Katie Nageotte finishes second in Ultimate Garden Clash pole vault competition...

In the second edition of the Ultimate Garden Clash, former Pullman resident Katie Nageotte (left/photo courtesy World Athletics) finished second Saturday in a three way battle between herself, Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi of Greece, and Alysha Newman of Canada.

All three jumped from their training sites in Athens, Greece (Stefanidi), Marietta, Georgia (Nageotte) and Bolton, Ontario (Newman), with the bar set at 13-1.5 (4.00m), as none had facilities in their back yards.

Stanford alum Stefanidi jumped to a quick lead, clearing the bar seven times in the first four and a half minutes, while Nageotte went with her strategy of jumping once a minute with the help of a countdown timer.

Meanwhile, Newman struggled early with a miss in the first attempt, and lost ground, as under the rules of the competition, the vaulter must replace the bar themselves.

At the end of the first of two 15-minute halves, Stefanidi led with 19 from Nageotte at 16 and Newman with 12.

Nageotte struggled at the start of the second half, losing time with a miss, while Stefanidi got to 23 consecutive makes before her first miss. Stefanidi, who was looking to top both Renaud Lavillinie and Mondo Duplantis' mark of 36 in the inaugural Ultimate Garden Clash two weeks ago, struggled inside the last four minutes when she had trouble putting back the bar after a miss.

In the end, Stefanidi took the win with 34 makes, compared to Nageotte's 30 and Newman's 21.

When asked if she had enjoyed it, Nageotte, a former Washington State University volunteer coach under former Cougar assistant and American record holder Brad Walker, replied, "I did up until the second half of the second half. With the humidity, it's pretty comparable to the heat that Kat is dealing with because I have the sun right over my head. But that's about as much fun as I can have in an endurance competition."

Walker, the University of Washington grad who continues to coach Nageotte while attending school in the Atlanta area, was part of her support staff, helping run the timer.

On her strategy of jumping with a timer set at one minute, she said, "I know that if I went too much too soon, I'd find myself in trouble.  I made sure I went at one minute. All things considered i'm happy with this".

"It helped (to watch the men's competition), but knowing my body and knowing what I'm capable of, I had to stick to my game plan (of going every minute)".

If you missed the action, you can rewatch the fun below:



NOTE: World Athletics contributed to this report.

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