PROVO, Utah (ABC 4 Sports) – Victor Weirich is probably BYU’s best chance at a national title next week at the NCAA Championships in Oregon.
Weirich, who finished 4th in the pole vault in 2011, will try to bring home a national title this year.
“I’m feeling good,” said Weirich, who has vaulted as high as 18 feet 2 inches this season. “I know what I have to do now. Back then, I was kind of running around saying, ‘I’m at nationals! What do I do?!’ Now, I’ll just do what I’ve been doing in practice and I’ll be fine.”
Weirich is one of five brothers to compete on the BYU track and field team. His older brother Brian is the only one to win a national title on the Cougars distance medley relay team in 2011. Victor says that has motivated him this week.
“That’s my drive right now,” Victor said with a smile. “I can’t let him beat me out with that national championship. The Weirich tradition at BYU is big. They have helped me out a lot, especially my older brothers. So have my younger brothers because I have to set the bar high enough where they can’t reach it.”
Weirich grew up in Texas wanting to play football. But in the 7th grade he picked up a pole, started vaulting, and has been a natural ever since.
“I think timing is the biggest part of it,” he said. “Your run has to be on every time. Where you have that pole is key and where your body is at. The body position and timing are the two main keys to get you into the vault.”
Weirich isn’t just talented with a fiber glass pole. He’s also does well with a wooden one. Weirich served his LDS mission in Sidney, Australia, where he learned to play the didgeridoo.
“My traininer was like, ‘Hey, you need to learn this if you’re going to be here for two years,'” he said. ‘Then you can take it home and impress the women. They’re going to love it.’ So, I was like, heck ya, I’m picking this up!”
So, did it work?
“It’s worked,” Weirich said. “I got me a woman, and she loves it.”
But what is more difficult, getting a sound out of the didgeridoo or vaulting 18 feet?
“I would say getting sound out of it,” he said with a laugh.
From: http://www.abc4.com/sports/story/Multi-talented-BYU-pole-vaulter/5y8v6P06aECj1g-NVcrSuw.cspx
