The refurbished Walter Ledet Track Complex and the administration of Saturday's NSU NCAA Qualifiers meet got a five-star endorsement from 2006 USA pole vault champion Russ Buller.
A week before, he was in Japan competing in a Grand Prix event. Next week, he'll head to California for another star-studded competition, with the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., also on his short list before the USA Olympic Trials at the same location this summer.
Buller is trying to earn a trip to Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games. Competing at NSU Saturday helped him down that path, he said.
"This is just a great, great facility. The track is super fast, the field event venues are great and it's a nice, relaxed competition," said Buller after clearing 18-4 1/2 to break the oldest Ledet Complex record, dating back to 1976.
He said he was fortunate to find NSU was hosting a meet that would welcome him for a competition. The weather in Japan was horrible, "raining like it does here (in Louisiana)," said the Westlake native, and 40-degree temperatures.
He took one attempt, clearing 17-8, to qualify for his Grand Prix points and prize money. Coming to Northwestern allowed him the opportunity to warm up, train and then compete (even if there wasn't a challenge from other vaulters, all whom no heighted before Buller entered the competition).
"I couldn't have had this experience anywhere else today. It was a couple of hours up the road, great weather, great people putting on the event. Coach (Leon) Johnson has always been so good for track and field in this state," he said.
Buller said he almost was a Demon.
"He recruited me and I was about to come, until I cleared some better heights and LSU got interested enought to offer me some good scholarship money," he said.
It worked out well for the Tigers. Buller was the 2000 NCAA champion and he had to wait until Saturday to compete at the Ledet Complex and make his mark on its proud history.
The vault record by John Barrier, a Demon legend who was close to being an Olympian himself as a decathlete, stood for 22 years. It wouldn't surprise if Buller's mark lasts that long, unless NSU can capitalize on a suggestion he made to Johnson.
"This is a good time in the competitive schedule for American vaulters. With this facility, this weather, this community, you might be able to turn this into something to attract a lot of top-caliber athletes," he said.
Whatever the future holds, Buller said he and his wife, sixth representing Canada in the pole vault in the 2004 Olympic Games, will be back to visit Natchitoches.
"We were living out west but came back this way. I want to get up here and enjoy the Christmas Festival. I've never been able to do that," he said.
If he can make the Olympic team, he would be a prime candidate to ride in the parade.
Doug Ireland, SID
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