Kennesaw State’s Director of Track and Field Cale McDaniel announced on Thursday, Aug. 8, that he had made his first signing of the season, transfer pole vaulter Jack Rhea.
Rhea, a native of Calhoun, Georgia, is coming off of his sophomore season at the University of Tennessee where he won an individual event and finished as runner-up on two other occasions.
During the indoor season, Rhea finished second at the Hokie Invitational while setting a personal best indoor jump of 5.10 meters at the Carolina Challenge. At the SEC Indoor Championships, Rhea finished ninth out of a field of 20.
His personal best outdoor jump of 5.27 meters was enough to win the Virginia Challenge in April while he finished second at a meet hosted by Florida a week later.
Rhea would finish ninth again at the SEC Outdoor Championships, but this time his result would earn him a spot at the NCAA Championship Preliminary Round, where he posted a jump of 4.81 meters.
“We are excited to welcome Jack back home to the state of Georgia,” McDaniel said. “Jack is another piece of an outstanding class coming to compete at KSU this fall.”
Before his time at Rocky Top, Rhea spent a season at Aquinas College in Michigan, where he placed fourth at the NAIA Indoor Championships.
Coming out of Calhoun High School, Rhea had come in second place at the State Championships and had offers from both KSU and Tennessee before he chose Aquinas, which had a program that specialized in the pole vault.
“If you would’ve asked me before my junior year [of high school] if I would be signing a track scholarship, I would’ve thought you were crazy,” Rhea said. “Not a lot of kids get the opportunity to continue their track and field career in college, and I’m blessed that I get to do that.”
Now having attended three of the four schools that recruited him out of high school, Rhea will have the opportunity to continue his success back home in Georgia.
