The ‘genius’ athlete
"Hodgson is a senior vaulter on the Talawanda High School track team, and a good one at that. He took over the role as top jumper during his sophomore year, and hasn’t left the spot since then. Although injuries kept him from a full season his junior year, his results are impressive."
This story was produced by Miami University journalism students Myron Barker and Zach Fremder in partnership with the Oxford Free Press.
Nolan Hodgson is a tall and lanky kid, with the type of build you might expect from a high school pole vaulter. With his long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, he walks through the doors of the athletic training room without a word.
He doesn’t say much, but when he does, he seems to say it with calculated sluggishness.
Hodgson is a senior vaulter on the Talawanda High School track team, and a good one at that. He took over the role as top jumper during his sophomore year, and hasn’t left the spot since then. Although injuries kept him from a full season his junior year, his results are impressive.
This past indoor season, Hodgson vaulted 13 feet 6 inches, which would have qualified him for the 2025 Track and Field Division II State meet. He’s also in the top three all-time in both the middle and high school pole vault at Talawanda.
National Merit Scholarship finalist
Hodgson is not just an accomplished vaulter, but also a bright student. After all, it’s not often that you meet someone with a perfect score on the PSAT, as well as a nearly perfect 35 on the ACT.
“Math carried my score… math is what I wanna do for college, so that helped a lot that I didn’t really have to worry about that part of it,” he explained.
With those scores, along with other qualifications, Hodgson earned his way to becoming a National Merit Scholarship Finalist. Only 15,000 high school students in the United States are finalists, and just under half receive college merit scholarships. Hodgson joins a group of seven Talawanda students in the past seven years to become a finalist.
Hodgson has been at the top of his class since he was young, taking accelerated classes from third through fifth grade.
“We had ETC, I think it’s like, extra teaching curriculum, we called it eating tacos club,” he recalled with a laugh.
Extra Teaching Curriculum (ETC) is an advanced learning program where students would learn academic content ahead of their class. The content revolves around STEM learning for advanced students. Hodgson only needed one class to graduate this spring, so he was able to fill his course schedule with electives.
Hogdson is also heavily involved outside of track. Hodgson recently earned his Eagle Scout rank and has been involved in Boy Scouts since the first grade. His service project involved installing benches and a flower garden in a local park. Additionally, he has participated in marching band all four years of high school, along with jazz band.
Track leadership
His pole vault coach, Mark Walsh, says that Hodgson gives him a lighter coaching workload.
The middle and high school track teams practice at the same time on the same field, and when Hodgson isn’t vaulting, he makes time to help coach the middle school kids, as well as underclassmen.
Talawanda track head coach Brad Mills said it best, “Nolan is a good vaulter but… he’s also like, super smart.”
Hodgson’s next opportunity to set a new personal record will come at the Coaches Classic meet at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy on April 9.
