By Jeremiah Yonemura
Caleb Pouliot, pole vaulter for The Master’s Mustangs, has many accomplishments under his belt.
His personal pole-vaulting record is 17 feet, 1 inch (5.23 meters), high enough to be recruited at a Division I school.
Pouliot was the GSAC Field Athlete of the Month (March 2022), GSAC Pole Vault Champion (2022), NAIA Indoor Pole Vault National Champion (2023), and NAIA (outdoor) Pole Vault National Champion (2023). And he has even more awards to his name.
Furthermore, Pouliot helps lead and train the other pole vaulters on the track team.
When Pouliot’s father took him to a summer camp, he tried pole vaulting for the first time and found it fun, but he did not start consistently pole vaulting until he was in junior high. During the summer in between seventh and eighth grade, he enjoyed participating in track meets.
“And I was like, ‘Yeah, I like this! This is super fun and exhilarating, and I want to keep getting better at this,’” Pouliot said.
Pouliot would pole vault on Buchanan High School’s track program. During his sophomore year, he vaulted 15 feet, 4 inches, and senior year, he broke his school’s record at 15 feet, 6 inches.
As a Mustang at The Master’s University in fall 2021, Pouliot would continue his pole-vaulting career.
But all that came to a halt last summer when he tore his labrum, a type of cartilage in the shoulder.
In spring 2023, Pouliot started to feel a little pain in his right shoulder. He figured that it was a small tear—nothing serious though. He would push through the end of the season and then heal over the summer.
When summer came around, Pouliot was a counselor for the Christian camp Hume Lake. One day in June, he was playing a water game with the children. He jumped onto a mat in the water and slipped, injuring himself worse.
The subsequent MRI showed that Pouliot’s whole labrum was torn, his bicep tendon was torn, and his shoulder was dislocated.
To repair his shoulder, Pouliot would have to get surgery. Otherwise, he was told that would probably never be able to pole vault again.
Pouliot opted for the operation, which occurred on July 19. The surgery took two hours longer than usual. Pouliot said that his surgeon did not realize how serious the injury was until he was in the operating room.
The surgery was an arthroscopy, in which six incisions were made to repair his shoulder. The surgeon cut the bicep tendon and reattached it to lower on the shoulder and then fixed the 360 torn labrum.
After the surgery, the road to recovery began.
For the first two months, Pouliot could not exercise but had to just rest.
Because Pouliot could neither train nor compete, he found other ways to pass the time. For example, Pouliot explored new hobbies. He learned how to play the piano, a skill he had long desired to pick up. He also returned to his childhood hobby of insect collecting.
During the next two to three months, Pouliot began physical therapy to get his arm moving, loosen his muscles, and rebuild his strength. He also started walking with the pole vault pole and vaulting with his left arm on top.
For physical therapy, Pouliot went to a therapist at Next Level Physical Therapy in Santa Clarita, but he also flew out to a therapist in Denver—Greg Roskopf—a friend of Pouliot’s father. Roskopf also works for the NFL and various professional athletes such as golfer Bryson DeChambeau and football player Christian McCaffrey.
Roskopf practiced “muscle activation techniques” (MAT) so that Pouliot’s weak muscles that had shut down could fully function again, reestablishing connections in between the muscles and the nervous system. Pouliot says that this is why he was able to pole vault again so soon after his surgery.
Around the fifth month into recovery, Pouliot started to run with the pole and plant it into the ground. He would start to bend the pole around the sixth month.
Eight months after his surgery, Pouliot was able to do a full run and compete in his first meet.
In his ninth month of recovery, Feb. 29 – March 2, Pouliot competed in the NAIA Indoor Championships, placing third. And on March 23, he vaulted 5 meters (16 feet, 5 inches) for the first time since his surgery and unsuccessfully attempted to vault 5.26 meters (17 feet, 3 inches) to beat his personal record. He even competed left-handed for the first time on April 6.
But to this day, Pouliot has not fully recovered and has ups and downs. Sometimes Pouliot will have a couple weeks when he feels great, but on other days, his shoulder will hurt, forcing him to rest for a week.
As a result, Pouliot is only able to compete in about half of the meets, but he uses that as an opportunity to serve his teammates.
“…I think the meets that I’m not competing are the most special because it gives me an opportunity to serve my teammates with just a love that Christ portrays,” Pouliot said. “And that’s why I try and do at every track meet that I’m not competing. Even the ones that I am competing, it’s just a great opportunity to serve my teammates in love.”
A common theme seen among his teammates and coaches is Pouliot’s love for the Lord whether healthy or in pain.
One of Pouliot’s teammates, Brint Laubach, noticed a contrast between Pouliot and other athletes. Many athletes will try to hype up the crowd while Pouliot sits in his tent and prays.
Micaiah Scott, sprinting and jumping assistant coach and former teammate, recalled the 2023 NAIA outdoor pole vaulting championship, in which Pouliot, who was ill, and another athlete were closely competing against each other.
The other athlete’s performance caused cheering and applause, but Pouliot, during the competition, was on his knees in prayer. Pouliot won, but everyone watching the live stream could see that he was competing for God’s glory and not his own.
“And so I think that was a beautiful picture,” Scott said.
Andrew Cross, another one of Pouliot’s teammates, mentioned how Pouliot has honored God in his injury.
“On the spiritual side, everything is Christ-focused with him,” Cross said. “He may be hurt, but he knows that his injury and his response to that injury—or maybe not getting what he wanted to, in terms of the placement—even your response when you lose, can still be God-glorifying.”
Track and Field Head Coach Zach Schroeder said that Pouliot’s injury revealed his inner character.
“Caleb’s response has been an exceptional example, and this trial has revealed the sport doesn’t define him, but that his identity is entirely in Christ,” Schroeder said. “He has never complained one time, and he has never brought his team down, but instead he has been the constant champion of controlling his emotions and striving after Christ. Caleb Pouliot is the real deal, and this trial shows that.”
Off the field, Pouliot represents Christ as well. According to Laubach, Pouliot reads God’s Word daily. Laubach says that Pouliot also has a heart for “the misfortunate and the lost.” Sometimes Pouliot will go to the park and converse with the homeless people there, ask them about their lives, and give them advice.
“Coach [Schroeder] often tells us to know and be known, because that’s how Christians are often able to invest in the lives of others, and he really took that to heart,” Laubach said.
Pouliot is almost done with his junior year and has one more year to pole vault for the Mustangs. Schroeder hopes that Pouliot will grow as a leader—both as an athlete and a Christian—in his remaining time at TMU.
“I am hoping his team will continue to see him more and more as a leader and that he will help others achieve the same success athletically, but more importantly spiritually, that he has,” Schroeder said.
During the rest of his time as an athlete, Pouliot wants to honor God, remembering his calling as a follower of Christ and a “vessel of worship.”
“I look forward to learning in integrity and growing in that. And humility is a big one, just continue to learn that and passion. So just continue to worship through those acronyms and to really hone in on why I’m competing…. I compete for God’s glory,” Pouliot said.
The TMU Mane 