Three-time state entrant pole vaulter Max Maher wrapped up his high school career with a third-place finish in the state track and field meet a few weeks ago, and he is continuing to excel in the event this summer. The 17-year-old qualified for the regional Junior Olympic Track and Field Meet in Aberdeen, S.D., last week after clearing yet another personal best 14-4. His previous mark of 14 feet at the state meet set the Rush City school record for the fourth time as well as a new mark for the Great River Conference. Maher began pole vaulting in seventh grade for the Tigers. He remembers Tiger upperclassmen giving pointers at the high school track, where he would start to vault for varsity a year later. By ninth grade, Maher placed regularly at meets as he continued to improve, nearing heights that could put him in the state meet the following year. “I picked it up pretty quickly and took some pointers from the older kids,” Maher said. “I started placing right away and I just knew it was something I wanted to do. It’s fun, not like anything else I’ve done.” But the vaulter’s plans came to a halt in March 2011 when a snowboarding accident left him with a broken L5 vertebrae and torn sacroiliac joint. Two months later, with just a few meets under his belt, Maher did the unthinkable: He qualified for the state meet. “It was a total surprise,” Maher said. “The previous state champion no-heighted, and I had miraculously come back from a broken back with just four to five before state.” more at East Central Minnesota Post Review
