By Rich Winter

605 Sports

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — About a month into her freshman year at Colorado State, former Rapid City Stevens pole vaulter Emily Adams’ world began to unravel. 

After practicing for about a month with the team, Adams, a walk-on, was cut from the team. Undeterred by the setback Adams’ first thought was, “OK, where can I vault now?”

“I found a club in Boulder and drove an hour there and back three times a week,” Adams said. “I competed at a meet and cleared 12-0 and was invited back on the team officially.” 

Getting cut from the team was one of the first difficult moments Adams had experienced in her short lifetime. She never doubted she would make it back to the sport she loves.

“I think it definitely could have gone one or two ways,” she said. “I wasn’t satisfied with where I was but the experience motivated me ever more and it was fun to get back into the games.” 

Adams was a late-comer to the sport of track and field. She participated in club gymnastics and then a friend invited her to try the pole vault during her sophomore year.

And then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. 

“I pole vaulted for about two weeks my sophomore year and then COVID happened,” she said. “I competed my junior and senior seasons and finished second (11-0) my senior year in 2022.”

Adams had originally committed to attend school at Colorado State in January 2022 with the hopes that she might find her way onto the track team.

After finishing second in the Class AA pole vault her senior year, Evans said her mind began swirling with the possibilities on the drive home from the state track meet. 

“Driving home from the state track meet and I remember it hit me,” she said. “Oh my gosh what if this doesn’t work out and what if I can’t pole vault at Colorado State.” 

She immediately began emailing the CSU coaches and sending videos and said she was elated to be offered a spot to walk onto the team.

After making it back to the team Adams settled in as a student where she is studying for a health and exercise science degree. After clearing 12-0 to make it back on the team, Adams failed to clear a personal best until the 2025 indoor season. 

“I had a really frustrating start to my indoor season,” she said. “Every bar was so close to making it but I just couldn’t get over 12-0.”

She went into the Mountain West Conference indoor track meet in Albuquerque, New Mexico, seeded 13th in the pole vault. She left with a new personal best of 12-4, scoring points for her team after earning a sixth-place finish.

“That was a really cool experience,” she said. “My biggest goal was to have a clean meet and make all of the heights on first attempt clearances.”

Adams cleared every bar on her first attempt and then cleared the personal best on her first attempt.

“When I finished competing I didn’t know that I had placed,” she said. “I went over to my team to see where I had finished and was blown away that I tied for sixth place.” 

The momentum seized from the indoor season didn’t stop when the Rams track team started their outdoor season. 

At a meet in Fort Collins on March 28, Adams soared to a new personal best of 12-7.5.

“I didn’t have a lot of expectations for that meet,” she said. “I had a lot of family and friends there and I was just trying to run fast and have fun.” 

After thinking about the sport of pole vaulting from a technical standpoint during her first two years in Fort Collins, Adams changed her approach. She said the biggest reason for her recent improvements is that she’s been working on her power and speed.

Next up for Adams is the idea of clearing 13-feet. She is transitioning to a new pole and getting comfortable with that pole in practice. 

After competing at a meet in Golden, Colorado, this weekend, Adams and the team will hop on a plane to compete in a meet in Long Beach, California. After scoring at the conference meet this season, Adams said she is hopeful that a partial scholarship will be thrown her way after the completion of the outdoor season.

Adams said her pole vaulting journey has taught her some valuable life lessons.

“The biggest thing is if you really want something then you have the power to achieve it,” she said. “If someone tells you no, you don’t have to give up. Keep on trying and it will happen for you.”