For Bay Area News Group
In the past couple of years, Nico Weiler has done a lot of flying. He's hopped several planes between his homeland of Germany and California, and has visited New York, Idaho and various other states. But mostly he's flown on his own power - as a world-champion pole-vaulter and member of the Los Gatos High School track and field team.
Weiler is a senior, and in his second year as a student at LGHS. He followed in the footsteps of his older brother Sasha, who also came from Germany to spend a year as a member of the Wildcats' pole-vaulting squad. How the Weiler brothers ended up in Los Gatos is a story in itself.
In 2003, LGHS track coach Brandon Vance was attending the National Pole-Vault Summit (Vance is also a former Wildcat, in 1994 posting the team's prior best mark of 16 feet, 4 inches, then vaulting 17 feet as a Fresno State student). At the summit, Vance heard his name being called over the public address system. "I went to a booth and saw the coach of the German national team, who were competing at the event," says Vance. "The coach and these two other guys started asking me all of these questions, and proceeded to grill me for an hour. Afterward I thought, 'Who were those guys?' "
To read the rest of this article check out the following link from the San Jose Mercury News about Los Gatos Pole Vaulter Nico Weiler (defending state pole vault champion):
•Los Gatos community gathers around German pole vaulter to help him excel
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