STANDISH—Casco native and (with hard work and a little luck) future Olympian Kate Hall, who recently returned to Maine to focus on her training, has joined the coaching staff at St. Joseph’s College.
“Coaching athletes is something I’m very passionate about,” Hall, whose long jumps and sprints are practically the stuff of myth, said via press release. “I’m excited to begin my career at St. Joe’s working with great athletes to help accomplish their goals.”
Hall will serve in an assistant capacity under head coach Tom Dann. “It is very exciting to have someone with Kate’s elite level of experience as an athlete now on our coaching staff,” Dann said, also via press release. “Couple that with her outstanding personality and you have a recipe for her having a tremendous impact on our athletes and the program as a whole.”
Hall, who ran for Lake Region while completing her secondary education, arrives back in Maine after three years away. She spent her first year of college at Iowa State; feeling it wasn’t quite the place for her, though, she moved on to two years at the University of Georgia. She announced this summer that she would bypass her senior year at Georgia and concentrate on frying bigger fish — i.e., the 2019 World Championships and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
A complete listing of Hall’s accolades — including her many state, regional and national titles — takes roughly as long to read through as, say, Moby Dick. But as with any great story, it’s at least worth perusing the Wikipedia summary: Hall has 26 state titles to her name, six New England titles, two (high school) national titles, one Southeastern Conference title and two NCAA titles.
She earned eight All-America honors in high school, and was selected the Maine Gatorade Athlete of the Year three times. She earned five further All-America laurels as a collegian. At Georgia, she also set new program records in the indoor long jump (22-1), indoor 60-meter dash (7.17) and outdoor long jump (22-1).
Hall jawdropped the nation when she broke the 39-year-old national high school long jump record — the oldest standing field record at that level — as a senior for Lake Region in 2015. Her 22-5 leap also bested the US junior (that is, under-20) mark, and tied her for ninth in the world rankings (at any level).
Adam Birt can be reached at abirt@keepmecurrent.com. Follow him on Twitter: @CurrentSportsME.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.