Greensburg Salem graduate a national champ at SRU
Tri-State Sports & News Service
When describing her sport of choice, pole vaulter Courtney McQuaide is typically met with a quizzical look.
“They always seem to be surprised or impressed,” this GreensburgSalem grad said. Thencomes the question ... “Oh, is that the event where you use a pole to jump over a stick?,” she said.
McQuaide has heard this regularly since the eighth grade, when she eschewed a career in gymnastics (and the advice of her parents) to pursue a sport that is equal parts thrilling (top vaulters soar 12 feet or higher) and harrowing (poor execution can lead to dangerous falls).
Turns out, McQuaide became so adept at jumping “over a stick” that she evolved into the best collegian in the nation, at least at the NCAA Division II level.
A redshirt junior at Slippery Rock University, McQuaide won the NCAA title May 24 in Charlotte. N.C. Sheis the 2018 national champ. “I don’t believe there is any way to explain exactly how those words make me feel,” said McQuaide, who placed fifth at the NCAA indoor championships in March. “But I have had to fight through injuries every season, so to see that my hard work paid off is, in fact, a feeling that I can’t describe. I am extremely thankful for all of the support that I receive from my coaches, teammates, friends and family.”
Making McQuaide’s championship extra golden was that it came against three-time national champion Emily Presley of Missouri Southern. Presley was the twotime outdoor champion and had recently won the 2018 indoor crown.
And as fate would have it, McQuaide and Presley were the only remaining competitors in the laterstages of the NCAA meet. It was superstar vs. superstar. One on one. “I was honestly surprised that the meet went the way that it did,” said McQuaide, who entered with the fifth-best jump in the nation. “I don’t believe there was one girl who jumped her [personal record]. I was also surprised that it was only Emily and I who made it to the next height.”
McQuaide successfully cleared 3.95 meters (12 feet, 11½ inches) on her first attempt, while Presley missed. This would prove to be significant.
Because, while Presley cleared the bar on her second attempt, neither vaulter conquered 4.05 meters (13-3) in their final three attempts.
This meant McQuaide was the champ, by virtue of one fewer miss thanPresley.
“After I had taken my third attempt and didn’t clear the bar, I was pacing a lot and I convinced myself that I was going to take second,” said McQuaide, who set her personal-best mark of 4.04 meters to winthe Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title weeks earlier. “WhenEmily didn’t clear the bar on her third attempt, I was shocked. Obviously, that meant that I had won, but I was just in disbelief. It was such a breathtaking moment. I didn’treally know what to say or do, butI cried a lot, that’s for sure.”
McQuaide and sophomore teammate Maddy Marshall earned first-team All-America honors at the finals, the latter placing seventh in the pole vault.
A former WPIAL champ, McQuaide also became the first woman athlete in Slippery Rock history to win a pole vault national title,and just the sixth to win an outdoortrack and field championship.
“I can’t say enough about the way Courtney competed this season,” Slippery Rock assistant coach Bill Jordan said of McQuaide, a five-time NCAA qualifier (three outdoor, two indoor) and two-time first-team All-American (one outdoor, one indoor). “And to cap it off with a national title ... is just an incredible accomplishment.”
To fully appreciate McQuaide’s success, one must understand her journey. As a Slippery Rock sophomore, she broke her ankle while attempting a vault in the first indoor meet of the season. The injury, extremely severe, required surgery. She was on crutches for 11 weeks, forcing her to miss the indoor and outdoor seasons. Her career was at a crossroads. “At first, I was devastated,” she said.
But like all resilient athletes — resilient people — she refused to let the setback define her. She attacked the rehabilitation process with ferocity. And she came away witha fresh perspective.
“I realized it was probably one of the best things for me,” McQuaide said. “My vaults look so much better because, for a while, all I could do was drills. I wasn’t capable of sprinting at full speed, so I really hadto work on my technique.”
If you’re wondering what a national champion does when not dominating the competition, they work 75 hours a week in the summer. At least, that’s what McQuaide does.
She logs 40 hours as a toll collector for the PA Turnpike, and another 35 as an intern at Rusnock’s Sports Performance & Fitness in Greensburg. Already holding a degree in physical activity and fitness management (she wants to be a track and field coach), McQuaide is pursuing her maters in health informatics.
And, like always, the bar has been set high.
“I had dreams to accomplish,” she said, “and becoming a national championwas one of them.”