St. Agnes Senior Caroline Weems is Acing Her Bar Exams

At last month’s Houston Track Classic, hundreds of pairs of eyes watched Caroline Weems succeed greatly — and fail — at the same time.

Weems is a senior pole vaulter at St. Agnes Academy and on this afternoon, while competing in the largest regular-season meet in Shelby County, she was at the very top of her game. Her winning vault of 13 feet established a new Classic record, breaking the old mark of 12-8.25 she set in 2022.

It capped a good week for Weems, who days earlier at a meet at Bartlett established a Tennessee standard with a height of 13-1. No one else is particularly close; the next best competitor behind Weems’ twin 13s is Holly Schreiber of University School of Nashville, who has topped out at 12-6.5.

The Houston meet is a big occasion and with the title all wrapped up, she decided to go big too. The bar was set at 13-4, a half-inch higher than the state record set by Anderson County’s Brittany Bishop in 2022. 

Three times, Weems stood at the end of a runway built on top of the Houston football field that she herself had helped put together along with the other competitors hours early. Three times, she grasped a pole twice as long as she is tall while gazing at the bar set more than three feet higher than a basketball hoop.

With the crowd rhythmically clap, clap, clapping, she charged 12 steps toward the plant box three times, ascended skyward and arced her body over the bar. With each run-up, she mentally checked off her list of cues that get her over the bar.

Tall. Running upright and getting her feet down fast.

Getting a good jump at the box.

Swing. Getting upside down as soon as possible.

Three times, Weems did all those things. And the crowd groaned a little bit ladder when each of the three times the bar came down with her.

“The thing about pole vaulting is it’s measurable; it’s true,” said Jason Vogt, who trains Weems and some of the other top vaulters in the area for the Memphis Vault Club.

“It keeps going. It only stops going up when you stop. The bar keeps rising, the bar keeps rising, the bar keeps rising and maybe you’ve jumped higher than you’ve ever jumped. Then a few minutes later, the bar goes up six inches.

“Every day that you pole vault in a meet and you’ve done your best, you’re going to fail attempting more than you’ve ever seen. Other sports aren’t that way ... the pole vault bar always goes up. So you may have just conquered fear, but it’s always going to ask you do more. You constantly have to acclimate yourself to more and more stress.”

There are several reason pole vaulting isn’t for everyone and the psychological component Vogt illustrated is just one of them. But Weems has acclimated herself well enough to cope with the ups and downs of her sport while her career trajectory continues to rise.

Puns somewhat intended.

In addition to having the state’s best outdoor mark, Weems set the Tennessee indoor record with a jump of 13-0.75 in February. She’s headed to the University of Tennessee to continue her career after graduation but before that will be favored to win her second straight Division 2-AA state title at Spring Fling in Murfreesboro. After finishing third as a sophomore, she posted a winning height of 12-0 in 2022.

Clearly, she has the physical tools to be a success. But more so than any other discipline in track and field, pole vaulting requires one to conquer their fears while bolstering their confidence at the same time.

Weems has mastered that part as well.

“I had never done 13 twice in one day and it takes so much mental (focus) to be the best you’ve ever been. Twice. (The record) is definitely attainable. I just have to really focus on getting upside down on the pole. Sometimes with the farther-back runs, I just think about going hard ... it’s easier to focus on form when you have a shorter run.”

Earlier in her sporting life, Weems was focused on a different sport, one that serves as a common gateway for female pole vaulters.

“I was a competitive gymnast for five years and I always wanted to do college gymnastics so I was kind of working toward that,” she said. “But I was getting burned out. I was worried so much about the outcomes and I wasn’t enjoying the process. I didn’t love it anymore and I knew I wasn’t at a level where I could compete in college.”

Weems’ father, Dr. Mark Weems, had taken CrossFit classes with Vogt as his coach. She joined the club in the eighth grade and cleared six feet on her first attempt. It may not sound like much — especially compared to now — but it was a fairly auspicious beginning. Weems said the first day record for girls is 7-4.

But ignorance was bliss.

“I didn’t really know anything about the sport,” Weems said. “I thought I would just do a workout but he put a pole in my hand. It was really fun; I was hooked after the first day.”

Vogt quickly recognized the ability of the “unassuming, itty-bitty little” newcomer.

“She was just shockingly good really fast,” he continued. “We were sitting back kind of watching her the whole time because she was smaller than most. And a little bit younger. But we were like ‘she’s got it. She understands.’

“She didn’t really know anything. She was just naturally doing it.”

Part of the it factor was a Weems’ fearlessness. 

In 2008, an Australian vaulter named Steve Hooker won the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, clearing 19-10.5, which at the time was the second-highest jump in history. But the run-up to the London Games four years later, Hooker experienced a grave crisis of confidence and suddenly found himself unable to clear heights have should have been able to reach in his sleep.

In an essay called “Steve Hooker Tells Why His Mind is a Mess,” he said “the confidence I require to stand at the end of the runway and then charge down ... has left me for the time being.”

And even for one of the best, it’s easy to see why.

Poles may slip or even break. Winds can be tricky. Thirteen feet off the ground is a lot higher than it looks.

Weems said even now sometimes the nerves are still there. But she’s learned how to control them and channel that nervous energy into some outstanding performances.

The only thing left is the state mark. Don’t bet against her.

“People always ask me (if) it feels scary to fall,” Weems said. “Not really because it happens so fast. It’s, like, a three-second jump and all your preparation has to be perfect for three seconds. Once you make a bar, you feel like it slows down and I don’t notice a difference between 10 and 13 feet.

“My mental game has improved so much. Having goals. The state record is really motivating. When I first came here, I would never blame myself if something was going on; I would try to find something else to put it on. (Now) I just focus on myself.”