Academics, Athletics Not Poles Apart, says USU Grad Student

Utah State University graduate student Kathryn “Kat” DuHadway doesn’t necessarily play in the same sand pit as everyone else. An exercise science major, who graduated from Utah State in spring 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a minor in biology, she follows an unbeaten path that has taken her across disciplines and through a rather unconventional career in collegiate athletics.

Initially, DuHadway wasn’t sure she’d get the chance to pursue her chosen sport — pole vaulting — at the college level. The USU women’s track team didn’t allow walk-ons. But her luck changed about a year or so into her undergraduate career, when USU’s new pole vaulting coach Joel Johnson decided to give her a chance and invited her to join the team. 

 

“It turned out to be a blessing in disguise,” says DuHadway, who suffered a back injury in high school. “Time off from the sport gave me plenty of time to heal.”

 

And it didn’t take long for DuHadway, who holds a personal best of 13.25 ft. — a USU record for women’s pole vault — to prove her worth.

 

“They want me now,” she says.

 

It wasn’t the first time DuHadway had to convince a coach she had the ability to tackle pole vaulting.

 

“It’s a dangerous sport and you have to be strong and fast,” she says.

 

She first attempted the sport back in 7th grade; much to the amusement, then surprise, of her first coach.

 

“He just laughed when I told him I wanted to try it,” she remembers. “I barely weighed 80 pounds.”

 

But DuHadway succeeded in propelling herself over the bar. Soon after, she placed second in the event at a city track meet.

 

“Pole vaulting is mentally and physically challenging, but I just knew I could do it,” she says.

 

An Honors Program student during her undergrad years, DuHadway has applied the same determination to her academic pursuits. She has consistently received academic accolades during her USU studies, including receipt of one of the inaugural Willard L. Eccles Undergraduate Research Fellowships and membership in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s (USTFCCCA) Division I Women’s All-Academic Track & Field Team and the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Academic Team.

 

“Developing a Mathematical and Computer-Based Model of a Network of Stomata (pores on the surface of plant leaves),” was the title of DuHadway’s 12-month Eccles Undergraduate Research Fellowship project, which she conducted under the mentorship of Physics professor David Peak and Biology professor Keith Mott.

 

“We were watching the network of communications that occur between parts of a leaf,” she says.

 

It was interesting to observe the process by which leaf pores, called stomata, work together, processing and exchanging the information necessary to open and close at opportune times, DuHadway says.

 

“Plants need to take in as much carbon dioxide through their pores as possible without losing water,” she explains. “Somehow, the stomata communicate with each other to achieve a constant balance.”

 

What’s amazing about this process is that plants have no central processing unit, says DuHadway. “A process like this is a simple task for humans. We have brains.”

 

DuHadway’s interest in computer science as a tool to solve scientific problems led to her interest in computational biology; a field in which she plans to pursue doctoral studies. For now, she’s combining her interest in computer science and athletics with graduate study in exercise science. Remaining at Utah State also allows her to extend her pole vaulting career into her graduate studies. Her delayed start in collegiate athletics affords another year of competitive eligibility.

 

DuHadway thinks academics and athletics create a perfect balance. Despite a busy schedule of training and study, she says she’s become more productive and efficient in all aspects of her life since becoming a student-athlete.

 

“I think I’m more focused now that I’m involved in both,” she says. “I think everyone would do better if they pursued some sort of physical activity along with their studies or work.”

 

 

Contact: Kathryn DuHadway [katduhadway@gmail.com]