SEBASTIAN — Sebastian River’s Justin Peabody hopes 13 will be his lucky number this spring. The senior wants to clear 13 feet in the pole vault.
“My goal is to make it to state,” said the 6-foot, 158-pound Peabody. “If I can stay healthy, I hope to get a new personal best of 13 feet. I’ve done 11-6 in a meet and in practice I’ve cleared 12 feet. It will be a lot of work, and I’ll have to put in a lot of time.”
One of his daily drills in practice is placing a bungee cord instead of a bar between the posts at the designated height. He has cleared 12-6 during that exercise.
“It sags down a couple of inches, so it might not be 12-6, but it’s close,” said Peabody, who was born in Michigan and moved with his family to Florida at the age of 10. “I just have to put it together when it comes down to it. I’ve got to have a consistent run, a good plant and a good swing to get upside down.”
Peabody will have an opportunity to chart his progress when Sebastian River hosts the 18th annual Bill Wilson Invitational on Saturday, March 8.
After the coaches meeting, all field events and the 3,200-meter relay will begin at 9:30 a.m. Besides the pole vault, boys and girls will compete in the shot put, discus, high jump, long jump and triple jump.
Saxophonist James Broxton will perform the National Anthem at 11:50 a.m. The girls’ 3×100-meter shuttle hurdle relay will be the first running event at Noon to begin the afternoon competition.
There will be no preliminary heats, so all races will be considered finals.
Boys will then compete in the 3×110-meter shuttle hurdle relay. The rest of the schedule consists of girls and boys events in the 100, 800 relay, 1,600, 400 relay, 400, 300 intermediate hurdles, 800, 1,000 relay (100, 200, 300 and 400), 200, coed throwers’ 400 relay, 2,000 steeplechase and the 1,600 relay.
“What’s happened is the kids have done a great job of honoring me,” said Bill Wilson, who guided Vero Beach High School to state track and field championships in 1989 and 1990, including 19 consecutive district titles at one point, during his 29 years as the school’s head coach. He has been an assistant coach at Sebastian River now for several years.
“If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t have this great event,” he said. “There’s been help from all over the community. I like helping out the hurdlers; it’s an event that I really enjoy. I like seeing how the kids progress and how they learn the different events.”
Before coming to Vero Beach, Wilson starred as a running back for Florida A&M’s football team.
He played briefly for the Houston Oilers in the American Football League before a knee injury ended his career during his second season.
After teaching and coaching at Carter-Parramore High School in Quincy, Wilson accepted a teaching and coaching position at Gifford High School in Vero Beach. He then moved on to Vero Beach High School when the two schools integrated in 1968.
Besides Peabody, Damian Strong should be a strong contender to win the long jump and the triple jump for the Sharks.
Strong, a senior, also will compete in the 100, 200 and the relays.
Zach Finnegan, another senior, has returned to the squad after missing last season due to injury. Finnegan, who qualified for state as a sophomore in the discus, also will compete in the shot put.
Tony Perry, the Sebastian River High boys’ track and field coach, liked Peabody from the moment he joined the team as a sophomore.
“I like Justin’s tenacity and his work ethic,” Perry said. “If he’s not working out here, he’s at that camp in Melbourne – Pole Vault city. He’s tackled pole vaulting full force from Day 1. If he can just keep healthy and avoid those nagging injuries, he’ll be in the top five of Sebastian River’s (all-time) pole vaulters. The record is 15-1.”
Peabody dislocated his elbow when he placed second in the district as a sophomore and he missed a few weeks of practice and competition last year as a junior when he fractured his foot.
Surprisingly, he was able to avoid injuries during his four years of playing football for the Sharks. He played right guard on the offensive line this past fall.
“I was worried about being so small for the position,” said Peabody, who wants to study mechanical engineering when he starts college this fall. “I was tough being outweighed by every player who was in front of me. But, I graded out high for my position by Coach (Kevin) Pettis in every game. It kind of helped me become more strong-minded and it helped my physical strength.”
Football is not where most pole vaulters come from or where Perry recruits athletes for the event.
“I’d like to get them out early – to find them in eighth grade and work with them that summer before they start high school,” Perry said. “We can get them developed during the summer program.”
Looking back, Peabody wishes that he had started pole vaulting as a freshman. But, he was busy with football and getting adjusted to football.
“I don’t know why I started pole vaulting when I did,” said Peabody, who hopes to continue pole vaulting in college. “I just had it stuck in my mind that it was something I wanted to try. I saw it, it looked cool and I thought that I’d want to do it. I went 9 feet that first week.”
Most successful pole vaulters have a background in gymnastics.
“Gymnastics helps a lot since you have that muscle memory of getting upside down,” Peabody said. “You don’t want to be scared. You have to be confident and go for it. I just like the thrill of competing in the pole vault. Not too many people can do this event.”
