Sophomore Caitlin Weber just may have more determination than the average person. 

While it’s hard for some to be motivated to accomplish all the things that are required, Weber seems to be nonchalant about her to-do list. 

The Lakeville, Minn., native took it upon herself to travel to Iowa State’s campus to visit and see if this was where she wanted to attend school. 

Weber had the dream of continuing her success as a high school pole vaulter in Minnesota over to the collegiate level as a Cyclone. Without hesitation, she asked what needed to be done.

“It was on my official visit through the school that my mom and I came to the coaches and said, ‘I’m interested in coming here, what do I have to do to get on the team?’” Weber said.

“At that time they didn’t have a jumps coach so they just told me that once they did they would contact me and after that I came down to a meet.” 

Weber competed all four years in high school in the pole vault and ended her senior season with the highest jump in the state at 11-feet-9-inches. Coming to a program without a coach and little leadership, Weber faced a steep learning curve.

“There wasn’t a lot of upperclassmen leadership freshman year in the jumps group, so that was hard,” Weber said. “It took me awhile to get used to everything and when I went to conference that year it was, ‘Woah, these girls are really good.’ It just took some getting used to.”

There wasn’t much of a jumps squad when Weber arrived in Ames. The state of Iowa hasn’t held any pole vaulting competitions in nearly 30 years. 

David Anderson, assistant executive director for track and field for the Iowa High School Athletic Association, said the move to reinstate the pole vault event at a high school level of competition isn’t anywhere on the horizon.

“The pole vault doesn’t really seem to be missed,” Anderson said. “It was eliminated partly because of the expense of the competition. Schools had to purchase poles and the rules for the competition were constantly changing and it just generated a significant expense.”

The current budget crunch at Iowa State University is felt elsewhere at state-funded educational institutions and high schools across the state are no exception. 

With shortfalls at high schools state wide there seems to be no feasible financial option to allow for the event to return as an event sanctioned by the IHSAA. According to Anderson, the monetary cost of the event wasn’t the only reason it was discontinued.

“It just wasn’t safe. Quite frankly, the coaches just didn’t know how to coach it,” Anderson said. 

Weber can attest to the dangerous nature of the vault as she has watched some of the dangerous conditions of the event during her time as a vaulter at Lakeville North High School.

”Not everybody in high school’s heads are exactly there, but my coach definitely was a good influence. There were schools that you could definitely tell that people didn’t know exactly what they were doing,” Weber said.

After competing hurt the majority of the indoor season, Weber’s practice schedule was greatly limited in an attempt to slowly nurse her back to peak competition shape.

While continuing to recover from a nagging shin splints injury, Weber competed this weekend during competition at the Kip Janvrin Open at Simpson College in Indianola. Weber put aside the injury and was able to accomplish her main goal this season, breaking the school record in the women’s pole vault. Jumps coach Pete Herber was caught off guard by the sophomore’s performance.

“It wasn’t really expected, she’s been vaulting about twice a week and she hasn’t been able to train for about the last six to eight weeks,” Herber said. “Her training has been vaulting and some light jogging on the other days so it’s been a rough spring for her. So to come out and do that — it was pretty surprising.”

Weber’s jump of eleven-feet-eight-inches broke a seven-year old record by more than seven inches as she went on to place first in the event. With Weber having accomplished her goal for the season, the sky appeared to be the limit for the young pole vaulter, but with her injuries she may have just reached her potential for the 2009-10 track season.

“We’re shutting it down for the rest of the year with her,” Herber said.

“We’re going to let her get healthy and see where things go with summer training and into the fall.”

Ending the season on a high note is certainly a great thing for Weber, but the new record-holder still has some more goals for her time at Iowa State.

“I wish I could do more this season, but I’m done. I think I could go higher than what I got [at the Kip Janvrin Open]. I’m super excited,” Weber said. 

“The school record was in the back of my mind, but I’m getting better from my shin every day. I could probably make higher than twelve feet.”

As Weber continues her rehabilitation process in preparation for next year’s season to try and further raise her performance as a pole vaulter, she will focus on her civil engineering major. Weber was recently honored at the Frito-Lay Scholar Athlete Banquet for her impressive accomplishments in the classroom.

Weber was honored at the event for having a GPA higher than 3.5. Weber says the reason she came to Iowa State was partially because of her opportunity in the pole vault, as well as Iowa State’s premier engineering program.

“Iowa State has a better engineering program than any of the surrounding states and being able to walk onto the track team was a big draw for me too because I love pole vaulting. I don’t know what I’d do without it,” Weber said.

The junior in civil engineering wishes to make a difference at Iowa State and says her passion building things started at a young age.

“I want to drive down the road and show people what I’ve built. I was little and used to build things. We made balsa wood bridges in seventh grade and still have a record in that competition that still stands today,” Weber said of her earliest handiwork.

As Weber continues to improve, she not only builds a path to making a difference in the world of engineering, but as a dedicated engineer of the resurgence of the ISU track program.

Having broken the school record in the event that she’s loved since a young age as a sophomore, she has enabled herself to be a building block for the pole vaulting event and the women’s team that is coming off their first ever top ten finish at the NCAA indoor track and field championships.

“This season has been fun,” Weber said of her shortened track season. “It’s been long and I’m looking forward to the time off because all of our bodies need recovering, but it’s definitely been a lot of fun. I wouldn’t take any of it back.”