Blake Scott went into the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships ranked 24th out of 24, but when he went to Oregon to compete, last place was the farthest thing from his mind.
Scott advanced from the West Regional after clearing 5.15m/16-10.75 and finishing in ninth place.
When Scott got back to Stillwater and started to think about the national championships, he sat down with pole vault coach Josh Langley to discuss their plan.
The pair needed to choose which poles to use in Eugene, Oregon. They could continue using their current poles or try to jump higher with longer poles.
“Blake came to me before the national meet, and he said ‘I don’t want to go there to finish last place, I want to (finish top eight),'” Langley said. “Let’s swing for the fences. As Coach Holder says, ‘Don’t lay up.’ That was pretty cool to see him just go for it.”
Langley and Scott had one problem: Oklahoma State didn’t own the pole size Scott wanted to use.
