Mary Saxer

Mary Saxer (born June 21, 1987) is an American track and field athlete who competes in the pole vault.

Saxer excelled in her youth, breaking the North, Central American and Caribbean junior record for the event with 4.32 m (14 ft 2 in) in 2005 as a high school student.

She did not improve on this mark while competing collegiately for the University of Notre Dame, although she did win three Big East Conference titles and was third at the 2009 NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship.

She finally bettered her mark at the 2010 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, where she was third in her first national podium finish.

Rick Suhr, a New York-based vaulting coach, spotted Saxer at a long jump training camp in summer 2003 and encouraged her to try out the new event.

[2] Working with Suhr and her high school coach, Kevin Carriero, Saxer swiftly established herself among the best young vaulters in the world.

A height of 4.32 m (14 ft 2 in) at the Nike Indoor Nationals brought her a continental junior record (under-20) and made her the first American high school athlete to clear fourteen feet.

[5] Saxer gained an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Notre Dame in 2005 and chose to study marketing in the Mendoza College of Business.

SAC Relays for a second time and claimed her first conference title at the Big East outdoor championship, where she was also in the top ten in long jump.

[2] She reached her first national podium at the 2010 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, vaulting a personal record of 4.50 m (14 ft 9 in).

[7] She struggled on the international circuit that year, failing to record a height at two meets in Brazil and coming out of the top six at the Shanghai, Doha and Birmingham Diamond League events.