PEARCY -- Lake Hamilton will have another athlete competing in the Southeastern Conference next season after Haze Farmer signed a letter of intent to compete in the pole vault at Georgia next year.
Farmer, who finished second in the New Balance National Outdoor meet at North Carolina A&T last year, inked his name to the letter Wednesday morning in the school's library among friends and family.
Although the senior Wolf cleared 17 feet, 1 inch last June, his trajectory as a pole vaulter was a bit of a curve.
"I was far from the best," Farmer said. "When we first started, it was a group of me and my friends in the seventh grade. Coach (Morry) Sanders asked us to come out and vault, and everyone was more athletic than me -- and definitely better than me.
"But as it went on, I just loved the sport. Once I started getting older, I started getting ... that athleticism. That, mixed in with the love I already had for it, kind of meshed together and is what I think got me going this far."
Sanders, who has coached Farmer in the pole vault since the seventh grade, agreed.
"He wasn't just gifted with any kind of God-given talent," he said. "Everything he did he worked really hard at, had a great attitude. He just would come to practice every day hungry to learn, and he loved the challenges.
"He worked hard to overcome those challenges. He took the time. Every time we had practice, he was there. I think that is the biggest part of his success was the fact that he worked himself into an athlete. He wasn't one of those guys that you looked at him and thought, 'Man, by the time he's in high school, he's going to be a stud.' He wasn't that kind of kid."
Farmer has competed in more events than just the pole vault.
"Of course he's focusing on the pole vault, but he's run the 400, and, of course, he was the state decathlon champion last year, too," said Lake Hamilton head track and field coach Karl Koonce.
"That makes him, theoretically, the best athlete in the state. I think he might qualify for that. ... When you win the state decathlon, you've got to be a good athlete."
Farmer said a visit to the campus in Athens, Ga., helped him decide on the Bulldogs.
"The reason I picked Georgia was the coaching," he said. "When I first started my recruiting process, my top three were South Dakota, Georgia and Arkansas. Arkansas mainly because I grew up around the Razorbacks and that kind of fan-base my whole life.
"As it was getting more serious, it was definitely down to South Dakota and Georgia because of the coaching. When I took my visit to Georgia, I fell in love. I love the coaches; I love the team. It was where I needed to be."
Koonce and Sanders said they agreed with his choice.
"Of course, a lot of us would have liked for him to go somewhere a little closer, so we'd be able to see him a little more often," Koonce said. "But Georgia has a good thing going for them. They made a good offer to him, covered it all for him. ... Georgia is kind of noted for concentrating on field events, so they've been a national power there. I think it'll be a good thing for him. I think it'll be a good situation for him."
Sanders said the Bulldogs offer Farmer a great opportunity at the next level.
"I think he and Russ Johnson, the pole vault coach down there, I think they mesh really well," Sanders said. "I think Russ is going to do a lot of great things with him. It's just a good opportunity for him.
"First of all, he gets to have a coach whose only priority is the pole vault. That's going to be a big deal with him. Also, he gets to compete in the SEC. He's got a coach that's experienced coaching national-level vaulters, so he'll be right at home no matter what the competition is. I think Russ Johnson is going to help to develop him. That's the thing: when these kids get to college, it doesn't matter how good they are in high school, they've still got a lot of developing to do. I think Russ Johnson is the right guy to make that happen when he gets to college."
Sports on 11/15/2018