Farmer could not match his personal best of 17 feet, 7 inches at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor meet on Sunday. He could not even match his 17-3 1/4 outdoor state record or his 17-1 second-place finish at last year's national meet.
If he had, he likely would have walked away with the national title as winner Nathan Stone, from Indiana, won with a 16-8 2/4 clearance. Instead, he tied for fourth place with Trinity Christian junior Rhett Nelson, who Farmer has beaten multiple times.
"It wasn't anything about the jump that was bad," Farmer said. "I just couldn't make the jump. I couldn't get the right pole."
Lake Hamilton track and field coach Karl Koonce agreed.
"Haze was clearly the best pole vaulter out there," he said. "He went way over, but he came down on top of the bar. ... Haze will still be an All-American because he finished in the top six."
Farmer said that he felt that he possibly had psyched himself up too much leading up to the competition.
"It was more nerve-wracking this time," he said, referencing his competition last summer. "I wanted to win it, so I may have psyched myself up. I was ready to get on the big poles."
Farmer missed his first attempt at 16-1 1/4, but he made it on his second run.
"I blew through it and made it on my second attempt," he said. "I was on the biggest pole I'd used. I blew through my first two attempts at 16-5 (1/4), and I went up to the biggest pole. I just came down on it. It's been like that a few times.
"I'd never jumped on that pole. I just came down on it for no reason. I could have done my hands better, but I guess it wasn't the right time. I am not disappointed. I had a good time jumping, and that's the important thing."
Farmer has one more competition slated before he moves to Athens, Ga., where he will start preparing for his freshman season for the Georgia Bulldogs.
"I've got one more at Morry's (Sanders) place on the Fourth of July," Farmer said, referring to the Fourth of July Freedom Vault in Black Springs. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to jump. I'm going to make sure that my leg's OK. I want to be healthy (before going to college). I've talked to my coach down there, and he said that was the biggest thing. He doesn't want me to come in at a disadvantage."
Farmer said tying with Nelson was nice, but he knew that they could have done better.
"It was cool to tie with him," he said. "But I knew that we should have jumped better. We should have gone 1-2.
"He's upset, too. If you ask him, he'd say the same thing. But we had fun. He'll come back and win it next year."
* Two weeks after snapping the school record in the 800-meter run at the Music City Distance Carnival in Nashville, Tenn., Lake Hamilton graduate Colby Swecker broke his own record at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor track and field meet in Greensboro, N.C.
Swecker was seeded fifth in the first heat of the race, running the first 400 meters in 55.98 seconds where he was sitting fifth, but his opponents pulled away in the final stretch, leaving him fourth with a time of 1:55.12. Five others bested his time in the remaining two heats, leaving the Little Rock signee ninth.
"Before the race, I said, 'I'm in the slow heat,'" Swecker said. "They go slow to fast, but the three guys who beat me were the top three. I went 55.9 (seconds) in the first split. I was right behind them, and then the top three started pulling away."
Swecker's time was o.16 seconds faster than the finish he had in Nashville, but he was a bit disappointed when he first looked at the leaderboard.
"I looked at the board, and it said I did 1:56," he said. "I went to coach Koonce, and he was counting the guys who were ahead of me. ... Then he showed me the [official] results.
"I was pretty happy to get a PR [personal record]. It was a fun meet. Just to qualify was amazing, even if it was for the Emerging Elite. It showed me that there's a lot of room to improve."
This was Swecker's second major meet. The Music City Distance Carnival was the largest meet he had competed in prior to the national meet.
"I like the environment," he said. "It was a great place to compete, a great place to get a PR. It is definitely something that will help me get used to running in big meets. There's going to be a couple like this in college."
Swecker said that what he enjoyed most about the meet was having competitors at his level.
"All around me were people who were around me or faster than me," he said. "At some meets, there is no one to run with. I knew that there were going to be some in front of me here. It was a good way to get a PR."
Sports on 06/17/2019