Carpenter-Ross hopes high school success leads to new heights at Nebraska-Kearney

By Andy Brown
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Updated: July 15, 2024

***Louisburg’s Maddy Carpenter-Ross signed to join the University of Nebraska-Kearney track and field team for the upcoming season.***

Maddy Carpenter-Ross has been the best pole vaulter in Class 4A the last two years and built an historic high school career at Louisburg.

Carpenter-Ross won back-to-back state titles in the event and broke her own school record as she won the gold this past May.

It has been a memorable run and now she hopes to continue that success at the college level.

Carpenter-Ross recently signed with the University of Nebraska-Kearney as she is excited to join the Division II program.

“It was super exciting to sign for pole vault,” Carpenter-Ross said. “I am excited to continue my track and field career at the college level. It was something that I knew that I wanted to do for a while.”

It didn’t take long for Carpenter-Ross to decide on her new home, either. Although she had other options, it was apparent early on that Nebraska-Kearney was the right place for her.

“Kearney was my first college visit and I immediately liked the campus and the atmosphere,” Carpenter-Ross said. “I was very pleased with the layout of the campus and I liked that it was a smaller school compared to some of the other schools that I looked at. It was a very tough decision for me when narrowing down my options, but I have no doubt that I made the right decision for me.”

Louisburg’s Maddy Carpenter-Ross signed her letter of intent to join the Nebraska-Kearney track program. Seated next to her is her mother Cassie Carpenter and her grandmother Nancy Carpenter. Standing (from left) is her father Andy Ross, Louisburg coach Andy Wright and her brother Casey Carpenter-Ross.

It was a special final season for Carpenter-Ross at Louisburg. She cleared 12 feet for the first time in her career at the state track meet and broke her own school record that she set earlier in the year.

She also dominated the competition up until that point as she won every meet during the regular season, including a Frontier League and regional title.

“Overall this year was my best season yet,” Carpenter-Ross said. “I was very proud of myself that I was able to have a clean sweep of golds for a total of 96 out of 96 points possible for the season. I broke the school record and beat my own record twice. It definitely was amazing. Winning state definitely helped my confidence for the first season coming up for Kearney.”

Pole vault was something she grew to love at the middle school level and that continued into high school. Still, it was that experience when she was younger that helped give her the confidence she needed.

“I started pole vault when I was in the seventh grade for LMS,” she said. “Coach (Drew) Harding was my first pole vault coach and he was very encouraging and enthusiastic about sports. I love the feeling of the fall after you clean clear the bar after you go over it. That’s the best part of pole vault in my opinion.”

Now she is looking for more of those same feelings at Kearney as she tries to reach new heights starting next season.