Kat Majester is a rising star (now at UGA)

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.ajc.com/sports/uga/kat-majes ... 75452.html

Kat Majester's pole vault of faith

By Bill Sanders
For the AJC

Kat Majester just might be the next big name in women’s pole vaulting.


Just don’t ask her who the last big names were. Majester chuckles at the phrase -- “next big name in women’s pole vaulting” -- and has no idea who the previous vaulter might have been.

But she just might have what it takes to go pro, said University of Georgia track and field coach Petros Kyprianou.

“I have no idea what that would look like,” Majester said, laughing again. “I’m pretty sure I’d have another job, too.”

It would be fair to say Majester is more of a natural than a connoisseur. Until about a year ago, the thought of hurling herself 13 feet into the air was as foreign to her as it is to most everyone else. She was a gymnast in middle school and a cheerleader in high school and for four years at Clemson.

That was before her journey to UGA.

While she was doing a cheer routine last year at Clemson, assistant track and field coach Josh Langley noticed something in the way Majester moved.

“He saw me tumbling on the field at football game,” Majester said. “I had done gymnastics growing up and apparently pole vaulting has some of the same techniques that the bars do in gymnastics. But I’m not really sure what he saw in me. He tracked me down and asked me if I wanted to try it. I thought he was nuts and didn’t give it much thought at first. But I decided why not? I could always use another hobby.”

So on the first day of 2009 track and field practice at Clemson, in walked Majester, feeling about as awkward and out of place as she has ever felt. Was everyone looking at her, thinking, "Who does this idiot think she is?" Because it sure felt that way.

“I’m sure everyone on the team was wondering what was I doing,” she said. “I mean, I started with the very basics. I didn’t start out running down the runway and vaulting. I was doing what most of my teammates probably did in middle school. I felt out of place and I knew I had no idea what I was doing.

"It was horrible not being the best and feeling clueless, but the coaches kept telling me that I was progressing quickly and to not get frustrated.”

Majester’s career at Clemson ended a few months later. Her final scorecard was solid, if not spectacular. She tied for 17th place at the ACC Indoor Championships and finished seventh in the ACC Outdoors Championship and then 17th again at the NCAA East Regional. Her personal-best was 12-9.

By then, she had learned enough about the sport to think that she wanted to find a way to continue. Student-athletes usually have a five-year clock for eligibility. And to the NCAA, cheering does not count as a varsity sport. So she had a year left to compete.

The SEC normally doesn’t take transfers who don’t have at least two years of eligibility remaining. But since she was from Georgia and because Clemson didn’t have a graduate degree in public health, Majester’s chosen field, she was granted her a transfer and joined the UGA team.

That led her to Kyprianou, who said Majester has a bright future in the sport.

“Kat has the prototype body for a female pole vaulter in that she’s tall, thin, lengthy and has a gymnastic background," he said. "That is great material for a coach to work with and produce something outstanding.

“She is very persistent and will not stop practicing something until she gets the proper technique. She loves challenges and anything that is extreme and fun, she’ll give it a shot.”

Kyprianou thinks Majester one day might jump 15 feet and be one of the best in the world. He thinks she has a shot at besting 14 feet this year and competing for a SEC championship.

“I think I’ll see how this season goes first,” Majester said. “That all would be amazing and if I can, I think I would like to continue in it.”

Or who knows, maybe she’ll take up the luge.

[fieldcoachrjl]

I am glad to see that I am not the only one who thinks she is going to be that good if she sticks with it for a few years. Credit goes to Mitch Greeley for teaching her the basics in his last semester of school.