Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 10 No. 4 | March 2018

A s a former ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year and a young man pursuing two degrees in the hardest of fields, Torben Laidig possesses an abundance of intelligence. In fact, he ranks as arguably one of the smartest student-athletes on Virginia Tech’s campus. Yet Laidig remembers a time when his decisions weren’t so astute—such as the time when he first attempted to pole vault. At roughly the age of 14, he was working as a multi-athlete in his native Germany, participating in a series of track and field events in which the results all combine for a score during any given meet. Though not quite of age to compete in the pole vault, he felt the urge to get a head start on the event. Rather than wait for proper instruction, he headed over to the pole vault area following a practice at the center where he trained and grabbed a pole. “The coach was like, ‘OK, grip low, take it easy,’ which I didn’t do,” Laidig said. “I came down the runway full speed, and it did not go well. I actually planted and pulled as hard as I could, which is something you should not do—and just came right back on the runway.” Suffice it to say, Laidig learned his lesson, and he eventually took well to appropriate coaching, refining the techniques that, today, make him one of the best collegiate pole vaulters in America. His credentials include two ACC titles, four ACC silver medals and four All-America honors in the event. He nearly won the national championship in 2016 when he came in second at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships held in Eugene, Oregon. The short-term goal for the redshirt senior centers simply on becoming the first pole vaulter to win a national championship for Virginia Tech. “I want to performwell at the NCAA [indoor] meet [March 9-10], and then going into outdoors … I’m still not quite in the shape that I could be in,” he said. “I think I can still improve a lot of things about my jump, and hopefully, that will show outdoors.” It represents a rather lofty goal for the small-town youngman fromSchwabischHall, aBlacksburg- sized place in the southern part of Germany. He knew of Virginia Tech’s hometown because of his relationship with former German pole vaulters who previously excelled for the Hokies—Martina Schultze, Stephan Munz and Victoria von Eynatten. They all came over and enjoyed decorated careers for the Hokies. They spoke highly of Blacksburg, of the university, and perhaps most importantly, of Bob Phillips, a three-time Virginia Tech graduate (undergraduate, master’s and doctorate) and the Hokies’ pole vault coach who once held the school record in the event and earned All-America honors for the school in 1980. “Before I came here, I was training in Stuttgart at the Olympic training center, you could call it,” Laidig said. “There were three other pole vaulters that also went here—Martina Schultze, Stephan Munz and Victoria Von Eynatten. We were all from the same area, and I was very close with Martina and Stephan. Obviously, I wanted to go to the school they had. They were telling me about how great it is here and how great the facilities are and how good of a coach Bob is. That convinced me to come here, just listening to their experiences. “As soon as Bob offered me, I was sold.” Largely because of his smarts, Laidig adjusted to American life rather easily. He knew enough English to understand conversations, though it took him a month or so to engage in them. As far as the food—arguably the biggest difference between life here and life at home for international students—he made the best of the situation. On the track, things went nearly perfectly. He won the ACC title at his first league meet and finished in sixth place at the NCAA Indoor Championships. During the outdoor season, he came in second at the ACC meet and earned All-America honors at the NCAA meet. But a hip injury completely derailed his sophomore season—the first of two major injuries for Laidig during his time at Tech. “I probably trained a little too much coming out of my freshman year when everything went pretty well,” Laidig said. “I wanted more. I wanted to improve even more my second year. That fall, I was probably going a little too hard for my body, which unfortunately resulted in the injury in my hip, so I had to sit out that year.” Laidig bounced back as a redshirt sophomore, nearly winning that national title in June of 2016. He won his second ACC title in February of last year at the league’s indoor meet and finished sixth at the NCAA Indoor Championships that March, but still, despite the accomplishments, he felt unsatisfied with his progress. Unfortunately, disaster struck again weeks after the NCAA indoor meet. During a practice later that March, he went up for a vault, and his pole snapped. He crashed to the track and broke his wrist. 28 Inside Hokie Sports Continued on page 3 0