Alec Newby, Austin Heim continue to raise the bar for Bemidji's pole vaulters

May 24—Editor's note: Full results from the Bemidji High School track and field meet can be found

here.

A full photo gallery from Thursday's meet will be posted online Friday.

Everything clicked for Alec Newby and Austin Heim at the Section 8-3A True Team meet.

The Bemidji High School track and field team's top two boys pole vaulters had career days in Brainerd on May 7.

Newby, a junior, took first place, clearing a 13-06 mark to set his new personal record.

"Alec just continually improves," BHS pole vault coach Evan Amdahl said. "He hits a PR every meet. It's almost every single week. Making 13-06 at True Team, beating an individual from Moorhead who qualified for the Hamline Elite Meet, was pretty exciting. It was his first meet he ever won outright, and he did being only a foot from the school record."

Heim, a sophomore, also set a new best at 11-06 in sixth place.

"Austin made a two-foot improvement in his PR in one meet, and everything clicked for him," Amdahl said. "He's been showing promise during practices, and it just clicked in meets. He was around a 9-foot PR and practicing at 10 feet. All of a sudden, he's at 11-06 at True Team. He was on fire."

Together, Newby and Heim are boosting Section 8-3A's pole vault reputation. At the 2023 Class 3A state meet, the two 8-3A representatives finished in a tie for 14th and 16th place — dead last.

Now, Newby has already cleared the state's qualification mark 12-11, as well as Moorhead's Hudson Brandt. Heim is just over a foot away from clearing the mark himself.

Any athlete that meets a state qualification at a section championship automatically earns a state berth regardless of where they finish at sections. So when the Section 8-3A teams competed against each other at True Team, it gave Heim and Newby a litmus test of where they stack up.

"It makes me feel that I'm doing better and I can get up there," Heim said. "At True Team, I set a new PR four times in a row. I was feeling terrible that day. The rain hit and we were delayed. I came out of (the delay) and I just felt great. I wasn't nervous. I just said to myself, 'This is the day.'"

Newby and Heim routinely finish in the top 10 or better in every meet despite being relatively new to the sport. Both started pole vaulting last year.

"I did track because my older brother did track," Newby said. "I just wanted to try it out. I thought pole vaulting looked pretty fun and unique."

Newby plays football and wrestles at BHS, but was looking to pick up a spring sport. He opted for something a little more daring with less cardio.

"For me, it's just not having any fear of things that could go wrong," Newby said. "You have to be a little crazy. That's what gets you to grow."

Heim also plays football. He ran track in eighth grade but was looking for the same thrills as Newby.

"I started the same time as Al," Heim said. "I was more of a distance runner. My brother was going to do pole vault last year, but he focused on wrestling more. But I still decided to do it because it looked fun."

Both Newby and Heim have progressed exponentially in their two years in the pole vault pit. However, it hasn't come without some big falls.

"I had one this year where I missed the pit and landed on concrete," Newby said. "I landed right on my tailbone, so I was out (of the lineup) for a little bit there. It's just staying out of your own head and forgetting about it. ... The first jump after is definitely nerve-racking. You just have to try to get that out of your head and remember that you can do it."

Newby also took a spill at the state meet in 2023. On his way to finishing in a tie for 14th at 12-00, he snapped one of the poles.

"That was a bad jump," Newby said with a laugh. "I missed the box, and I think the pole was spiked, too. It broke right at the bottom, but I got to keep that part of the pole. I get to keep that forever."

Heim also has had his fair share of falls.

"I flew over the pit once," Heim said. "Half of my body landed on the mat, and the other half was on the ground. I think I was running too fast."

For Newby and Heim, the bruising moments amplify the highs of pole vaulting. Newby is 6 inches off the school record, a mark he aims to hit by the end of his senior season in 2025. Heim cleared 12 feet indoors and hopes to hit the same mark outdoors before his junior season ends.

Together, the two have shared the experiences of starting pole vaulting at the same time, showcasing some inter-team competitiveness.

"It's a team thing," Heim said. "We're always helping each other out to get better."

"I think Austin has some competitiveness toward me," Newby quipped. "He's trying to chase me."

"I look at it like this: he was a sophomore when I was a freshman," Heim responded. "He was hitting 12-06 last year, and I'm close to that now. I'm trying to keep track of where he was at this time last year compared to where I am now. I have one more year, so maybe I can pass him at some point."

Regardless of how Newby and Heim finish at sections next week, Amdahl envisions big things for the two of them by the time they graduate, including school-record-breaking jumps.

"They're just really coachable," Amdahl left off. "They listen, and they want to get better. ... There are good things to come for them. You see that they just keep getting better, and we keep putting them through drills that will take them to new heights, pun intended."