Catherine Chenault will be one of the favorites in the girls pole vault when the District 12-5A track and field meet begins Wednesday at Copperas Cove. Even if she wins the meet with a personal best, Chenault will have more heights to scale this week.

The A&M Consolidated sophomore also will compete with the gymnastics team at the state meet, which begins Thursday in Alvin.

Two other Consol track athletes, pole vaulter Maggie Drummond and long jumper Maddie Street, also will perform at state gymnastics.

Chenault joined the gymnastics team this year, returning after a back injury as a freshman kept her out of the sport she took up at age 7. Chenault came to the pole vault later, starting in the seventh grade, but she is more accomplished in the event and has hopes of earning a college scholarship for track and field.

As a freshman, Chenault cleared 10 feet, 6 inches at the 12-5A meet to finish second. Chenault qualified for the regional meet, where she did not place.

"Hopefully I'll get first at district this year and my teammates will take second and third so we can all make it to regionals," Chenault said. "I had an off day at regionals and didn't come anywhere close to my expectations, but I have high hopes this year."

Chenault has increased her personal best in the pole vault to 11-3. The improvement came during a cram-packed year.

"She's doing double duty, balancing gymnastics and track," said Consol assistant coach Ray Kavanaugh, who works with the pole vaulters. "Between the two sports, she is working out for about four hours a day. She's handling it fine."

On the days when Kavanaugh sees that Chenault is dead-legged on the runway, they will shorten her pole vault workouts and concentrate on strength work such as push-ups and fine-tune her technique.

Chenault usually works out for an hour or more at the track, then leaves for a couple of hours at the gym.

"It's been stressful, but hopefully it will pay off at the end," Chenault said. "Gymnastics definitely keeps me in shape and helps me build muscles good for pole vault. Knowing where you are in the air definitely helps in pole vaulting. That way, if you plant wrong or something, you won't get hurt."

Because she believes her best chance of earning a scholarship is in the pole vault, Chenault is not sure whether she will compete in gymnastics next year. For now, she is trying to make the best of a busy week.

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NOTES -- The 12-5A track meet will be held Wednesday and Thursday at Bulldawg Stadium in Copperas Cove. The field events will begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday and 1 p.m. Thursday. Finals in the running events will start at 5 p.m. Thursday. District teams will compete at the freshman, junior varsity and varsity levels. ... The Killeen Ellison girls and boys are the defending team champions after winning at Consol's Tigerland Stadium last year. The Tiger girls were second last year, with the Consol boys were fourth, one spot ahead of the Bryan boys. ... The top three finishers in each event will qualify for the Class 5A Region II meet in Waco. ... Chenault hopes to follow the career track of former Belton star Morgan Toone into the college ranks. Toone signed to compete for Vanderbilt after winning the district pole vault title each of the last four years.