Nageotte attempting to become only female vaulter to capture gold medals at both Pan Am Games and NACAC Championships, along with seeking first U.S. women’s pole vault title at meet since 2003 

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Even one of the strongest pole vaulting performances in her career wasn’t enough for Nike professional Katie Nageotte to prevail July 28 against friend and three-time winner Sandi Morris at the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa.

But Nageotte’s efficiency, explosiveness and technical execution on her way to clearing 15 feet, 9 inches (4.80m) – and securing her first career berth at the IAAF World Outdoor Championships – gave her all the necessary reassurance that there was an even greater opportunity for success, and potential history, when she returns to the runway Thursday at the 18th Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.

Nageotte, 28, is not only pursuing the first Pan American gold medal in the women’s pole vault by an American athlete since Melissa Mueller in 2003, but also looking to become the only female vaulter in history to capture both Pan Am and North American Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) titles.

“It’s going to be really exciting and I think it’s going to be a really good opportunity to follow up what I did at USAs, and just keep that mindset, keep those cues, keep that focus and then get into the end of the European circuit,” said Nageotte, who won her first international gold at NACAC last year by clearing 15-7 (4.75m).

“I felt this at USAs and I can see how it will progress. I know now this is how I need to focus and this is what I need to do. I’m super excited going into Pan Ams, I think it’s going to be a great precursor, if you will, to Worlds and it will have a very championship-like feel with great women in the field.”

One of those competitors is two-time Pan Am champion Yarisley Silva of Cuba, who also secured silver behind Nageotte at last year’s NACAC Championships in Toronto, Canada.

Also scheduled to compete is Canadian national record holder and Commonwealth Games gold medalist Alysha Newman, along with 2017 World Championship bronze medalist Robeilys Peinado, who holds the Venezuelan national record.

Silva and American Becky Holliday are the only female vaulters to medal at both NACAC and Pan Am Games, but neither athlete has captured championships at both international events.

Nageotte, who also earned a bronze medal at NACAC in 2015, achieved another significant career victory July 4 by becoming the first American female vaulter to win at the Lausanne Diamond League with a 15-9.75 (4.82m) clearance.

“Anytime you get to wear a Team USA uniform, it just adds a little extra motivation because this is bigger than me. This is for my country that I love,” Nageotte said. “Anything can happen and there are so many phenomenal girls right now that on any given day can win, but I really do feel like with where I’ve come and especially after this last meet, I feel like that if I’m on and if I’m firing, then it’s going to be very hard to beat me. You’re going to have to have a great day to beat me – and Sandi did.”

Although Morris isn’t competing in Peru – the other American in the field scheduled to vault is collegiate record holder Olivia Gruver of Washington – the reigning World Indoor champion knows Nageotte has elevated to one of the elite international competitors and has the potential to be a challenger for any global medal for years to come.

“I’m so proud of her. I’ve watched her really blossom over the last few years. I’m really grateful to have someone who is right there neck and neck with me, and who will be for the next, hopefully, decade,” Morris said. “We’ll see how long we can stay healthy and stay in this game. But I’m excited for the next years that are coming up because we will be exchanging titles, we will be competitors, but at the same time, we are supporters of one another.

“She looked so good (in Des Moines), so a little part of me does feel bad for making that bar and stealing it at the end there because she was vaulting amazing. But I made 4.85m in the rain, so I guess I deserved it.”

Although rain affected the women’s pole vault final for the second straight year in Des Moines, Nageotte won’t have to concern herself with similar conditions in Peru. But despite not missing an attempt at her first five heights at U.S. nationals and passing twice to apply pressure on Morris, the outcome was a learning experience for Nageotte for future competitions.

“I’m just sad about the weather because I do think she and I could have both jumped higher. It could have been a really exciting competition,” Nageotte said. “Sandi said the same thing to me. And if anyone else had said it, I wouldn’t have known how to take it, but I know from her, it was coming from a place of the most sincerity and just being so genuine. But I said to her, ‘Absolutely not. That’s what this sport is. You pulled it out.’ You can’t fluke your way over a 4.85m bar. I know that she is always capable of jumping high and I took a gamble by passing and she stepped up to it.

“I have nothing but the utmost respect for her saying that, as a competitor, because she’s clutch. I took a risk and I kind of put it in her hands and she took it, so nothing but respect on my end.”

Despite being edged out for her first U.S. outdoor championship when Morris made 15-11 (4.85m), Nageotte did receive high praise from coach Brad Walker, a former American record holder who captured both World Indoor and Outdoor gold medals during his professional career.

“This is the first meet that we have looked back on, and he’s just like, ‘Just keep doing that.’ It was so cool because it felt like the first meet where I was completely in charge of what I was doing,” Nageotte said. “It was the first time this year I was in control and I was executing things the way that we’ve been practicing.”

Walker, who recently left his coaching position at Washington State in order to focus on training professional vaulters and entering chiropractic school, has been instrumental in Nageotte developing from a two-time NCAA Division 2 national champion at Ashland University in Ohio in 2013 into one of the most impressive vaulters in American history.

“He did it, so he knows and he’s not going to tolerate your excuses. He knows what I’m capable of and he’s seen me do this, so he just wants me to go out there and do it again,” Nageotte said. “Brad was so happy with how I was executing things, and that, if nothing else, is the biggest confidence boost because Brad doesn’t just give out compliments, you have to earn them. He’s such the perfect balance of tough, but also your biggest cheerleader. It’s not like he’s impossible to please, but we’ve had our moments when he’s gotten on my case a bit because I’ve needed it.

“After USAs, he just said, ‘Right now, you’re rolling, you know what to do and let’s just continue this momentum moving into the next meets.’”

Whether it’s been fine-tuning technical details surrounding her run and pole drop or continuing to improve her focus and mental toughness in competition, Walker has been a significant factor in Nageotte achieving a pair of U.S. indoor titles and the 10 highest clearances of her career in the past two years.

“I’m so excited and happy with how far I’ve come obviously technically, but more than anything mentally, and that’s been a game changer,” Nageotte said. “I’m going to bring him to pretty much all the Diamond Leagues from Paris through the end of the season and then to Worlds, so I think that will help a lot as well and I’m just super excited about it. I’m ready to put up some really big heights out there.”

Regardless of the outcome in Des Moines, or during any of her 10 victories this year, Nageotte is always looking forward to the next opportunity and preparing for a new challenge.

And after watching fellow American Dalilah Muhammad set the 400-meter hurdles world record in Des Moines, but learning the 2016 Olympic gold medalist still believes she can run faster, Nageotte gained additional motivation in knowing an even better performance in Peru could propel her to another memorable career achievement.

“That’s why she has the world record, because they don’t get complacent,” Nageotte said. “You’re always looking for that next thing that you can improve.”