Preparing for Pole Vaulting: Freshman Cate Conrad is training for her first high school track season through a pole vaulting club

Lining up on the chalk-dusted, jet black runway, freshman Cate Conrad prepares to pole vault onto the U-shaped arrangement of colorful mats at Olympus Vault Academy. 

Though Cate’s been pole vaulting at the club for three years, she now practices twice a week — a step up from her usual three to four times a month — in preparation for her first high school track season. 

“This is her first actual season,” Cate’s mother Debbie Conrad said. “So she’s very excited and can’t wait to see what she can do to help the East team out.”

Cate and her coach of almost two years, Nick Meyer, have been running sprints, practicing swing-ups and jumping bars to perfect Cate’s technique and mimic the jumps in a high school track meet.

“A lot of times coaches will have their kids practice and practice and practice, and then they won’t jump the bars and sometimes kids will get to that first meet and go ‘Oh the bar is up and I’ve never jumped the bar,’ so it can be kind of intimidating,” Nick said. “So I like to jump bars with Cate during practice, especially as we’re leading up to the beginning of her first season.”

During the indoor season, Cate’s training is focused on short runs with smaller poles so she can get more repetitions. Now that Cate has to transition to outdoor pole vaulting, she and Nick work on what they call “full-run jumping” where Cate practices longer runs to attempt the tallest jumps possible — her tallest jump being 9 feet 6 inches. 

Off the runway, Cate works out at Milburn Country Club and practices pull-ups and chin-ups at the vault club with Nick — improving her core strength so she is able to reach higher marks.  

“It’s a very rewarding feeling when you’re able to jump higher than you used to be able to and see the progress you’ve made,” Cate said.

Cate doesn’t shy away from hard work — ironing out the mechanics of her run, pole drop and jump. She is always willing to try new positions like tucking in her knees or straightening her arms more to improve her heights. 

“She always comes in and she’s always ready to learn,” Nick said. “She never gets down on herself if she has a bad day and doesn’t let it affect her into the next day. That’s probably one of the unique things about her is that she’s always ready to compete and have fun and just ultimately get better at the event itself each day.”