Video by Andy Meyer

CRAIG, Mo. - Amidst the remote, sprawling farmland of Northwest Missouri, Will Haer pauses, anxiously toeing the 85 feet of worn-out, grain-way belting that serves as his makeshift runway.

After a beat, the Craig senior bursts down the straightaway and prepares to take flight.

Far removed from the spotlight and proper amenities, Haer has slowly and quietly bloomed into the state's best pole vaulter in the face of staggering odds. Having your own personal pit in the backyard doesn't hurt either.

Following years of effort and endless vaults, the Hornets' senior prodigy has his eyes on the Class 1 state record of 14 feet during this weekend's small-class state championships, which begin today in Jefferson City.

"I'd just like to set the record to something more reasonable," said Haer, the defending state champion who has cleared 15-3 this season.

Along with Haer, Cameron's Kemper Kellerstrass also has benefited from a backyard set of pole vault pits and enters Saturday's Class 3 sectional as one of the highest-flying vaulters in the state. Despite their many commonalities, however, their stories couldn't be more different.

nnn

Pole vaulting made perfect sense for Haer all along, really. From an early age, he displayed a natural knack for risk taking and fearlessness that goes along with propelling yourself more than a dozen feet into the air.

Like when he started doing flips off the roof of his barn and onto a trampoline.

"I think he's always been fearless, and he likes things that will challenge that," said Bonita Haer, Will's mother. "That's kind of his personality. Will is determined no matter what he does."

But he never even considered the sport until he saw Rock Port's Kory and Orry Paris - the Blue Jays' talented set of twins - compete at a regional meet. From that moment, he was hooked.

Thanks to his natural athleticism and brief background in gymnastics, Haer rapidly increased his height despite low-quality equipment and the lack of regulation pits. In less than a full season of work, he already showed his immense potential by clearing 9 feet, 6 inches but missed out on a trip to state.

The school cushioned his disappointment, however, by donating the non-regulation pits to Haer, who soon would find a mentor he desperately needed.

nnn

Kellerstrass, on the other hand, freely admits that the sport runs strong through his veins.

Even in his childhood, the Dragons' lanky senior remembers seeing pictures and hearing stories of how his father - Scott -owned Cameron's school record in the event at 13-3. It seemed only natural that he would want to outleap his old man and keep the family name atop the leaderboard.

"We always wanted to break that record that we heard of, and that's where we got started - in the backyard," Kemper said.

By the time he was 8 years old, Kemper already was working on his approach behind his family's stately, two-story house across the street from the high school. Scott, who purchased the pits from Macon, was thrilled to see Kemper - as well as his older brother Connor - take so well to the sport that he excelled in during his high school days.

Scott is the first to admit that his method of teaching is far removed from the lesson's Kemper received at the yearly vaulting camps he attended, from Nebraska to Arkansas.

"I know the basics, and I'm probably not a very nice coach," Scott Kellerstrass said. "I'm a jerk, and I will tell you exactly how everything should and shouldn't be.

"But I was always hoping that would happen - that the boys would be able to snatch that record."

nnn

Without the benefit of an experienced coach in his house - or the region for that matter - Haer turned elsewhere for guidance and found it more than 100 miles away.

The Craig senior first came in contact with Todd Cooper, an Excelsior Springs, Mo., coach and former world-class vaulter, during a camp at the University of Missouri. Cooper invited Haer to his stellar, indoor facility, thinking that this small-class oddity only would make the lengthy trek a handful of times.

To Cooper's surprise, Haer kept returning to his complex, sometimes twice in a week. Then three times. Before long, Haer was practically a fixture at all of his events and made the kind of progress that only comes with focused determination.

"Kind of at that point, I thought we had something kind of special here," Cooper said. "Obviously, the thing that set Will apart was his desire to be good and be better. There's very few that have the will and commitment he does."

When he left the pristine conditions at Excelsior, however, Haer returned to his hodge-podge assembly of well-worn accessories. Sure, he's added more than a dozen poles over the year, but the runway was nothing but trampled dirt until last year - when he helped lay down a long, narrow strip of track from his grandparents' neighboring grain leg.

Despite his subpar surroundings, Haer never saw his situation as an impossible obstacle. Rather, he saw another bar to clear.

"I just look at other people that do things better than me, like pole vault and see the kids that go higher. I wonder what do they have better than me?" Haer said. "It must be dedication, so I just keep trying harder."

Thanks to endless hours on the interstate and in the pits, Haer established himself as the best vaulter in the state - regardless of class - according to Cooper.

nnn

For a full decade, Scott Kellerstrass patiently imparted his gruff wisdom to his sons and hoped to see his own name removed from the school's record book.

To his relief, Kemper cleared 13-4 at Maryville in the middle of May and lifted "50 pounds of pressure" from his season. Both record holders, old and new, were thrilled to see the mark fall.

In the five weeks that followed, Kemper hasn't looked back. Before long he vaulted over 13-6. Not long after, he cleared 14 feet. Then he did it again. On the season, he's cleared 14 feet four times and posted the second-best height during last week's district competition.

"I never really understood it, but I think it was a mental block in the road," Kemper said. "I finally got past it."

As he prepares for sectionals, Kemper has no need to leave the comfort of his backyard to practice his steps on a runway that rivals that of most high schools. Last year, Scott upgraded the family's set up by pouring a south-to-north, concrete runway and topped it with a rubberized surface. The facility trumps that of the high school, Kemper thinks.

Even with a slew of poles and camps to pay for, Scott never spared an expense to provide Connor and Kemper the ability to launch themselves higher than nearly anyone else in the state and contend for a Class 3 championship.

"If it was something else, we'd want to give as much as we could to help them fulfill their goals," Scott Kellerstrass said. "To fulfill a dream or something, you know, no hesitation."

nnn

Despite setting his sites so far into the sky, Haer still makes sure to keep himself grounded.

He takes every chance to impart his learned skills to anyone will to listen. His coaching abilities helped teammate and close friend Stephen Long qualify for state this season after two years away from the sport and improve his personal best by four feet. When Long stayed with the Haers for a few months, the seniors routinely vaulted throughout the winter, snapping a few poles in the process.

"When we'd be bored, we'd be like, 'Let's go pole vault,'" Haer said. "It's either that or work."

Although Cooper believes Craig's unlikely star could attend any Division I institution he wanted, Haer is leaning heavily toward Northwest Missouri State and sees no reason why he can't continue to climb higher into the sky in college - regardless of the school's size or reputation.

It makes sense. That same type of thinking, along with a steely work ethic, has brought him this far.

"What we have is working," Haer said. "So we really don't need anything else."

Sports reporter Andy Meyer can be reached at andymeyer@npgco.com