VAULTING TO NEW HEIGHTS: Effingham pole vaulter Jacob Weaver ends high school track and field career the way he wants

May 24—EFFINGHAM — Jacob Weaver finally had a season where everything went right.

A senior pole vaulter on the Effingham boys track and field team, Weaver didn't have to worry about injury setting him back — the previous three seasons saw him miss time due to nagging problems — and it ended the best way possible.

Weaver qualified for the Class 2A State Final Meet at O'Brien Field on the campus of Eastern Illinois Friday after earning a fourth-place finish at the Rantoul Sectional with a vault of 12 feet, 8.75 inches, a personal best for him at the time.

"Jacob's been really good for us for four years," head coach Jordan Jaspering said. "Sprinter and pole vaulter from the beginning. Last year, he didn't pole vault at all because he had a broken collarbone and missed all of indoor (season) and we decided to focus him on sprints. He was a part of the record-setting 4x200 team and the state-qualifying 4x100 and 4x200 teams last year.

"It's special for him to get to go in pole vault, which has always been his field event."

"It was big coming back in after not pole vaulting for a year and picking up where I left off and making it to state in the end," Weaver added.

Weaver finished tied for 16th in the preliminary round of the state meet Friday. He ended his career with a personal record of 12 feet, 11.5 inches. The qualifying height for the finals was 13 feet, 5.25 inches.

Weaver also finished his final season with six top-five finishes. He was second in the Big Trojan Invite and Effingham Senior Night Meet, fourth at the Mattoon Boys Invite and Apollo Conference Meet and third at the Newton Boys Eagle Invite.

"A lot of development has come with that," Weaver said. "A new coach in pole vault has helped out a lot."

Assistant coach Quenten Austin came on board with Jaspering this year.

He has since made a world of help for Weaver.

"He's an athlete who competes all the time," Austin said. "We haven't had the best weather this year, but no matter what, I think we can count on him to give 100 percent.

"Anything I've said or suggested, I think he takes into consideration and tries his best to be as coachable as he can. That's the kind of athlete you want to have."

"It's been a big help having Coach Austin here to help out and focus a little bit on that with him," Jaspering continued. "I've been blessed with some good help this year. It makes it easier to give these guys a fair shake when it comes to their field events."

Austin was a multi-event athlete at Ohio State University, so it was fairly easy for Jaspering be a part of the team.

"Super blessed to have a guy with D-I experience," Jaspering said. "Coach Austin just brings a lot to the table. It also helps that he's a lot younger and cooler than I am, so the kids love him."

Jaspering knows it's not just the coaching that helped Weaver excel, though.

He knows that Weaver is a hard worker who enjoys preparing each day for the task at hand.

"Jacob shows up to work every day and he gets locked in and focused and does what he needs to do," Jaspering said. "He's very goal-driven. He's joining the Navy next year, so he's got that mindset that he's not afraid of work."

One example of that was before the sectional meet when Weaver was able to try a new pole.

He said that the switch wasn't easy but turned out to be the right decision.

"I just knew what I needed to do, going into practice that week," Weaver said. "We were putting on some finishing touches. I got on a new pole and was (figuring out) what I needed to do; it was a lot of practice."

Austin was thrilled to see Weaver finally get his personal record at the sectional after watching him, meet-after-meet, try to get it but come up short.

"I was thinking, 'It's about frickin' time,'" Austin joked. "All year, I was like, 'You're two feet above every bar that you've cleared.'

"It's just a matter of putting it all together."

The same could be said for Weaver's high school career.

A lot of investment and time was put into the performance he showed at the state meet and meets beforehand.

Jaspering, for one, is happy he stuck with it.

What Jaspering is also happy with, though, is the fact that he's seen Weaver grow into a special athlete and someone that can call himself Jaspering's final field athlete to advance to the state meet.

Prior to the season, it was announced that Jaspering had accepted a new job offer out of state.

He, though, believes he is leaving behind a track and field program that he can be proud of.

Weaver is one reason for that.

"We've all invested a lot into this program and I'd like to think we've built it into something special," Jaspering said. "This group of seniors that we had this year; these are the guys that started right after COVID. Their last four years were kind of uninterrupted for them and so they were the foundation of rebuilding after COVID. So, the journey with them is something special.

"The amount of work we've had to put in to re-establish a standard and use those guys as leaders to pass down, it's been something special."