One of the city's best female athletes has been smitten with pole-vaulting and the sky could be the limit.
Bryce Weed already has won 11 varsity letters at Lakeside doing everything from playing on three state-championship soccer teams to earning six medals at three state track meets. Now she has discovered the thrill of launching herself over a bar with a pole and returning to earth.
Change is nothing new for the Harvard-bound senior, who played on a state-tournament basketball team as a sophomore, then switched to swimming as her winter sport because it looked like fun and didn't demand as much time from a schedule that already included year-round soccer.
When she started swimming, it didn't bother her that she was outclassed by year-round swimmers. She was there to enjoy it and get better, which she did, earning the "most improved" team award as a junior and qualifying for the Metro Championships both seasons.
Pole vaulting could join soccer as a serious undertaking.
"I love every minute of pole vaulting," she said. "Even when it's frustrating, I like it."
She was introduced to vaulting last year by Lakeside Coach Doug Porter, a Lakeside alum and former state champion who vaulted 17 feet, 2 inches in high school and 17-2 3/4 at Occidental College in California. He was in the 1984 Olympic Trials in the decathlon.
Weed went to a pole-vault camp last summer and cleared 10-6. Friday, in her first interscholastic meet, she failed at her first three attempts at 8-0. But since it was a relaxed meet, she was allowed to continue and cleared 9-6. The next day, she cleared 11 feet in practice.
Porter said, "Bryce is incredibly aggressive on the runway for a girl or boy. She's fast. She's got good wheels and is able to translate her speed into a good, aggressive approach. She has no fear.
"If she can go 11 or 12 feet, she's going to be competitive in the Ivy League," Porter continued. "If she can get to 13 feet, we're talking top six in the NCAAs."
The pole vault is an exhibition event at the state girls track championships. Interlake sophomore Libby Ludlow cleared 10-3 to win the event at last year's meet for 3A-4A athletes. The state record is 11 feet, held by Ludlow and Margot Hair, also of Interlake. The national high-school girls record is 13-3, the collegiate record 14-3 1/2, the U.S. women's record 14-7 1/4 and the world record 15- 3/4, by Emma George of Austria.
The pole vault is a scoring event for women at the NCAA championships.
Weed said she enjoys the complexity of the vault, which requires the speed of a sprinter, the agility of a gymnast and the nerve of a rock climber.
"This is probably something I could stick with for years and years until I finally got it right," she said. "Things like the shot put (she is the defending Metro champion) and long jump, they are much simpler motions. . . . There's more in the pole vault you can work on."
Weed said Porter suggested that she dedicate the season to the pole vault.
"It sounded good to me," she said. "I've never loved running necessarily that much."
But what about the fear factor in track's most dangerous event?
"I've never been scared of it," she said. "I've never had anything happen yet that's been serious. I've had the pole snap on me. It's not different than any other sport. I'm used to getting hit and bumped around in soccer. I've never been intimidated."
Weed plans to play on Harvard's nationally ranked soccer team next fall and compete in track, preferably the pole vault, for the Crimson next spring. Her brother, Peter, a Harvard junior and Lakeside alum, is a javelin thrower on the men's track team.
Weed isn't sure what she will study at Harvard.
"I get fascinated by different things," she said.
One thing that has interested her is caring for large animals. Her grandfather, Gerald Harlow, has more than 100 head of cattle on a ranch near Spanaway in Pierce County. She learned years ago how to give injections to cattle, llamas and horses. That doesn't mean she's headed toward an eventual career as a veterinarian, though.
Although Weed is concentrating on the vault, she competes in other events when Porter asks. She and sophomore Morgan Richards, an All-Metro basketball player, intend to compete in the state heptathlon meet in June at Lake Washington High School.
They have developed into close friends and training buddies and have a knack of making each other laugh.
"I owe her a lot for making the season more enjoyable," Weed said.
The heptathlon is conducted over two days and the events are 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 meters, long jump, javelin and 800.
Weed is a natural, not only because she is a good athlete but because has good fundamentals. Her mother, Becky, has coached track at Lakeside Middle School.
Weed said she will do the heptathlon in part to thank Porter for his help over the years.
"We'll just have fun," she said. "Morgan will be there. We'll go through it together."
