Can we get much higher?

Red-shirt freshman pole vaulter Mick Viken tied Eastern's record of 17 feet after competing in only four meets as a Panther. (Kenji Ohseki | The Daily Eastern News)

Red-shirt freshman Mick Viken is one of many new faces to the Eastern track and field team this season and has already made a major impact on the team so far this season. Viken, who transferred to Eastern from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has competed in four meets as a Panther and has already tied the school's all-time record.

Viken decided to transfer to Eastern after a few disagreements with his pole vaulting coach at Wisconsin.

"I didn't see myself getting much better there (at Wisconsin). Pole vault is a pretty big deal to me," Viken said.

A pretty big deal indeed, as Viken was a state champion pole vaulter at Rolling Meadows High School.

Viken said a big factor that attracted him to Eastern was the knowledge of pole vault coach Kyle Ellis.

"I really liked Coach Ellis here. He's a big pole vault nerd. That's all he does," Viken said.

Coach Kyle Ellis graduated from Eastern in 2009, and currently holds the same school record that Viken tied over the weekend at the Illinois Intercollegiate.

"Getting the school record was certainly something that I had wanted to do," Viken said.

Viken also said that breaking the 17-foot mark was something he had looked forward to doing all year long. Viken had back surgery a year ago after an injury he sustained in high school and said he was really excited to compete again.

With the Eastern campus buried under snow and ice, Viken says that the two days of cancelled classes did not affect his training schedule at all.

"It's actually helped, I've gotten more sleep. In terms of practice, my training has been longer and my practice has been just as long as hard as it was last week. Without school, I feel like I can focus more on track," Viken said.

Viken is just one of many Eastern track and field team members to be ranked in the NCAA. Viken is currently ranked 19 in the NCAA, while the Panthers are ranked 9 in the midwest region. Viken says the rankings do add pressure, but he enjoys the challenge.

"I think it adds a little but of pressure, but I like it. Every week I go and check the rankings and see what everybody else has jumped. It's a tough sport because every week everybody is getting better. If you're not improving, you're going to be dropping on the list," Viken said.

Viken says that despite the size of Eastern's team, the Panthers still have the talent to compete with the bigger schools that are in the region.

"As a whole unit, our track team isn't as big and doesn't have the depth that Big Ten teams have, but athlete for athlete in any event this school has the potential to beat just about anybody. We win a bunch of events regardless of who we're competing against," Viken said.

Viken says his level of competition will not slow down after taking the school record.

"Getting the school record, that's a big thing. Hopefully in the next week I'll have it outright instead of just tying it. There are collegiate guys out there right now that are jumping 18 feet. I'm not going to let up or stop until I'm up there with all the elite guys," Viken said.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-7944 or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.