Pole vaulter a standout on field and in classroom
By Steve Behr

sports@wataugademocrat.com

GREENSBORO — Things may not have worked out the way Macey Ruble wanted them to at the state 4-A track and field championships at North Carolina A&T last Saturday, but the Watauga senior will get plenty of chances to prove just how high he can pole vault.

Ruble will get a chance to improve on his 14-0 vault Saturday at Charlotte, where he has committed to vault next year. Ruble was not happy with his finish Saturday. It was this third year at the state meet and he was hoping for a higher finish.

But he also knows he’ll get plenty of chances to improve on his vault at Charlotte.

“I already know what I’m doing next year,” Ruble said. “I’m going to continue to be vaulting. I came out disappointed. I didn’t clear as high as I wanted to.”

Ruble, who had a 4.3 GPA at Watauga, knows what he’s doing in the classroom. He plans to major in biology and, while he does not know exactly where that will take him, he wants to one day work in some type of scientific field.

It was the academics at Charlotte that caught Ruble’s attention.

“Academics came first,” Ruble said. “That was pretty important, the athletics and they have a really great coach and facilities. They seemed pretty interested in me and I really liked how they treated me.”

He also knows what he’s doing when it comes to pole vaulting. Knowledge of the event is one of Ruble’s strengths according to Watauga pole vault coach Daniel Isaacs.

“The biggest thing is that he’s got a very good knowledge of the event and he works super hard,” Isaacs said. “Those two things are going to take him a long way.”

Ruble said he got interested in pole vaulting when he and a friend started working on the event. He said it was scary at the beginning, but the more he did the event, the less difficult it got.

“It was scary at first, but slowly it got better and better,” he said.

During his sophomore season, he cleared 12 feet. It was a far cry from when he first started.

“I wasn’t that great,” he confessed. “I’m still working on what I’m doing.”

“He still has a lot to learn, but he’s gained a lot of knowledge over the past year,” Isaacs added.
Ruble just wants to improve when he gets to UNCC.

“I have really high expectations,” Ruble said. “I don’t have a set goal. I just want to take one thing at a time and clear higher heights.”

Ruble also displayed his sense of humor this year following a meet at A.C. Reynolds.

“He’s been fun to work with, building an arc out of our hurdles carts and bringing home 300-pound rocks from A.C. Reynolds,” Pioneers head coach Randy McDonough said. “He and (Will) Beasley — I get home and there’s a 300-pound rock in the back of the bus.”

Ruble’s athletic ability was not limited to the pole vault. Not only did he play on the Watauga soccer team in the fall, but Ruble also ran the hurdles for Watauga’s track team and McDonough speculated that he may do the same for Charlotte.

“I think they’re getting a real good athlete, a real serious athlete who is good at what he does,” McDonough said. “I think before Macey’s done, he’ll get 16 or 16 1/2 feet. They’ll probably get him back in to the hurdles more than what we’ve done. He’s going to get them some points in their conference meet.”