Whether it’s sprinting to the finish line or soaring over the pole vault bar, Kate Carlson’s athletes find their way to success – and sometimes, record-setting success – at Seattle Pacific.
Carlson, who was an assistant on head coach Karl Lerum’s staff in 2007 and 2008, returned to SPU in January 2020, focusing on the sprints and the pole vault. She also is a certified strength coach, and leads the workouts in the weight room.
Since Carlson came aboard, multiple school pole vault records have been rewritten, including Lizzy Daugherty women’s indoor in 2024 (12-9½), and Mason Hrcek men’s indoor in 2024 (15-5¾).Daugherty and Emily Thomason went 1-2 at GNAC outdoors in 2024. Charlie Hill won the women’s indoor title in 2022.
On the track, Carlson has coached some of the best sprinters in school history. Two of the most thrilling performances came not in individual races, but in relays.
At the 2022 GNAC outdoor meet in Ellensburg, the women’s 4-by-100 group of Peace Igbonagwam, Vanessa Aniteye, Aniya Green, and Jenna Bouyer stopped the watch 45.88 seconds. That was a school record, a meet record, an overall GNAC record, and their ticket to the NCAA Championships, where they placed 10th.
Then at the 2023 GNAC Indoor Championships in Spokane, the team of Julius Shepherd, Evan Carpenter, Jeff Gordon, and Isaiah Archer finished the men’s 4-by-400 in 3:20.86. The old record of 3:21.25 had stood for two decades, having been set in 2023.
Other school records under Carlson’s guidance have come from Bouyer in the women’s 100, Aniteye in the women’s outdoor 400, David Njeri in the men’s 60 dash, Jeff Gordon in the men’s indoor 200, and Archer in the men’s indoor and outdoor 400.
Prior to rejoining SPU, she coached high school track and field at Seattle Academy. She also coached at Washington and at the University of Southern California. Among her vaulters at USC were Brysun Stately, who set the school women’s record of 14 feet, and was a four-time All-American, and two-time men’s All-American Brandon Estrada.
"Karl called me, and it was the right time – God was in charge of that one," Carlson said. "I was sort of thinking about what I wanted to do next. The high school scheduling was harder for my family."
During her own competition days, Carlson was a multi-talented athlete. She swam in high school, rowed her first year in college, then learned to pole vault while at Dartmouth. By the time she graduated, she was No. 2 on that school's all-time pole vault list.
At the college level, Carlson has coached previously at Southern California and the University of Washington.
"I love training and lifting, and I love to run," Carlson said. "I run moderately long distances with friends when they want to train. And as a family (with husband Jonathan and daughters Jordyn and Emma), we ski a lot."
