Lehigh freshman Katie Toman can recall her first pole vault attempt in college clear as day. It was like living a nightmare.

“My first time down the runway, I ran down and got my hand caught in my shirt, and I fell into the pit,” Toman said. “It was so terrible. My first couple of meets in indoor I was jumping like 10 feet, which I hadn’t jumped since sophomore or freshman year of high school.”

Doubts and question marks began to pop into her head. Why wasn’t she jumping the heights she was in high school? What was the issue with her technique?

It turns out nothing was wrong. It just took some time. It wasn’t long before Toman put together a historic freshman season for the Mountain Hawks. As a part of her inaugural season, Toman placed third in the pole vault at the Patriot League Indoor Championships and tied the school record with a height of 11 feet, 9 ¾ inches.

“It was just getting into the rhythm at school because it’s a totally different monster that you’re taking on,” Toman said. “The workouts are incredibly difficult. The practices are longer. You’re lifting now. I was kind of expecting to jump the same caliber as high school.”

In the final event of her first indoor season, Toman tied Ashlee Atwell’s record set in 2010.

“It was one of the best days ever,” Toman said. “I was trying to get that height all indoor season. I had gotten 11-7 before, so going in I was like, ‘I want to PR. I want to PR.’ I did it cleanly, too. When you get to those postseason meets, that’s the most important thing, you have to be clean throughout your jumps.”

While Toman’s jumps were clean, her health wasn’t at 100 percent for much of the outdoor season. Weeks prior to the Patriot League Outdoor Championships, she rolled an ankle that required a walking boot. While she wasn’t her normal self, she’ll certainly take a podium appearance on the conference’s biggest stage.

“It was like this whole big puzzle, and you had to start putting the pieces together,” said Toman, who placed fourth at the Patriot League Outdoor Championships. “At Patriots in indoor it all came together. It was a great moment.

“It was on the podium, it was a big deal, and I was really excited. I was really excited to go into outdoor season and see what I could do there.”

One just doesn’t become a Patriot League medalist overnight. There was plenty of work behind the scenes, from breaking down her technique, to changing Toman’s body and nutrition along the way.

And although grueling and exhausting throughout the season, that training has transformed her into the best shape of her life. It rewarded her with two podium appearances as a freshman and she has even higher goals for the future.

She is now taking some much-deserved rest in preparation for year No. 2.

“It has been the longest season I ever experienced,” Toman said. “I’ve been going straight through since August. It’s going to be nice to be able to just hang out for a little bit before I start back into training again.”