Franklin pole vaulter Carson Sommers begins his approach during the county meet at Whiteland.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
Being the goal-oriented type, Carson Sommers wants to be in his early to mid-30s when he lands his dream job.
The future firefighter (and, he hopes, fire chief) takes a comparable approach with more immediate pursuits, including the literal raising of the bar as one of the county’s best pole vaulters.
Sommers, a Franklin senior, aspires to clear 15 feet, 6 inches by season’s end — a foot and a half above his current outdoor best of 14 feet.
An ambitious goal, to be sure, but pole vaulters aren’t always recognized as rational individuals. Sommers, who didn’t begin familiarizing himself with runways, ascents and falls from the sky until his freshman season, figures he falls into that category.
“I always loved doing … scary things,” Sommers said. “A friend thought it would be a good idea to pole vault because I liked doing things that are scary. You have to have a little bit of crazy to be a pole vaulter.
“Once I found out how good it felt to hit those PRs, I absolutely fell in love with the sport.”
Sommers’ progression has been predictably steady. His top height as a freshman was 10-6, followed by 11-6 the following season and 13-6 as a junior. He hoped to qualify for the state meet last season, but managed a best of only 12 feet at the Greenfield-Central Regional to tie for seventh place.
At 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds, Sommers is usually larger than the majority of his competitors.
“His size for a pole vaulter, he’s a bigger guy,” said former Franklin pole vaulter Matt Frazier, a 2019 graduate who vaulted at Vincennes University and now helps the Grizzly Cubs as a volunteer coach. “Also, he’s cleaner and smoother in the air than I was. He makes it look like proper vaulting.”
The pole Sommers uses is 15 feet in length with a weight rating of 180 pounds. By comparison, Frazier used a 14-foot pole as a senior with a 160-pound weight rating.
Sommers excelled during the Grizzly Cubs’ indoor season, which started in March, making it over the bar at 14-6 not once, but in four consecutive meets. He’s twice cleared 14 feet outdoors — at Franklin’s Bill Self Invitational and the Johnson County meet at Whiteland.
Whether 15-6 is in the cards remains to be seen, but Sommers will continue to reach.
Franklin takes part in the Mid-State Conference meet at Plainfield on April 30; next month shapes up as a postseason primer, with the Cubs going to regional site Greenfield-Central for the Cougar Chase Invitational on May 3, and hosting Columbus North four days later.
Plenty of time for Sommers, who’ll attend Indiana State University next year to major in safety management and vault for the Sycamores, to attempt to eclipse Franklin’s school record of 14-1 — a standard established by none other than Frazier himself.
“That’s been one of my goals, to get that record off the wall,” said Sommers, referring to the school’s track record board displayed inside the school’s athletic entrance. “Matt is one of my biggest supporters.”
Frazier, whose record vault occurred while taking first at the 2019 Warren Central Regional, figures five years is a pretty solid run should Sommers’ name eventually replace his.
“I’m wanting him to break it,” Frazier said. “I wanted to get my name up there, but now that it’s up there, I want someone to raise that.”
