Hall Leaves Georgia To Train For 2019 World Championships
Two time NCAA long jump champion Kate Hall of Casco has decided to forego her remaining NCAA eligibility and leave the University of Georgia to focus on making the 2019 World Championship team for team USA.
Hall who has one indoor and two outdoor seasons off eligibility remaining with forego those. She is only a few classes away from graduating, and will finish up her degree her in Maine.
"Since my dream is the Olympics I want to get more exposure and
experience competing internationally before 2020. That's hard to do
since the collegiate season is so long." Hall said via social media this afternoon.
She will return to Maine to train with Chris Pribish who she worked with in high school. Hall set the high school national record in the long jump in her senior season with a leap of 22-5, a mark she has yet to surpass in college. Pribish is the co-owner and director of the UMed Gym in South Portland.
While she has yet to sign a professional contract, she has been in touch with several agents. The plan is to sign a pro contract in the near future.
Hall started out her collegiate career at Iowa State before transferring after her freshman year to Georgia.
While at Georgia, Hall won the 2017 Outdoor National Championship in the long jump at Hayward Field in Eugene with a leap of 22-1. She returned indoors to help lead the Bulldogs to their first NCAA team title as she lead a 1-2-3 Georgia finish in the long jump again jumping 22-1. The winning mark set a University of Georgia school record.
She tied for the 5th best jump outdoors in the NCAA with her 21'9, but struggled at the NCAA Championships where she failed to make the final jumping 20'1 3/4" in the trials.
Hall a type 1 diabetic has been a strong voice for those affected by the disease has started a new blog to talk about her journey as an athlete.
Georgia Head Track & Field coach Petros Kyprianou responded to Kate's post thanking her for her contributions to the University of Georgia program.
