Madison Lamar puts pole vaulting career behind her

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Lamar puts pole-vaulting career behind her

Scott Chancey
Sports Writer

CAMILLA - Last fall, Madison Lamar was preparing to enter the University of Georgia as a scholarship pole vaulter

After winning five GISA state championships in the sport at Westwood School and then The Herald's Player of the Year honor in 2008, earning a spot on a top Southeastern Conference team was just the newest accolade on a résumé that had the potential to grow more impressive during four years of college.

That was, until a growing mass was located on her lower-right breast.

"I had a physical last June in Camilla before I went off to Georgia, and they found something, and then I had another physical at Georgia the second week in August, and it had grown from the size of a penny to the size of a silver dollar," Lamar said.

Suddenly, wanting to clear her personal-best height of 12 feet, 4 inches became just an afterthought. And placing first or second no longer mattered.

Finding out if she had breast cancer, however, did.

To properly diagnose the mass, Lamar had to have surgery to completely remove it. Then a two-day wait for the results began.

"(Most of the wait,) I was under (from the surgery); I didn't think about it, thank goodness," Lamar said. "Every time I woke up, I went back to sleep. I'm great at handling stress in athletics - (but) that's a completely different type of stress."

Lamar's family, friends and coaches also felt her stress.

"Once Madison told me they found something and they wanted to remove it, at least it was a relief," said Lamar's mother, Kaye. "It was going to be taken care of. We believe in the power of prayer, and had a very peaceful feeling that the mass was going to be benign."

The news, ultimately, was better than expected.

The actual diagnosis was fibroadenoma, which according to the Mayo Clinic is essentially a non-cancerous tumor. Lamar's cancer scare, however, quickly put the sport she had centered her life around since age 13 in a different light.

"You think of things from a different perspective," said Lamar, who was redshirted her freshman year at Georgia. "That was definitely not what you expect when you're 18 years old, having breast surgery and possibly having breast cancer. It doesn't even cross your mind at all."

An avid exerciser, Lamar made a full recovery through rehabilitation, but her strength never got back to where she wanted it to be.

"It was right there where you get the most strength from while you're doing a pole vault," Lamar said, pointing to where the mass was taken out. "I could barely lift the bar at first. Even now, I only have 50 percent of the strength there from what I had before the surgery. It was shocking to me. It's hard enough to stay on top at a (NCAA) Division I school, and I want to be on my 'A' game. I had to play catch-up every day."

Practicing under a different coaching method at Georgia also was difficult. Until joining Georgia's team, Lamar had learned how to pole vault under Fitzgerald resident and track & field coach Charlie Polhamus.

"It was a completely different coaching style," Lamar said. "Having had the surgery, I just wasn't set up to do well and it was frustrating. I was set up for success in the GISA, and you could feel that and my competition exuded that. At Georgia, I had a different feel. I didn't look like the same vaulter; something was different. I just could not do it anymore."

At the end of the spring semester, Lamar got out of her scholarship. Now, her college tuition is covered by HOPE scholarship.

"It was certainly the biggest decision of my life because I had done pole vaulting for a third of my life," Lamar said. "I am in a new phase, now. I'm so lucky and happy to be alive. A year and a half ago, this would have been the end of the world for me.

"(And) for a while, it was."

But it isn't any longer.

Lamar joined a sorority at Georgia, and although she admits she still works out "five or six times a week," she no longer has to get up at 5 a.m. to do it.

"It's like I can be a normal kid," Lamar said. "There was (always) that longing to be a normal kid."

On spring break from Georgia, while visiting family, Lamar maintained her connection with pole vaulting by working with Westwood athletes such as Riley Anderson and Miller Singleton, both of whom won individual state titles this year. While watching them win state, Lamar experienced something for the first time.

"I never cried after I won it," Lamar said of the tears of joy she shed while watching her teammates capture championships.

Singleton, meanwhile, continues to express her gratitude to Lamar for her help.

"I was not good at first, but somehow she eased my nerves," Singleton said. "My steps had been off and I had no one to help me and then Madison showed up. She took so much time with me; she's one of those selfless people. She cares so much about others, it's amazing. She has just amazing character."

For Lamar, it's also a way for her to keep her passion alive for the sport she can no longer compete in.

"That's one way I can stay connected," she said.

Polhamus said he believes Lamar can become a great pole-vaulting coach if she chooses to follow that profession.

"No question, she would be a great coach if she wanted to do that," he said. "She has a passion for what she does. And people who have a passion for stuff they do, they do it better than anybody else. That's not just a theory, that's a fact."

While staying in Athens during the summer to take classes, Lamar said she continues to look for something that carries the same excitement as pole vaulting. For now, it's training for a marathon.

"I've got to have something," Lamar laughed. "Pole vaulting is extreme, and running 26.2 miles is extreme. I'm trying to fill that spot. Hopefully, I can run the Disney Marathon early next year. Me and a sorority sister are going to do it together."

Kaye Lamar says she sees running as therapy for her daughter.

"I think this summer helped her to do this," Kaye said. "Madison's had time away from being a competitive athlete on a team. She has come to terms with it and now is doing something different."

Her former Westwood coach, Earl Ford, said whatever Lamar attempts, her character will be what stands out in the end.

"She is a strong, strong individual," Ford said of Lamar, who was voted Most Talented and Miss Congeniality at Westwood. "I think that just shows what kind of parents and family she comes from. It's always been education first and developing the whole child, and I think Madison is a product of that. Whatever she does, she's going to do very well."