Center Grove’s Carter Pheifer gets ready to begin his approach while vaulting at the Johnson County meet earlier this season.
Daily Journal file photo
The toughest bar for Carter Pheifer to clear has often been inside his own head.
As a sophomore in 2022, the Center Grove pole vaulter finished ninth at the state meet with a vault of 14 feet and it appeared that the sky was the limit going forward. But a combination of factors has caused Pheifer to struggle with consistency and confidence, placing an invisible ceiling on his boundless talent.
The graduation of Conner Burries, the state runner-up two years ago, left Pheifer heading into his junior season without his longtime mentor. Suddenly, he was the guy everybody was looking to for leadership. Then, during an invitational at Warren Central last spring, the pole slipped out of his hands during a vault attempt — creating a lingering fear.
“That’s been my mind ever since, and it scares me from jumping,” Pheifer admitted.
Additionally, that high state finish two years ago created elevated expectations, especially from Pheifer himself. Nate Line, a 2019 Center Grove graduate and a state qualifier himself as a senior, has been coaching Pheifer since his freshman year and is trying to help him not put so much pressure on himself.
“He had a pretty rough year last year, to say the least,” Line said, “and that kind of put him into this rut where he feels like he has to perform at a certain level each time that he steps onto the runway.”
The combination of a pressure to excel and the fear of injury led to some uneven results at times. Pheifer didn’t manage a successful vault at the Hoosier State Relays indoor meet in late March, and the same happened at the Johnson County meet last month.
After his final miss at 14 feet during county, Pheifer talked about his mental battles over the past year or so but expressed a confidence that he’d be able to shake whatever’s been holding him back.
“I’m better than what I put on here,” he said.
Sure enough, he’s getting back to proving it. Just days after the county meet, Pheifer cleared 14 feet during his return to Warren Central. He followed up with a 14-6 at the Kokomo Relays on April 27, then cleared 15 feet for the first time in competition at the Trojan Classic last Friday.
Not quite where Pheifer wants to get to — Burries’ school record of 16 feet is a target — but certainly steps in the right direction.
“He’s definitely getting his swagger back from his sophomore year,” Line said.
Pheifer gravitating to the pole vault in the first place was somewhat of a surprise in its own right.
Older sister Ella and older brother Ethan were both standout swimmers at Franklin, with Ella going on to compete at Purdue and Ethan currently at Ball State. But the chlorine in the Pheifer bloodlines didn’t really stick in Carter’s case.
“I was pretty good at swimming,” he said, “but I just didn’t love it, and I thought why do something I didn’t love? So I just came to track, I ran distance, and then I saw pole vault and I wanted to try that.”
His success hasn’t been a real shock to Line, who calls Pheifer “probably one of the most gifted athletes” he’s coached. The trick over the next few weeks — starting with the sectional at Columbus North next Thursday — will be to tune out all of the noise and remain calm and confident.
Pheifer, who wants to be able to continue pole vaulting at Arizona State, has been making steady strides in that direction since county. Line says that they’ve found a pole that bridges the gap between large and small, which has helped get him going again.
The coach has faith that Pheifer can continue building upward from here, pointing out that he’s been regularly clearing 15 feet and 15-6 during practices.
“I think he can make a run at the state title, for sure,” Line said. “I firmly believe he can beat Conner’s record. It’s just whether we can get him on the right poles and whether he can take those poles and really run with them.”
