There are many sports and talented athletes at Trinity High School. Each displays extraordinary talent through practice and dedication. Senior Zach Noble has been a dedicated pole vaulter on the track team for four years. Among his notable achievements are winning the Sectional and Regional championships last year and qualifying for the State competition this year. He is set to continue his pole vaulting career at St. Francis University, where he will join their Division 1 team.
For those unfamiliar with pole vaulting, here are the basics: athletes attempt to clear a horizontal bar by sprinting down a runway and using a pole to catapult themselves into the air. The athlete who clears the highest bar without knocking the bar down wins.
Pole vaulting has been an event in track for years at Trinity, and it just clicked for Noble: “Well, it’s as simple as me hearing they needed a spot filled and I just happened to be good at pole vaulting, so I stuck with it.”
Noble’s natural talent is an obvious gift. Noble holds the indoor Trinity record at 14 feet 9 inches.
His friend and teammate, Junior Mason Amos, states, “he has outstanding leadership qualities and is a good speaker and is going to be a captain this season.”
Noble’s pole vaulting coach for all four years, Coach Jay Murphy, sees these great qualities in him: “Zach’s continued work towards learning what he needs to do to become better is the main reason why he is great. Being as coachable as Zach allows him to get better continuously. We will miss Zach upon graduation deeply.”
According to teammates and coaches alike, Zach has a serious sense of professionalism hard to come by in the high school years.
Murphy also touches on this hard work first mentality at practices and meets: “Zach’s hard work was apparent from the start. He would constantly stay after practice working on his craft, while also traveling over an hour to seek additional pole vault work at Steel City Pole Vault. Zach showed early on that he wouldn’t stop until he succeeded.”
Noble is a true showcase of what it is to be a Hiller through hard work, dedication and believing anything is achievable.
