ST. LOUIS, Mo. – When you think of track and field, you might often think of fast sprinters and people throwing a discus or javelin. And when you think of college athletes, you think of those who have played their sport for years and have learned to hone their skills to be the best they can be.

Then there is Tommaso (Tommy) Maiocco.

Tommy's journey to WashU was not a traditional one, nor was his rise as a member of the men's track and field team. The pole vault specialist has gone from not competing on a track and field team until late in high school to currently being ranked No. 1 in Division III entering the 2025 NCAA Championship.

Spending his early years in Illinois as one of four brothers (Alberto, Roberto, Giuseppe), track and field was not one of the sports that was even on his radar. "When you have three brothers who are several years older than you, you want to be not just like them, but to be them," said Maiocco. "We were a hockey family. So that's what I knew."

When his parents Christine and Richard Maiocco moved to St. Louis, Tommy continued with hockey when he got to high school at Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School (MICDS). In the fall, he picked up football while competing on the boys' varsity hockey team during the winter.

While football was enjoyable during the season and hockey during the winter, he wanted to find something to take up his time during the spring. Enter lacrosse.

"While it had a lot of similarities to hockey, I was not one of the lax bros," added Maiocco. "I ended up standing around a lot and got very little playing time, so I had to find something to take up my time."

At first, you might think that he would fill it up with another sport. While that eventually happened, there was one spring where sports were not his chosen activity.

"Yes, I did theater," he joked. "I enjoyed it, but I missed sports. I needed to get back to competing. So, I had a talk with my position coach on the football team, who was also an assistant track coach, about coming out in the spring."

With his high school football career complete and hockey starting up, he began to think about what he was going to do after hockey, after track that spring, and after high school. But he was not sure what road to take.

It was that spring of his senior year he decided to switch events to the pole vault. He thought it seemed cool and was instantly taken with it. Seeing some immediate success at the start of the season led to some interest from colleges.

"My brother (Tommy's high school coach) called me about Tommy in April of his senior year and said he is a great kid with strong academics who just took up pole vaulting," said Lane Lohr, WashU's pole vaulting assistant coach.

"He would be a perfect fit for you. I said, 'Has he applied?' My brother said no, he just started pole vaulting a month ago. I said, 'Albert Einstein can't get into WashU starting in April, so we will have to take another route.'

"How well he did in just one year of pole vaulting in high school," added WashU head track and field coach Jeff Stiles. "He jumped 13'6", I believe, in one year. He clearly had tons of upside, and it was showing."

Even though Maiocco did not get into WashU right away, he knew it was a place where he could not only compete at a high level but also earn a great education. So, after spending a year at Berkshire School in Massachusetts playing both football and competing on the track and field team, he was able to apply and was accepted at WashU.

"When I first arrived at WashU, I could already tell that this team was more than just a team; it was a family," said Maiocco. "Even with each event type practicing together, the team as a whole was one unit, one squad."

Tommy knew that this was where he belonged, but he also knew he had to prove himself and meet his own goals. He wanted to be the very best, perhaps the best there ever was at WashU.

"Tommy's head goes 100 mph, but he has just moved from pole vaulting infant to adolescent," added Lohr. "When he slows everything down, there is a big upside."

He has purely set his focus on the pole vault since his arrival.

During his first season, indoor during the 2021-22 season, he competed in just three events and had his season-best 4.25m. By the time the spring came, he had made tremendous leaps and bounds.

"I loved going to practice and training with my teammates," Maiocco added. "We just kept pushing each other."

That they did, as he set his outdoor PR at 4.85m at the Augustana Twilight Qualifier. That mark stood until this spring. That outdoor season saw him be the UAA runner-up and place 14th at the NCAA Championships. He was also getting the work done in the classroom, as he was named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team as well as All-UAA Academic.

By the time it reached his final year of eligibility, Maiocco had already earned his bachelor's degree in finance and had begun working towards a master's.

This winter, despite only clearing 4.46m at the UAA Indoor Championship, Maiocco had qualified based on earlier results for the NCAA Indoor Meet in Rochester, N.Y. Knowing that this was his last chance to show what he could do on the national stage, he had his best indoor clear of his career with a 5.05m to finish in sixth place, earning team points for the Bears.

There wasn't much time before his final outdoor season began following indoor nationals, and in just his third meet of the spring, he not only had his PR but set a new school record and the top mark in Division III this spring with a 5.18m clear.

"George (Bourdier) and I will go out, and the whole practice is just like trying to one-up the other person," joked Maiocco. "It's like, I had 5.05, and then he jumped 5.10, and then I jumped 5.15, and then 5.18. And it's like, right now, I'm getting a lot of attention because, like, oh, you're tied for number one in D3. George is going to pass me here in a couple of weeks. Like, unless I PR 5.30 soon, George is a better athlete than I am. And he is on his way to doing great things. But having that, we keep trying to one-up each other by an inch, right?"

And it's not just one teammate he gives credit to. He often sings the praises of sophomore Peter Lichtenberger and first-year Zachary Duckworth when he talks about the team.

"When you get all of us together, it's just fun. I think it's the most I have ever had in a sport in my entire life, outside of maybe my senior year of hockey," added Maiocco. "It is really just something special."

When asked what it has been like to coach someone like Tommy, Lohr had nothing but praise.

"Tommy is one of the last surviving members of COVID," Lohr mentioned. "He is extremely appreciative of every opportunity to pole vault because he has had it taken away. He has never ended a practice without coming up to me, looking me in the eye, and saying, 'thanks for coaching us today.' That appreciation is infectious."

Maiocco leads the pole vault squad into nationals this weekend where four Bears qualified (Maiocco, Bourdier, Lichtenberger, and junior Hayden Kunkel) to compete. It totals one-fifth of the entire event selections.

Once nationals wrap up, he said he's not sure what he is going to do next. His coaches know that he will be missed.

"I hope he brings the same passion to life as he has to the pole vault," Stiles imparted.