Seth Burney Article (NE)
Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2005 8:13 am
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u ... rnd=252322
Burney is getting a big lift
BY STU POSPISIL
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WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Seth Burney's remarkable progress in the pole vault means his baseball glove is gathering cobwebs.
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Seth Burney's best vault of 15 feet, 6 inches is 11/4 inches from the all-time chart and 10 inches from the state record of 16-4.
Burney is vaulting three feet higher than a year ago, having cleared 15-6 three times, and has thoughts of getting to at least 16 feet by season's end. The Beatrice junior might get there today at the Gene Kruger Invitational in Elkhorn.
"I feel real good this week," Burney said. "I'll go from 15 feet to 15-6 to 15-9. And if I make 15-9, I'm pretty sure I can get 16. It's one of those barriers. You get over 15-6 and the sky's the limit after that."
He's 11/4 inches from a spot on the all-time chart and 10 inches from the state record of 16-4 by Grand Island Central Catholic's Gable Baldwin in 2003.
Off-season work is what transformed Burney into a college vaulting prospect. He drove three times a week to Crete to work indoors with Doane College Coach Ed Fye. He spent part of Christmas break at a three-day camp at the University of Nebraska with Rick Attig, who coaches the Huskers' vaulters, learning the proper way to plant the pole. He also vaulted in four college indoor meets as an unattached competitor, clearing 15-6 in the last meet.
"Nobody had a clue who I was until I cleared 15-6," Burney said. "I was a nobody last year and a somebody this year."
He gave strong thought a year ago to changing his spring sport to baseball, which he's played in the summer in Beatrice's American Legion program. He talked to Beatrice's coaches in both sports and to some athletes. His buddies encouraged him to stick out track another year.
"They said, 'You never know how high you might go,' " he said.
Burney said he'll probably bypass summer baseball to continue vaulting.
Arnie Cerny, Beatrice's co-head coach for boys track, said Burney's devotion to the fine points of vaulting is unusual.
"He's able to tell our other vaulters things they need to improve. As a junior, he's become a coach for us," Cerny said. "He's become a real practitioner."
Burney's not a specialist, either. He's a 21-6 long jumper, a Class B state-caliber hurdler and a runner on the 1,600 relay for the defending Class B team champion Orangemen. Track athletes can compete in no more than four events at a meet, and Cerny said it's a continual battle to choose the four for Burney to enter.
"I have to stay longer at practice than most people," Burney said. "It's a 2, 21/2-hour thing."
At last week's Aurora Invitational, Burney set the bar at 15-9 after clearing 15 feet and "just brushed it off," Cerny said. "I'm confident that he'll get that mark to put him on the all-time chart pretty quickly."
Burney is getting a big lift
BY STU POSPISIL
ÂÂ
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Seth Burney's remarkable progress in the pole vault means his baseball glove is gathering cobwebs.
ÂÂ
Seth Burney's best vault of 15 feet, 6 inches is 11/4 inches from the all-time chart and 10 inches from the state record of 16-4.
Burney is vaulting three feet higher than a year ago, having cleared 15-6 three times, and has thoughts of getting to at least 16 feet by season's end. The Beatrice junior might get there today at the Gene Kruger Invitational in Elkhorn.
"I feel real good this week," Burney said. "I'll go from 15 feet to 15-6 to 15-9. And if I make 15-9, I'm pretty sure I can get 16. It's one of those barriers. You get over 15-6 and the sky's the limit after that."
He's 11/4 inches from a spot on the all-time chart and 10 inches from the state record of 16-4 by Grand Island Central Catholic's Gable Baldwin in 2003.
Off-season work is what transformed Burney into a college vaulting prospect. He drove three times a week to Crete to work indoors with Doane College Coach Ed Fye. He spent part of Christmas break at a three-day camp at the University of Nebraska with Rick Attig, who coaches the Huskers' vaulters, learning the proper way to plant the pole. He also vaulted in four college indoor meets as an unattached competitor, clearing 15-6 in the last meet.
"Nobody had a clue who I was until I cleared 15-6," Burney said. "I was a nobody last year and a somebody this year."
He gave strong thought a year ago to changing his spring sport to baseball, which he's played in the summer in Beatrice's American Legion program. He talked to Beatrice's coaches in both sports and to some athletes. His buddies encouraged him to stick out track another year.
"They said, 'You never know how high you might go,' " he said.
Burney said he'll probably bypass summer baseball to continue vaulting.
Arnie Cerny, Beatrice's co-head coach for boys track, said Burney's devotion to the fine points of vaulting is unusual.
"He's able to tell our other vaulters things they need to improve. As a junior, he's become a coach for us," Cerny said. "He's become a real practitioner."
Burney's not a specialist, either. He's a 21-6 long jumper, a Class B state-caliber hurdler and a runner on the 1,600 relay for the defending Class B team champion Orangemen. Track athletes can compete in no more than four events at a meet, and Cerny said it's a continual battle to choose the four for Burney to enter.
"I have to stay longer at practice than most people," Burney said. "It's a 2, 21/2-hour thing."
At last week's Aurora Invitational, Burney set the bar at 15-9 after clearing 15 feet and "just brushed it off," Cerny said. "I'm confident that he'll get that mark to put him on the all-time chart pretty quickly."