* Liberty North's Ben Pritchett competes at the Ron Ives Invitational, his first outdoor competition since breaking his neck in a trampoline incident last summer.
- - -
By Rod Murrow - Missouri MileSplit
First, kids, do not try this at home!
No, really, I mean it.
Do not try this at home!
I've been blessed to be around a number of world-class vaulters. A future American record holder in the pole vault went to my high school, and I was college teammates with an Olympian in the vault. So, I've been around enough high-level vaulters to know that, and I mean this in the kindest possible way: As a group they are, uh, not exactly wired "right."
Let's just say vaulters as a group are a little "different" from other folks and leave it at that.
But I still wasn't prepared for the story of Liberty North's Benjamin Pritchett. NFL Hall of Famer and longtime Kansas City Chiefs broadcaster Len Dawson used to say, "It's better to be lucky than good." There is no doubt that Ben Pritchett got lucky -- very, very lucky -- but he's also good.
Pritchett began vaulting as a freshman after trying his hand at the long jump and triple jump. He cleared a modest 7 feet, 6 inches (2.29m) in his first meet. Part way through that freshman season, he began also working with noted vault coach Todd Cooper at Just Vault in Excelsior Springs, Missouri and finished his freshman season with a PR of 10-0 (3.05m).
Pritchett lost his sophomore season to the Covid pandemic lockdown, but continued working with Cooper.
His junior year, he extended his PR to 13-0 (3.97m) and qualified for the Missouri state meet.
The summer after his junior year, Pritchett began working at a trampoline center. After his third day of work, he and a friend were using the facility after he clocked out of his shift. While attempting a double front flip into an "airbag" (essentially a foam pit), Pritchett over-rotated and landed on his head.
"I heard a really loud crack and my left arm immediately had that pins and needles feeling," Pritchett said recently. "My balance felt really off and I kind of felt like I had been concussed. Also, my left tricep was really weak. I can normally crank out push-ups, but I could only do three until my left arm gave out."
Now, most people in that situation would probably want to, I dunno, go straight to the ER and get checked out maybe?
Not Pritchett.
You see, the Pritchett family had flights booked to leave the next day for a family vacation to Florida. Because Pritchett could still use his arms and had full mobility, Pritchett decided to go on to Florida so as not to interfere with the family vacation and "see how it felt."
This is a good time to repeat this: Kids, don't try this at home!
Seek medical attention immediately in this situation rather than going on vacation to Florida!
Upon returning from Florida, Pritchett went to see his pediatrician. The pediatrician referred him to a sports medicine doctor, who took X-rays at the first office visit.
Pritchett had broken his C6 and C7 vertebrae. The C6 had actually crushed the C7 and destroyed the disc between them and those two vertebrae were bone-on-bone.
The doctor immediately placed Pritchett in a hard collar neck brace and consulted with a spinal surgeon at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, and surgery was scheduled. The surgery was a spinal fusion of his C6-T1 vertebrae, which involved pulling the C6 back up and using a bone graft with six screws and two rods to keep it in place.
Post-surgical images of the spinal fusion to repair Pritchett's broken neck
- - -
Pritchett spent the night in the hospital before being discharged to go home with a neck brace. Doctors were not optimistic that he would ever vault again.
On September 20, Pritchett started some basic physical therapy for range of motion and strength, which lasted a month. Not long after, he was allowed to start light weight lifting.
He returned to Just Vault, a pole vaulting center in Missouri, at the end of November, but was not cleared to vault. He activity was limited to pole runs and other exercises.
Understandably, his doctor was hesitant to clear him to vault. After more discussion and Pritchett pointing out that this accident had not occurred while vaulting and that he had never had any similar problems in the three years he had been vaulting, the doctor eventually cleared him to start vaulting again at the end of January.
* Pritchett beginning physical therapy following surgery
"It was one of the best feelings ever to get back on the pole after thinking I was never going to vault again. I can't even describe how incredible that first jump felt," said Pritchett.
Just Vault held a vault competition this winter, and Pritchett exploded over his old PR by a foot, clearing 14-0 (4.27m) at that meet. He backed that up with a 13-6 (4.12m) clearance at his first outdoor meet, the Ron Ives Invitational at Liberty High School last week.
Pritchett will be back in action this Friday at the Blue Valley Northwest Spring Classic at the Blue Valley District Activity Center in Overland Park, Kansas.
In yet another comeback/breakthrough twist, Pritchett will be walking on at UMKC, which is slated to restore its track and field program during the 2022-2023 school year.
Len Dawson was right, sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. In Ben Pritchett's case, he's both lucky and good.
Know of a story about a breakthrough or comeback that you'd like us to feature in this series? Email your nominations to milesplitrod@gmail.com or DM them to me on Twitter at @RodMurrow. Please include any contact info for the coach, athlete, or others important to the story. Feel free to include pics as well. Let's get those nominations rolling!