Lee-Davis’ Spott flying through the air

Clear the runway. Eric Spott is an upward bound athlete, primed for takeoff.

The hip-hopping Lee-Davis High School senior is an air-borne triple threat in the pole vault, high jump and high hurdles.

"Eric is a model athlete," L-D vault coach Eric Sandridge said. "He's extremely competitive and never stops."

While not a specialist by nature, rationing fuel sometimes is the logical move.

Spott will concentrate on the vault only in today's Group AAA championships at Hampton's Boo Williams Sportsplex.

But at the Capital District meet, he won pole the vault (personal record 13-7) and high jump (5-10) and finished sixth in the 55-hurdles.

Spott cleared 13-6 at the Central Region meet - the same as winner Matt Armentrout of Deep Run - but settled for fifth on misses.

The next day, he woke up with a case of jelly legs and failed to place in the high jump.

"Not much left after a long night of jumping," he said.

Spott also vaulted 13-6 earlier this year at St. Christopher's and has met state-qualifying 13-foot standards on five occasions.

Famous neighbor: The Old Church resident practically is next-door neighbors with Rachel Butler, a former L-D standout now at Nebraska.

"I can see Rachel's house through the trees," Spott said.

Butler, who lists the vault among her many talents, was one who encouraged Spott to chance the highly-technical event at Kyle Bishop's Aim High Vault Club.

"Rachel would drive me home after the practices," Spott said.

Outdoors last spring, Spott was second in the district, fourth in the region and 15th in the state. That's when he was training with Bishop along with numerous Atlee athletes.

This winter, with Sandridge (a former Atlee vaulter) aboard as vault coach, practices have moved to L-D.

"Now, I get vault almost every day," Spott said. "Before, it was about once a week."

In the spring, while doing multiple events in most meets, Spott hopes to make a pass at L-D's record of 14-7¼, set by Peyton Chandler in 1998.

Revved up: When ground bound, Spott tinkers with machinery. He has become a go-to guy for engine repair.

"It's mostly lawn mowers, but I did rebuild a tractor for a guy last summer," he said.

As for the mowers, he says "I don't race; I just make them go faster."

He's revved up in class, too. Spott ranks 16th among out of 385 L-D seniors and will enroll this fall in VCU's engineering school.

Let's dance: In ninth grade, Spott gave up a 10-year affection with soccer to focus on track. Before that, he stacked Legos (precursor to his engineering pursuits) and took tap and ballet at Cary Clarke Dance Academy.

Dance requires rhythm, fancy footwork and leg strength - not coincidentally the same skills needed for his current track activities.