BUTTE — Butte High’s Ty Peterson is vaulting himself into the school record books.
He has broken the school pole vaulting mark twice in his senior season, most recently clearing 15 feet, 4 inches at last week’s Butte triangular track meet with Missoula Sentinel and Billings Skyview.
It wasn’t long ago that Peterson was chasing his personal best of 14 feet.
“We had to re-evaluate his goals here about halfway through the season because I think he did a little better than he thought he was going to,” said Bulldogs vault coach Dave Susanj.
Susanj was right.
“It’s definitely a dream come true to break the record,” Peterson said. “To do it twice, that was awesome.”
The senior first broke the mark with a 15-03 clear at the Top 10 meet in Missoula in April. His lead over other Class AA vaulters is comfortable and he ranks second in the state behind the 16-09 vault from Sidney’s Garrison Hughes.
He has been steady all spring, but his new hope is to find consistency in the 15-foot range.
“Hopefully I can stay consistent at 15-04,” he said. “But it doesn’t happen every day, that’s for sure.”
He has already achieved what he dreamed, but with divisionals looming, he aims to raise the bar once again.
“I’d definitely like to get up there,” Peterson said. “I kind of set my sights on 16 feet, but even getting 15-06 or 15-09 — that would be awesome.”
He will get his first chance at breaking his own school record at Thursday’s dual meet with Bozeman High.
