Meet the Salem athlete who broke school’s 49-year-old pole vault record
Ben Lievense stands with his pole during a recent practice.
How did Salem’s Ben Lievense break one of the longest-standing school athletic records in what many consider one of the most challenging events in sports?
With an unyielding persistance fueled by a desire to accomplish something extraordinary before he graduated from high school this June.
“Along with getting good grades (he has a weighted grade-point average of 4.3) and being involved in clubs, breaking a record is something I’ve always wanted to do at Salem,” Lievense said. “It feels good to finally check that one off my list.”
Dennis Ogden’s Salem pole vaulting mark of 14 feet, 10 inches had stood firm since 1977 — the year Star Wars and Saturday Night Fever were released, and the world mourned the passing of Elvis Presley.
Twice as nice
Lievense initially set the record on May 1 at the Knight Relays in Toledo, Ohio, when he cleared 15 feet.
Four days later, he bettered his own mark with a 15-1 effort.
(To watch a quick video of Lievense’s record vault, click here.)
“I believe it is one of the hardest events in sports,” said Salem Head Track & Field Coach John Goodridge, the former head coach of the Eastern Michigan University men’s program. “You have to run as fast as you can, holding a long pole in your hands, before you stick the end of the pole in a small box so you can invert yourself and go up.
“It’s a beautiful and challenging event. I’m happy for Ben. He has the ‘it’ factor it takes to do something like this.”
After competing as a sprinter at East Middle School, Lievense converted to pole vaulting his freshman year at Salem.
“I wasn’t a super good sprinter (in middle school) and I thought pole vaulting looked fun,” he reflected. “It was something I thought I could be good at and, it turned out I was.”
Taking it seriously
Lievense chalked up his freshman season at Salem as an experimental year.
He started taking pole vaulting seriously beginning with his sophomore year when he joined a year-round pole vaulting club at Livonia Churchill High School.
“The more I practiced the better I got,” he said. “This season had been rough as I was recovering from a pinched nerve in my back. A couple of days before the (Toledo) meet, I started feeling pretty good and thought maybe I could clear 14-6 if I had a good day.”
He cleared 15-feet on his second attempt at the height — four days before adding an inch to his record.
‘Hard to describe’
What does it feel like to literally launch your body over 15 feet into the — with a hopeful soft landing on the other side of the bar?
“I’ve done it so many times, it’s hard to describe,” he said.
“What Ben has accomplished takes a lot of natural talent, good upper-body strength and lower-body speed,” said Salem’s pole vaulting coach Halstead. “Along with a combination of all three of those, you have to be fearless, which Ben certainly is.”
Steady ascension
Lievense’s history at Salem showed a steady progression. He PR as a freshman was 9-6, followed by PRs of 13-6 as a sophomore and 14-9 as a junior.
Headed to the University of Michigan to study engineering, Lievense and a couple of classmates recently completed a Capstone Project, the result of which was an AI robot which can tackle many tasks.
“But it can’t pole vault yet,” Lievense added, smiling.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.
