Zach Duckworth seems to rise to the occasion with everything on the line.
Three different times at the NCAA Division III track and field championships last month, the North Allegheny graduate was down to his final attempt to clear the pole vault bar.
If the Washington (Mo.) University sophomore missed any of those attempts, his dreams were dashed.
But all three times Duckworth cleared the height and, at last, landed on the pole vault pad with All-American honors.
“It’s quite nerve-wracking for the coaches,” Duckworth said of his do-or-die vaults. “It’s much more nerve-wracking to watch. … When I’m in the moment, I’m a little nervous, but by the time I’m on the (pole vault) runway, it’s a lot of confidence.”
Duckworth placed sixth at the NCAA D-III championships May 21-23 at La Crosse, Wis., with a career-best vault of 16 feet, 8 3/4 inches on his third and final attempt at that height.
Earlier, he had stayed alive with vaults of 16-3/4 and 16-4 3/4 after missing his first two attempts at each height.
“He did amazing,” Wash U. track and field coach Jeff Stiles said. “His drastic improvement is based on his passion for the pole vault. He is a joy to coach.”
The All-American effort — the top eight finishers earned honors — capped an up-and-down spring that saw Duckworth miss a month with a hamstring injury before making a late-season charge to nationals.
After finishing a distant eighth at the UAA outdoor championships April 25-26 at Case Western Reserve with a vault of 14-8 1/2, he placed first out of 19 vaulters at the Midwest Twilight Final Qualifier on May 13-14 at Rock Island, Ill., with a then-personal-best vault of 16-7 1/4.
The winning vault, cleared on his third attempt, was the 11th-best vault in the nation at the time and assured him a spot in the 21-man field at nationals.
Duckworth, who had placed 13th at the NCAA D-III Indoor Nationals in mid-March in Birmingham, Ala., missed a month with a hamstring strain suffered in late March during workouts for outdoor track. The 2024 WPIAL runner-up in pole vault as an NA senior, Duckworth rehabbed and returned for the UAA championships.
“UAA’s was the first time I tried to really push it again,” he said. “Nothing hurt. … I made indoor nationals, so I wanted to keep the ball rolling and just keep getting better. I knew if I kept getting better, I would make nationals.”
Duckworth began pole vaulting as a sophomore at NA, following in the footsteps of his older brother Christian, who currently vaults at Carnegie Mellon. The younger Duckworth, a longtime soccer player, fell in love with the event and made steady strides with his technique, speed and strength. The 5-foot-10, 160-pound Duckworth has blossomed under the tutelage of Wash U’s Lane Lohr, one of the most respected vault coaches at any level in the NCAA. The Bears annually boast some of the top D-III pole vaulters, men and women. Duckworth’s teammate, junior Peter Lichtenberger, was the pole vault national champion this year, in Lohr’s final season.
“Being around so many good, hyper-competitive athletes just pushes you to be better immediately,” Duckworth said.
Duckworth has made remarkable gains at the St. Louis school. His best vaults at North Allegheny were in the low 14-feet range; he placed eighth at the PIAA championships as a senior with a vault of 14-feet. That is now a ho-hum practice workout height.
“Definitely strength training is big,” he said. “I didn’t do much effective strength training (at North Allegheny). In college, it was much more effective. And speed was a huge thing. I’ve gotten significantly faster.”