Then when I broke 15 feet, coach said I needed to try for 16 feet. Then when I got that, at conference, he decided I needed to go for the state record. That's what I'm going for next year."

Cahoy admitted to being a little nervous going into his first vault Saturday. But once he cleared his opening height, the 6-foot-1 junior was ready to go for gold. Following Tatum's third miss at 15-4, it was time for Cahoy to buckle down and go for the state meet record – and then maybe the state record after that.

With the support of the crowd cheering and clapping behind him, Cahoy cleared 15-8 on his first attempt. But on a breezy day with gusts reaching as high as 30 miles an hour, Cahoy missed on his three attempts to get over 16-0 once again.

"It was awesome," Cahoy chuckled when asked about the crowd support in the east stadium. "It gets your adrenalin pumping and you want to do good. You feel like you got to pull through for them."

Cahoy said his gymnastics background played a huge role in his climb atop the charts in such a short amount of time.

"Oh man, that has helped a lot," he exclaimed. "Well it goes to body control. Just like in gymnastics, it (body control) helps to maneuver through the air and over the bar."

After watching Cahoy's climb up the charts this season – he is now the ninth Nebraska high school pole vaulter in state history to reach 16-0. Cyboron only wished he had been able to work with Cahoy a little sooner. But Cyboron realizes everything happens for a reason.

"I never told him he was going to be great," Cyboron said of Cahoy. "I just told him that I was excited for him to take this opportunity to try vaulting. Because you never know what may come of it.

"He is such a positive kid. Very driven. He works his tail off. I don't have to tell him what he needs to do to get ready for anything. He's already doing it."

Kevin earned fifth place in Class A with a vault of 14-0, then went shopping with his older brother Steven for a new baseball bat. Steven Cahoy has already turned his attention towards playing baseball with Grand Island's Legion baseball team this summer.

Boys Team Champions

Class A – Kearney went back to it's winning ways as the Bearcats pulled away from Papillion-LaVista (Papillion) 98 1/2-62 to win its 14th team title in 19 years and its first since 2009. That broke Omaha Central's two-year stranglehold.

Class B – Scottsbluff 48, McCook 41

Class C – St. Cecilia (Hastings) 42, Freeman 35

Class D – Cambridge 66, Twin Loup 62

Girls Team Champions

Class A – This was the closest race from top to bottom in 2012 with Millard West (Omaha) edging two-time defending champion Omaha North, 71-70. Millard South finished third with 66 points, while Papillion-LaVista South and Lincoln Southwest scored 65 and 62 points respectively.

Class B – Lexington 65, Holdrege 56

Class C – Fillmore Central (Geneva) 81, Kearney Catholic 54

Class D – Holy Family (Lindsay) 80, BDS 52 1/2

Other State Meet Happenings

Humphrey's Alyssa Frauendorfer won gold in the long jump (18-1), triple jump (37-1 3/4), 200- (25.983) and 400 (57.984). Frauendorfer alone guided the Bulldogs to a Class D fourth place finish with 40 points. The junior’s state meet run landed three Cornhusker Conference teams in the top four of Nebraska’s small school team standings; and tied Humphrey for 12^th place in the all-class standings by placing sixth in the 400, fifth in the long jump and fourth in the triple jump. 

• Lindsay Holy Family's Andrea Weeder set a Class D record by earning her 13th career gold medal in 16 events at the state track and field meet. Weeder swept both the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs throughout her career. This season Weeder won in times of 5:17.669 and 11:31.914 respectively. Weeder also anchored the winning 3,200-meter relay to a time of 9:52.646. She was preceded in the event by freshman Catherine Weeder and seniors Melissa Schumacher and Breanna Korus. Catherine Weeder also took gold in the girls high jump with a leap of 5-4 and sophomore Kaylee Jensen won the discus with a toss of 138-6. The five Bulldog golds tied the girls Class D record. Holy Family out scored Bruning-Davenport 80-52 1/2 to tie the Class D mark for team points scored. The record was originally set by Eustis-Farnam in 1991.

• The Holy Family (Lindsay, Neb.) team win is the latest of nearly 60 state championships won by the Cornhusker Conference in it's 25-year history – and it could be the last. Following next week's Nebraska Boys State Golf Meet the league is splitting in large part because of consolidation. Should the Humphrey St. Francis boys golf team pull out a state title in Class D, the Flyers would be the final Cornhusker Conference team to win a state title. If they don't the Bulldogs take that honor.

• The Cambridge boys won five events as well, to claim the Class D boys title 66-62 over runner-up Twin Loup. Michael Shoff won both the shot put (60-11 1/2) and the discus (170-8). Kaden Huxoll, meanwhile won three golds, taking the 100- (1.060), 200- (22.623) and 400-meter sprints (50.189). The five golds also tied the boys mark originally set by Leyton in 1986 and later tied by Falls City Sacred Heart in 1994.

• The Fillmore Central girls dropped from Class B to Class C in 2012, but the results remained the same. The defending Class B champions scored 81 team points to claim the top team prize in Class C, breaking the team points record in the process. The Panthers were the highest scoring girls team over the weekend, edging Holy Family 81-80. Kearney claimed the same feat on the boys side, outscoring Cambridge 98.5-66. With the win Saturday, Kearney celebrated its 14th state track and field team title in the last 19 years.

• Clara Nichols of Millard South (Omaha) took the baton on the final leg of the Class A girls 1,600-meter relay in fourth place. But Nichols made up a lot of ground in guiding the Patriots to the win, earning her a fourth gold medal of the weekend in a time of 3:52.94. Nichols, who also won the 100- (11.97-seconds), 200- (24.67) and 400-meter dashes (55.30), was joined on the relay by senior Morgan Woitzel, junior Macy Woitzel and freshman Tatum Stenger. Nichols took home all-class golds in all four events. Nichols won the 400-meters for the fourth straight time Saturday.

• Sophomore Kenzo Cotton laid claim to being the fastest sprinter in Nebraska prep history Saturday after bettering former Husker Kent McCloughan's 1961 220-yard dash mark of 21.4-seconds. Cotton won the Class A and all-class golds with his own time of 21.31-seconds. The Papillion-LaVista (Papillion) speedster has a couple of years left to nab Omaha Central stand out sprinter Kelly Yancy's 1989 100-meter mark of 10.5. Cotton ran a 10.403 100-meters Saturday, but it was wind aided.

• Despite competing with an injured hamstring Cozad's Jake Paulsen cleared 6-7 to win the Class B high jump.

• Burke Stadium, home of the Nebraska state track and field meet, was dressed with a new video board Friday and Saturday. Actually, it's used. The Omaha Public Schools purchased it from Omaha's Rosenblatt Stadium, before the former home of the Omaha Royals and of the College World Series is torn down. The board displayed live video action of the weekend's races and field events.

• Grand Island Northwest's Cody Rush blazed through the tape in 47.05 in Friday's 400 prelims to set an all-class state meet record. Rush then conquered the Class B field in Saturday's final in a time of 47.308, edging Gering's Daniel O'Boyle who finished the race in 48.634-seconds.

• Class D runner-up Loup City's Reilly Lambrecht broke Jordan Smith's school record of 45-4 on his way to winning the Class D triple jump Friday. Lambrecht outdistanced Dodge's Garrett Sellhorst 45-10 3/4-45-4 1/2 for the title.

• Friday's second heat of the girls Class B 200-meter dash prelims was called back after running the first 100-meters of the race because the fully automatic timing device didn't start. Auburn's Tierra Williams was the only sprinter to qualify for Saturday's final out of the heat. Williams netted a third place after finishing Saturday's race in a time of 25.882. She qualified for the finals by clocking in at 26.041 in the prelims.

• Axtell's Brandon Benson cleared 15-4 3/4 in the Class D pole-vault to set a new standard for Nebraska's small school classification. Benson's mark landed the Wildcat senior the all-class silver behind Grand Island's Cahoy.