Dominic Baez

“When I was a kid, I remember watching a track meet at Bend High School. I remember watching one of our guys at La Pine High School pole, and he was one of the best vaulters in the state, [he] broke the state record twice that year, and I actually saw him do it. From then on, I always wanted to pole vault. I was always excited for when I would be old enough to start pole vaulting.”
That was back in third grade. Since then, senior Gabe Haberly has become an indispensable asset to the Linfield track and field team as a seasoned pole vaulter, sprinter and hurdler.
Haberly’s track career began in middle school.
“I broke both the seventh-and eighth grade records, and I was pretty stoked about that,” he said.
Haberly did well
during his freshman year of high school, earning 12th in state, jumping 12 feet. In his sophomore year, he tried to improve his jumping but was unable to achieve the results that he wanted, actually no-heighting at the district meet. He had an unusual swing for his pole vault jump, unlike the progressional vault, which is more common, he said. He was trying to change his swing into a more conforming one.
“My junior year, I ended up changing it and getting it back to normal,” he said. “Midway through the season, I was just starting to improve, and I had an accident when my hand slid off the pole. The rest of the year, I just had this weird fear that my hands were going to slide every time I planted the pole.”
It was a rainy day during the particular track meet when Haberly had his accident. He went to plant the pole, and as he took off the ground, his hands slid down the pole, and it snapped back, bruising his ribs.
“It didn’t affect me that much that year, and I ended up doing OK at district, but it was so bad my senior year that I just hung up the hat for a year,” Haberly said. “I didn’t jump at all my senior year. I had a big mental block. I’m still kind of disappointed in myself for being mentally weak and not being able to overcome that barrier.”
Haberly said it was strange to feel so disappointed.
Despite his fear, Haberly still participated in track his senior year, focusing on the hurdles and the javelin. He said though he did well at the beginning of the year, he never made the real breakthrough that he desired. However, he was able to make it to state.
“At the state pre-lims, I was running the 300 hurdles. I was currently in seventh. Of all four years of high school, I never stuttered on the last hurdle. I always just hurdled it clean and finished well. But my senior year at state, I stuttered on the last hurdle, and two guys passed me and I got ninth. I missed the finals by one spot. So, I kind of had a disappointing end to my career in high school.”
Track and field was not the only sport Haberly participated in during high school. He also played football and basketball.
“Football in high school was really my true passion,” he said. “I had a breakthrough game my freshman year where I threw a few hundred yards and a couple touchdowns. We came back, we didn’t win, but we had a big comeback in the game, and that was kind of the turning point in my career as a quarterback.”
During his sophomore year, Haberly was behind two seniors as a quarterback, sparking a controversy, but he was a varsity starter through his junior and senior years. He said he attributes his successes and record-breaking career to the men around him on the field.
As it turned out, football was the reason Haberly chose to come to Linfield.
He began as a quarterback, possessing more skill as a running quarterback, not so much as a throwing quarterback. As a result, he was moved to defensive back, staying there for the last three years. He said it was something he was fine with and adapted to. He said it made him a better person.
As a freshman track and field athlete at Linfield, Haberly said he had a good and bad season. He competed in the decathlon, struggling with it because he was still dealing with his pole vault barrier. He said he never got over that mental block, which resulted in him having to do weird ceremonies in order to jump, including running through 10 times on a single jump or using a smaller pole to build his confidence. He did, however, win the javelin at the conference meet, winning a bid to nationals, earning 13th.
“Hanging out with Garry and Travis [Olsen] during nationals made our relationship so much stronger and that made me appreciate it more, which made me like track that much more,” Haberly said.
During his sophomore year at Linfield, Haberly finally overcame his pole vault barrier.
“One day in the field house when we were jumping, I said, ‘You know what? This is not me as a person and I’m stronger than that,’” he said. “It was just sheer will power to get over it, and I got rid of it and started off the season really, really strong.”
After crushing his fear, Haberly came out blazing. At his first meet, he had a good hurdle race and pole vault throw. However, he was unable to obtain the results he desired for the javelin, despite having just been to nationals for his throws.
“One day in practice, I was, like, ‘I’m going to get this javelin going on,’” he said. “I had a great practice. I started throwing back to where I felt like I should have been. But the next day, I was doing long jump and got hurt.”
Haberly sprained a tendon in his plant and take-off ankle, and he was out for about two weeks. He never got up to full speed that year.
Then junior year came around. Haberly had a slow start because he went abroad during January Term to Russia, Germany and Switzerland to study math and he didn’t receive the base training he needed. All of his running events for the decathlon were weak, mainly because of a lack of endurance in any of the events. His field events went better, though, placing second in pole vault at conference. However, he no-heighted in the high jump, dampening his overall score. He didn’t compete after conference as he participated in spring football.
All during this time, he was coaching track at McMinnville High School, which detracted from the time he would have used for training. However, this year he dedicated more time to Linfield, wanting to make the most of his senior year.
There was a reoccurring trend, though: There always seemed to be something holding him back.
“There’s always going to be stuff that slows you down,” he said. “Life isn’t always fair. You don’t always get what you hope for.”
As a senior, this season will be Haberly’s last on the Linfield track and field team.
“It’s been a great year,” he said. “I got out, started training early. I love training with the Lovell brothers. I felt that the results during the middle of the season hadn’t quite reflected the effort we all put in it. We weren’t getting the results we deserved; we put in so much work that we should be doing a lot better than we were doing.”
At the 2009 Spring Break decathlon in 2009, Haberly said he tallied the worst score he’s ever had at a decathlon.
“To go into it and to be confident, and to not compete well in virtually any event, eight of the 10 sets, was just terrible,” he said. “But we all picked ourselves back up, and we came out and lit a fire at the conference decathlon. We all just fed off each other.”
Haberly said he would like to make it to nationals this year with the Lovell twins.
“That would really cap off a great year,” he said. “It’s been great, but it would really be something else if I could make it back to Ohio.”
Haberly will participate in the Northwest Conference Championships decathlon on April 24 and 25.
As a math major seeking a teaching certificate, Haberly said he wants to teach math at the high school level after graduation. He said he might even teach at McMinnville High School, as his cooperating teacher is retiring. If he were to stay in McMinnville, Haberly said he would probably coach track at the high school as well.