SHIPPENSBURG - Her showing at the PIAA Track and Field Championships over the weekend was not what Kendall Butch expected.

But neither was pretty much her entire season.

Butch, a sophomore pole vaulter for Butler, cleared just 10 feet, 6 inches in the Class AAA pole vault finals Saturday and did not place.

"I would have liked to have done better," Butch said. "I'm actually very disappointed."

But when Butch thinks about all the cosmic tumblers that fell into place for her this season, she cracks a small smile.

"Yeah," she nods. "I did not think I would it make it to state at all."

She did make it despite never picking up a pole vault pole until weeks into the season.

Since the age of 5, gymnastics was Butch's sport of choice most of her young life. Competing at Level 9, Butch qualified for regionals in all four gymnastics disciplines: floor routine, parallel bars, vault and balance beam.

But Butch was getting too tall for the sport - she stands 5-feet-6. Ultimately, though, her gymnastics career was stopped by a knee injury.

Her height proved to be her biggest asset when she turned her sights toward track and field. So did her gymnastics background.

When Butler pole vaulting coach C.J. Morgante heard Butch was contemplating joining the track team, her resume jumped out at him.

"She was without a doubt a great find for Butler's team and the pole vault team," Morgante said. "When I found out she was going to participate, I was excited before I even asked her to pole vault."

Morgante looks for certain traits - both physical and mental - in a potential pole vaulter. Butch had everything and more.

The biggest boon for Butch was, strangely, her inexperience in the pole vault.

"Bad habits is what kills a season," Morgante said. "She came in basically not knowing anything. She didn't have any bad habits. We pretty much molded her into a nice, little pole vaulter."

It was weeks before Butch even tried to vault. That time was spent drilling and drilling and drilling even more.

By the time she was finally ready to vault, Butch had all the basics down.

"After the first meet or two, I knew she had a lot of talent," Morgante said.

Butch struggled early as she tried to match what she learned in her drills to the actual event. Slowly but surely she made improvement.

Even though Butch had no thoughts of making the state meet in those early practices and meets, Morgante had little doubt he would be in Shippensburg in late May.

"From Day 1 I thought she'd be here," Morgante said. "I figured she'd be a (10-feet-6) vaulter from the first practice I saw her."

Butch did better than that early estimation. At the WPIAL Class AAA Northern Qualifier, Butch cleared 11-6. Her previous best was 9-6.

Everything came together for Butch, who also competed with success this season in the high and triple jump.

"I was expecting 10-6 or 11 that day," Morgante said. "She did a little better than what I thought, but I knew a (personal record) was coming that day."

Butch wasn't so sure. It wasn't until after that 11-6 effort that she came to realize just how good she was and how much better she could be in the event.

"I was very surprised," Butch said. "My previous best was 9-6, so I had no idea I could do that."

Morgante said Butch is just scratching the surface on what she can do in the event.

Butch has only been doing the pole vault for a few months. She didn't have a summer or a winter spent in indoor season to hone her skills more.

She will this offseason.

Butch is throwing herself into the sport. She will attend a camp called Vertical Village, one of the more prestigious pole vaulting camps in the country, in Erie this summer. She will also compete during indoor season.

The main goal, though, is to improve Butch's speed. She will also work on her aggressiveness.

"Kendall is a young athlete," Morgante said. "Right now she's a little calm about things. I'd like her to develop a little more emotion, a little more fire."

Melanie Buczko had emotion and fire in abundance. That helped her to the school record of 12-6 and a second-place finish at state last season.

Can Butch enter that class?

Morgante smiles and chooses his words wisely when he answers.

"Definitely a goal I have for her is to break Buczko's record," Morgante said. "Can she do it? I think so."