It’s rare to see a brother and sister have the same
interests.

Then again, there’s not many siblings like Nicole and Brandon
Teribery.

For both, pole vaulting is their hobby. At first glance, the
sport seems like a bizarre pick for the two Bradford High students.
It doesn’t get too much exposure. And, the skills needed for pole
vaulting, which can roughly be broken down to picking up an object
reminiscent of a flag pole and using it to hurl yourself over a bar
that’s taller than an ordinary basketball hoop, don’t really compel
too many teenage kids to try.

For Brandon, 15, and his sister Nicole, 17, the first attempt
was addicting. It’s more fair to say their hobby has turned into a
passion.

Now, they’re turning heads. Last Wednesday, Brandon and Nicole
won their respective pole-vaulting events in the District 9 Class
AAA boys’ and girls’ championships.

It is believed they are the first-ever brother and sister to
capture a district title in pole vault in the same season from
Bradford High.

While recording the highest vault ever by a freshman, Brandon
also notched the fourth-best jump in Bradford’s boys’ track and
field history with a height of 13’6” cleared. Nicole, a junior,
again went to a jump-off and again ousted the Lady Dutch’s Shelby
Zomcik with a vault of 9’3” for her second straight title, later
evoking a candid embrace between the two siblings at the Kane High
School track.

“They are the best of friends,” said Susan, their mother. “They
are absolutely terrific. The first thing they did when they found
out was give each other hugs.”

Pole vaulting, or vaulting as some familiar with the event call
it, is a family affair for the Teriberys. Before Nicole or Brandon,
their brother, Matt, was the first to take up the sport.

Nicole and Brandon caught on after they tinkered with pole
vaulting during their middle-school years. That was around the time
their parents put together a makeshift pit in their backyard.

Now they have a high school regulation pole vault pit, a
structure that’s almost 17-feet wide at the front, around 20-feet
long and 26-feet high. Accompanying the pit is an “inversion”
machine, a device used to properly teach vaulters how to get upside
down when taking off from the pole.

“It takes a whole different breed to go upside down in the air,”
said their father, Kevin, who added he purchased the machine
online.

It also takes another kind of athlete to show promise at the
PIAA meet, where both Nicole and Brandon will compete Friday in
Shippensburg.

Confident but not smug after their district wins, brother and
sister already have the right mindset.

“It’s what I’m good at, what I worked toward this year, to be
the best,” Nicole said. “I would like to get at least 10 feet or
the (Bradford) high school record.”

Her brother said his motivation is “there are always people out
there better than you, so you always try to be better than them.
I’d just like to go there for the experience and set a new personal
record.”

Matt, undoubtedly, started it all. He was a three-sport athlete
in football, basketball and track and field. Although sport-related
injuries derailed what could have been a more decorated vaulting
career, Matt’s flights over the bar were among the best on the
team.

“He was very good. He vaulted 13 feet for me,” Tom Tessena,
longtime Bradford boys’ track and field coach, said. “He separated
his shoulder in football, then again in pole vaulting. He did other
events his junior and senior years, but he was well on his way to
14, 15-foot pole vaulting.”

Tom Cecchetti, Kane’s track and field coach and athletic
director, a coach the Teriberys describe as nothing short of a pole
vault guru, was integral in Matt’s development.

“He really helped me a lot and has taught me a lot of what I
know today,” Matt said.

Matt was part of starting a tradition, too, with vaulters from
the double-A school coached by Cecchetti. In high school, Matt
worked out with D.J. Horton, a three-time PIAA champion in the
event. Now, Brandon and Nicole work out with Kane’s Patrick
Anderson, who won the D-9 Class AA title with a height of 14’ in
the pole vault, as well as with Horton and Matt.

“It’s good to have some companionship,” Matt said. “Throughout
the season, we shoot (to work out) for once a week. Toward the end
of the year, we’d be there or they’d be here once or twice a
week.”

As their brother praised Cecchetti for his mentoring, both
Nicole and Brandon attribute almost everything they learned about
the sport — plants, take-offs, the swing, the inversion, the
fly-away — to their family’s pioneer.

“They have strengths and weaknesses, and that’s what Matt works
on with them,” Kevin said.

This year Matt was hired as Bradford’s boys’ and girls’ pole
vault coach, and his guidance has already paid off. Brandon, who’s
the pole vault record-holder at Floyd Fretz Middle School, has
improved his vault more than two feet since winter when he recorded
a mark of 11’. Likewise, Nicole’s vaults have steadily climbed to
within striking distance of the Amanda Davis’ school record vault
of 10’3” set in 2003.

“Brandon is definitely in a pretty selective group in the pole
vault. It’s really amazing. But, I think he’s got a real window to
look through. We were hoping to get over 13 feet. He has already
done more than he needed to do. He’s really fun to watch,” Tessena
said of Brandon’s progress.

Larry Stillman, the Lady Owls’ long tenured head coach, agrees
Matt’s coaching has bestowed great results for Nicole.

“She’s a very good pole-vaulter. She worked really hard to
improve to become a real student in pole vaulting. Now, it’s her
thing,” he said. “It’s a big help to have a full-time pole vault
coach, and it’s neat it’s Matt,” Stillman said.

As for Matt, he believes most of his brother’s and sister’s
success starts with themselves.

“They’ve really listened to everything I’ve said,” he said, “and
their effort really helped them to get to where they are
today.”