As a scrawny freshman, Will Haer didn’t have aspirations of grandeur when he first picked up a pole and leapt into the sky. Four years and countless vaults later, his goals couldn’t have been loftier.

The Craig senior accomplished his sole focus at the Class 1 Track and Field Championships when he shattered the existing pole vault record by a foot when he cleared the 15-foot mark on his second attempt last month in Jefferson City, Mo. His feat placed him among the elite vaulters in the state, regardless of school size.

With a background in gymnastics and an immense amount of raw talent, Haer picked up the sport as a hobby after watching Rock Port’s Kory and Orry Paris but rapidly climbed higher than he thought possible, thanks to his daredevil demeanor. Soon, he got serious and gained his own set of pits — which were too small for Craig to use — in his own backyard.

Haer turned a corner last year, though when he routinely made the two-hour trek to Excelsior Springs to work with vaulting guru Todd Cooper, who called Haer the best vaulter in the state.

That point might be debatable, but this much is not: Haer, with his two state championships and three state medals to his name, concluded his career as the most accomplished and prodigious vaulter Northwest Missouri has ever produced. Now college, and even greater heights, await.