SIU T&F: Soaring To New Heights

In seventh grade, SIU freshman Lindsey Murray found herself standing on a roof, holding onto a swing, poised and ready to jump. Little did she know, this adrenaline-pumping act was the first step on a path that would lead her to record-breaking collegiate performances.

As she swung down from the roof - the swing attached to a nearby tree - she caught the attention of the home's owner, a friend's neighbor. "He yelled up at me and said, `First of all, get off my house. Then come meet me in a couple years - I'm going to get you into pole vaulting,'" Murray said.

A few years down the road, Ron Brachear, the owner of the house she'd climbed onto, approached Murray about pole vaulting. After agreeing to give it a try, Brachear became Murray's coach and her pole vaulting career began.

"I said yes without even knowing what it was, but when I saw it I liked the fact that it was dangerous, and I like the adrenaline, so I ended up sticking with it," she said.

Murray learned quickly, and she soon realized that pole vaulting may not just be a fun hobby, but it could actually take her big places. Despite her involvement in several other sports - including basketball, volleyball, soccer and golf - Lindsey focused on pole vaulting her junior year of high school.

"I started trying harder to get better quicker so I could actually do something with it, and place high at the state meet," Murray said. "That's when I first decided that I really wanted to do well at state and go to college for it."

When Murray sets her mind to something, she sets a goal, and strives to make it happen. By the time Murray graduated from Harrisburg High School, she had secured the all-time Illinois high school girls state record in the pole vault at 13 feet and four inches, claimed state titles in indoor and outdoor pole vault, and was named four-time All-Conference, three-time All-State, three-time All-South, two-time National Elite, two-time State Elite, and a two-time Junior All-American.

"I set a lot of goals for myself and the fact that in my senior year I got to achieve a lot of them, like setting a state record and being a state champion, after all that work and all that time, being able to accomplish that was cool," she said.

Now, as a freshman at Southern Illinois, Murray's expectations for herself are higher than ever.

"In high school I reached my ultimate goal, and now I get to restart," Murray said.

This season alone, Murray wants to achieve All-American status, qualify for and compete at nationals, be successful at the conference meet and continue to help her team earn points. But her goals don't stop there. By her senior year, Murray wants to set the national record and be a national champion.

"I just want to keep going higher," she said.

So far, that's exactly what she's done. In just five meets as a Saluki, Murray has broken the SIU all-time indoor pole vault record four times. She currently leads the SIU record book and ranks 9th in the nation with a 4.30-meter (14 feet and one and one-fourth inches) clearance at the SIU Invitational.

So much has led Murray to this point: her success in high school, her access to increased training and bigger facilities at SIU, her diligence in the weight room and at practice, and her ability to use bigger poles, to name a few. But according to pole vault coach Brian Porter, it's Murray's mentality and fearlessness that make the difference.

"Any vaulter will tell you that it's definitely a mind game when it comes to this event because it has so many variables," he said."What I love about Lindsey is that she throws that out the window and says `I need to get down that runway and I have to jump,' and I think that's her best attribute - the fact that she just comes down and attacks every run, whether it's at a practice or a meet."

In his three years as a coach at SIU, Porter has coached six of the Salukis' top seven all-time women's indoor pole vaulters. In his own athletic career, Porter was a seven-time All-Big 12 honoree and a four-time national qualifier from Texas Tech. Now, he's taking his past experiences and his love for the sport to help make athletes like Murray successful.

The risk, the rush of hustling down the runway, the moment when she plants the pole to fling through the air - that's what Murray, a self-proclaimed adrenaline junky, loves most about pole vaulting. All of these things have contributed to her standout freshman season. According to Porter, he coaches Murray with the `If it isn't broken, don't fix it' mentality.

"I try to let her just do her thing and I'll tell her what I see, fix a few things here and there, but that's about it," he said. "She's young and open to learning, and personally, as a coach, that's something you always want in an athlete."

Feeding off any nerves and anticipating the thrill of the jump, Murray is poised to continue raising the bar and to make a name for herself on a local and national level.

"Lindsey has the mindset that she's not going to take any prisoners," Porter said. "She's going to focus on what she needs to do, and there's no holding her back because she's going to keep going."