Houston finds success at IU

Scott Houston isn’t the kind of person to declare himself an elite athlete. He isn’t the kind of person to worry about his national ranking or take his talents for granted.

Despite being the top-ranked pole vaulter in the Big Ten, the IU graduate student has maintained humility throughout his career.

It began in high school when Houston was named the No. 1 American high school indoor pole vaulter as a senior at Northwest Guilford High School.

Despite setting the North Carolina high school record, Houston said he has kept his head out of the clouds and in the training room.

“My coach was very good at keeping my mind focused on my pole vaulting and doing what I needed to do to get better,” Houston said. “The ranking was cool, but it was never about that.”

When Houston arrived on campus at the University of North Carolina, he quickly set a personal record with a 5.34-meter (17-foot-6.25-inch) indoor vault during his freshman year.

But it would be a long time before he did that again.

Recurring injuries kept Houston from consistently competing at his peak level at North Carolina. He went the rest of his undergraduate career without improving his personal record.

“That’s a long time,” IU Pole Vault Coach Jake Wiseman said. “Four years is a lot of work for someone to put in without seeing results.”

Houston said working through several injuries during his time at North Carolina caused him to reevaluate his outlook on the sport.

“A lot of track athletes see their careers like a life or death situation,” Houston said. “I love my sport, but I realized at the end of the day, it’s something I do for enjoyment and camaraderie with athletes and coaches.

“Once I made my peace with that, it took some pressure off, and I just started jumping and enjoying it.”

Houston completed his undergraduate studies in 2012 and started exploring schools, looking for the right fit for his final year of eligibility.

He contacted IU last season and liked what he heard, so he made the decision to come to Bloomington.

Wiseman said when Houston arrived on campus, he immediately recognized the talent of this young vaulter, but he also recognized there were still obstacles to overcome.

“You could tell he loved the sport, but he didn’t have much confidence when he first got here,” Wiseman said. “A lot of what we’ve done this year is focusing on building that confidence back up to where it was before all the injuries.”

At the 2013 Meyo Invitational on Feb. 2, Houston cleared the 5.40-meter (17-foot-8.5-inch) height to set a new personal record, his first since his freshman year of college.

That height also put him at the top of the list of Big Ten pole vaulters.

Houston has maintained his outlook on his sport and said he tries to help his teammates improve, as well.

“He’s a great teammate for everyone,” Wiseman said. “Scott spends so much time helping the younger jumpers that we’ve actually had to have a conversation about him being a little more selfish from now on.”

While he said he knows his coach might be right, he does not have plans to stop helping his teammates.

He said he knows the frustration of not improving in an ideal way and wouldn’t want anyone else to go through that.

“I had to keep telling myself that it doesn’t have to be right now,” Houston said. “The support of my family and friends always kept me motivated. I knew the marks would come, I just had to keep at it.”