It's a bird...

It's a plane...

It's Brian Hunter.

No, Virginia Tech's sophomore pole vaulter is not the man of steel. He is not faster than a speeding bullet and does not have X-ray vision. But, he can leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Hunter finished third at the NCAA Indoor Championships in January with a pole vault of 18 feet. His third-place finish was the best individual performance for any sport at Tech. Superman?

No. But don't tell him that.

"When I was four years old, I would jump out of trees and yell 'Superman,'" Hunter said. "I was a big Justice League fan."

His dare-devil days did not end in the trees around his neighborhood. He advanced to bigger and better challenges: jumping homemade ramps on his skateboard and bicycle, walking across tops of monkey bars; acrobatics on trampolines and rock climbing.

He would set up a video camera from his bedroom window on the second floor to film his trampoline escapades. That window also served as an exit for sneaking out at night. One leap from that second floor window and he was gone.

Hunter, like most pole-vaulters, has a flair for the dramatic. Although rock climbing is his current off season hobby, he plans on taking up sky-diving and motorcycling down the road.

"Pole vaulters are a rare breed," Hunter said. "People like to say we're crazy. I like to say we're challenged. I guess when you're a pole vaulter, you don't want to settle for less [of a thrill]. You don't want to go from pole vaulting to ping pong. Me, I go rock climbing. I guess I don't have a fear of heights."

He started clearing heights in the eighth grade. Always in love with the high jump, a little reverse psychology turned him onto the pole vault.

"I was a little scrawny kid," Hunter said. "I told my coach I wanted to pole vault. He told me 'I don't think it's for you.'

"He was also my teacher at the time in junior high school. I think he knew what kind of person I was when he said that. He knew I didn't like people telling me that I couldn't do something. By telling me I couldn't do it, he knew it would make me more determined.

"That's pretty much the way it was [in high school]. A lot of people telling me I couldn't do it, driving me to doing it."

Hunter progressed steadily throughout his prep career at Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake, Va. As a freshman, he high jumped 12 feet, 6 inches; as a sophomore 14 feet; 15 feet as a junior and 15 feet, 6 inches his senior year.

His jumps opened eyes around the state, but his eyes were opened on frequent road trips.

"In high school, I would personally drive to Chapel Hill or Richmond where they have competitions," he said. "It opened up my eyes. I was being recruited by North Carolina at the time. With all my efforts, it showed me that even though I thought I was good, I wasn't as good as most of the other kids in the country and I needed to work harder. Inside the state [of Virginia], I was the best there was, but when I traveled to other states I realized that I wasn't the only 15-foot vaulter in the game. It kind of changed my whole perspective on things. I decided to stay with it and work harder and it slowly but surely came around."

As the heights of Hunter's jumps increased so did the list of college suitors. Tech had the most to offer.

"I knew I wanted to be an engineer and I knew I wanted to run track and they were offering me a full ride to do both," he said. "Tech was going through a transition and had great facilities. Right before I came in, they got a lot of new equipment and utilities. I just saw the big picture and decided to come to Tech. It was the only option."

During his red shirt year, he qualified for the junior nationals and won with a vault of 17 feet. That earned him a trip to the world junior nationals in France.

He carried that momentum into his freshman season. He broke the indoor and outdoor school records and finished 11th at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

He dominated indoor in this his sophomore season. Despite his poles disappearing at the airport in Kingston, R.I., causing him to pull out of the Atlantic 10 Championships, he had already qualified for the NCAAs. His 18 foot vault earned him a third-place finish but he wasn't satisfied.

"I'd like to be the first NCAA champion at this school," he said. "Whether it comes now or later, it doesn't matter."

"Later." That's a word that Hunter mentions frequently. Although he's not a procrastinator, he realizes his best jumps are ahead of him.

"I haven't come close to what I can accomplish," Hunter said. "I don't think I've even cracked the surface. It's going to take some time. In the pole vault, most people don't peak until their 30. I've got a good little while. It takes a lot of experience. It takes a lot of competition. Getting the technique down takes a lot of experience. That's why some of the top vaulters are older. I'm the youngest guy in the nation now in the game along with another guy at Nebraska [Eric Eshbach]."

The chemical engineering major likes a challenge. The courses are tough and not glamorous.

"There is no favorite [course]," Hunter said. "I just try and get through. If I had to pick one I guess it would be anything taught by Dr. [William] Conger. My least favorite was differential equations."

Hunter would like to work for a company such as DuPont, developing new kinds of materials. But vaulting is where his brightest future lies. The only question remains just how far the future is away.

"I'm focused on the 2000 [Olympics]," he said. "If and when that doesn't work out, I won't be discouraged. I just turned 21. Usually pole vaulters don't retire, unless there is an injury, until they're about 36 or 37. So I've got 15 to 16 years in me. That's four more Olympics, so I'm not hurt by missing one.

"A solid [19 feet, 2 inches] would put me there. I fully believe that 19 feet is around the corner. I've just recently became proficient at opening at 18 feet and 1 1/2 inches. That's supposed to be my PR [personal record]. A big jump is around the way.

"I haven't qualified for the [U.S. Olympic] trials yet. A lot of people would be stressed by that. I know I can jump 18, 4 1/2 [to qualify for the trials]. It's just a matter of when. As long as it's before July 1st, I'm fine."

Helping him get there is the Tech coaching staff and track program in general.

"The strength and conditioning program here and especially the coaching has put me far past where I expected to be at this point," Hunter said.

Most instrumental has been volunteer coach Bob Phillips.

"He's by far one of the best pole vault coaches in the country," Hunter said. "He's highly underrated. I've learned more from his words alone than from him showing me [physically].

"When he was at the Hall of Fame induction last semester, he got up to make his speech. He said, 'The funny thing is I'm glad I got inducted into the Hall of Fame because that's the only time my name can't be taken off.' He said that he's got a vaulter behind him that's taking all the records he's got and taking his name off the [record] board."

'So much to do, so little time' doesn't apply to Hunter. He plans to jump until he's a senior citizen.

But before his hair turns gray, he has a simple goal: "To the top," he said. "Nothing short. Nothing shy. I want to take it all."

At the top now is Lawrence Johnson. He is the No. 1 vaulter in America and just happens to come from the same high school and neighborhood as Hunter.

"His parents still live in the neighborhood about seven or eight houses down," Hunter said. But it's his own parents who have played a major part in his success.

"My parents have made a lot of tough decisions and sacrifices for me," he said. "I'm very appreciative and thankful for that."

Hopefully, his parents will see him on the winners podium of the Olympics one day. While that might be years away, there are two things more than anything else that's holding Hunter back. Technique and experience.

"I'm no faster than some of the other guys out there and no stronger," Hunter said. "I'm probably just as strong or fast. But right now, the big thing that is separating me from the caliber of some of these national professionals is technique and experience.

"On any given day, experience is going to win [over ability]."

Experience, like cryptonite, is hard to come by.

So is talent like Brian Hunter.