Fairfax Times
Posted by Administrator on Jun 09 2007
In the News >> Media

Westfield's Alter vaults to a new school record

By: Dave Buschenfeldt

05/30/2007

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For a moment, fans in the crowd at Friday's Northern Region Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Lake Braddock thought they had just witnessed history. But Betsy Alter knew better. 
 
The Westfield senior had cleared 11-feet-2-inches in the pole vault, which, according to the program, was a new meet record. Alter knew, however, that Chantilly's Nicole Kazuba had set a record of 11-6 in last year's meet. 
 
"I actually vaulted with Nicole last year," she said. "And I looked it up on [Milestat.com]. I did some research."

While she did not break the region meet record, coming up short on all three attempts at 11-7, Alter did set a new school outdoor record for the Bulldogs. She now holds the Westfield pole vaulting record in both indoor and outdoor track, as well as the indoor region meet record and the outdoor Concorde District meet record. 

“It's a lot of fun," Alter said of breaking so many records. "It's great to know that I can leave my mark. Hopefully they stay for a while." 
 
Alter has one more mark she would like to leave this weekend at the Virginia AAA state meet in Newport News. The senior had an admittedly shaky performance in the indoor state meet, and she hopes to perform better in the outdoor event. 
 
"I think that I got intimidated," she said of her indoor performance. "I hadn't had that much competition all season. I didn't feel strong. Things just weren't going my way and I lost my confidence." 
 
That shouldn't be a problem for Alter this weekend, according to her coach, Kevin McGorty. 
 
"She's at a good place right now in her training," said McGorty, a former decathlete. "Her practices have really been coming together. It makes heights like 11 feet fairly easy for her right now. Another couple days of good training will just boost her confidence." 
 
Alter, a life-long gymnast, began vaulting during the summer before her freshman year at Westfield. She had seen McGorty vault at an open meet, and decided to go to his summer camp. She fell in love with the sport and the rest, as they say, is history. 
 
"Betsy is very unique because she's been dedicated to this ever since her freshman year," McGorty said. "She does everything she can. She's a student of the sport." 
 
And her background in gymnastics has aided her as well. 
 
"It's definitely helped me a lot," Alter said. "The awareness of where I am in the air. It's a lot of the same motions." 
 
Added McGorty, "For her, I don't have to worry about her vault. She understands what getting upside-down means, which is the key to this event. We work a lot on her run and her takeoff. The rest is natural to her because of her [gymnastics] background." 
 
While her high school vaulting career is coming to a close, a new chapter will begin when she enrolls at the University of South Carolina. 
 
"She's going to do really well," McGorty said. "[USC pole vaulting coach] Rusty Shealy is a really good coach. He's a fanatic about the pole vault. He's excited about any athlete he gets that is willing to work hard. Betsy fits that ticket."  
 

©Times Community Newspapers 2007

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