Bangor vaulter soaring to new Eastern Maine League heights

Bangor High School’s Ben Conrad has vaulted into the record books of the Eastern Maine Indoor Track League this winter.

The senior student-athlete cleared the height of 13 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault last month, shattering a seven-year-old mark by three-quarters of an inch.

His record-setting performance has earned him the distinction as Midweek’s Athlete of the Month for January.

“He’s done all this, in all seriousness, all on his own,” said Maynard Walton, Bangor’s indoor track coach. “I helped him at first when he started on the pole vault as a sophomore.”

Conrad’s talent was fairly apparent early on. He was vaulting over 12 feet on a regular basis soon after he learned the event. Now he’s taking aim at the 14-foot mark.

“I set a goal of 14-2 at the start of the season. I’d also like to set the state record,” Conrad said.

The Glenburn resident has pushed his mark even farther with a successful vault of 13-6 1/2 at the Black Bear Relays in Orono on Jan. 9. The mark is not considered a league record because it was not an EMITL meet, but it did give Conrad the meet record.

The formula for Conrad’s successful season has been simple.

“He’s been sticking to the basic fundamentals. He’s moving up in height gradually and not taking things too fast,” Walton said.

Walton would not let Conrad go too high too fast so he would be totally comfortable vaulting at each new level before moving up.

“He got a little frustrated because he felt he could go even higher. But doing it this way allows him to concentrate only on mastering a certain height rather than worrying about being up too high. There’s less to worry about,” explained Walton.

Conrad is now practicing with a new, thicker and slightly longer pole. The new pole will enable Conrad to reach his goal of 14-2 quicker once he feels comfortable using it.

Besides experimenting with a new pole and different techniques, Conrad has been getting pointers from college pole vaulters, from other high school coaches, and from local college coaches.

“Ben has a good attitude. He listens, and he’s a very smart boy,” said Walton. “One of the reasons he’s done as well as he has is because he concentrates on the little things.”

The other reasons for the honor student’s athletic success are his upper body strength and body control when he is in the air.

His main weakness right now is his running start before he vaults.

“His lower body needs to be built up to help provide more power and momentum,” Walton said.

Conrad’s coaches feel he has plenty of room for improvement at the college level. They say he has a lot of potential and a lot of ability yet to tapped.

“He’s beyond high school right now as far as his potential and level of competition,” Walton said. “I think you’ll see him reach 14 feet by the end of this winter.”