University of Georgia Athletics
‘I Was Able To Start Something’
March 31, 2023 | Track & Field
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Before there was Kendell Williams, before there was Kyle Garland or Maicel Uibo or Karel Tilga, or Garrett Scantling, Devon Williams or Johannes Erm — all of them track and field combined-events stars at Georgia, there was Hyleas Fountain-Vaught.
As Women's History Month comes to a close, let's take a moment to celebrate the many achievements of one of Georgia track and field's all-time greats. While numerous Bulldogs have helped to make Georgia into #MultisU, Fountain-Vaught was the program's first NCAA multis champion. A two-time Olympian, she was also the first to earn an Olympic medal, capturing the silver in the heptathlon in 2008. In 2018, Fountain-Vaught received the highest honor a Bulldog can receive when she was inducted into the UGA Athletic Association's Circle of Honor.
Fountain-Vaught started doing track and field when she was 7 years old, but she also played field hockey, soccer and basketball when she was young. In high school, she did track and basketball.
"I was more of a power athlete, speed and power, so I really loved the sprinting events," she said. "I loved the hurdles even though I didn't start doing the hurdles until my senior year of high school. My favorite event was the high jump — that was my premier event in high school.
"As I started learning more events, other events started becoming my favorite, as well."
Fountain-Vaught qualified for the Olympic Trials in the high jump while she was still in high school, which is when she "really started thinking, Wow, I could do this not just in college but on a professional level. And I think that helped me to stay focused on what I really wanted to do."
She didn't participate in the Trials that year, she said, because her coach didn't think she was quite ready for that yet. She went to the Junior Olympics instead, "and it definitely was the path that I should have taken."
The NCAA champion in the 2003 heptathlon, the 2004 (indoor) pentathlon, as well as the 2004 indoor and outdoor long jump, Fountain-Vaught made the absolute most of her two years at Georgia.
"I grew and developed in a bunch of different areas while I was in college. I was super young and naive, and I didn't really, until I got to college, start learning how to lift weights and being able to apply those types of things to my competition," she said. "Also, being able to talk to a sports psychologist. Mentally, I got stronger because I took advantage of those things that the school provided."
When she looks back on her Georgia career, Fountain-Vaught said what stands out is "winning those national championships and really being able to put Georgia on the map for the multis. I feel like I was able to start something."
A decade later, the proper heir-apparent to Fountain-Vaught emerged in Kendell Williams. One of the most accomplished Bulldogs ever, Williams won the 2014 indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon NCAA titles. She later became the first track and field competitor ever to win the pentathlon title all four years, and she won two more heptathlon national championships to end her exceptional career.
And like Fountain-Vaught, Williams has made two U.S. Olympic teams, competing in 2016 in Rio while she was still in school and then in 2021, in Tokyo, she placed fifth.
For Fountain-Vaught, when she earned the silver medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, she became just the second American woman ever to earn a medal in the heptathlon, joining the legendary Jackie Joyner-Kersey, who won two golds and a silver in the event.
"I definitely went there for gold, but just getting on the podium was a success in itself. Because not everybody does that, and not a lot of Americans have done that. There was only Jackie Joyner-Kersey and I at that time, so just being able to make history was amazing," she said.
Fountain-Vaught arrived at Georgia at a time of extraordinary success for Bulldog student-athletes. Men's and women's tennis, gymnastics, men's and women's track and field, men's and women's swimming and more were piling up individual and/or team NCAA titles left and right.
In 2003, when Fountain-Vaught won her first heptathlon title, teammate Lucas Mackay won the hammer throw. That same year, swimmers won a combined five NCAA crowns. In 2004, when Fountain-Vaught won the indoor and outdoor long jump titles and the indoor pentathlon, teammate Fanni Juhasz won the indoor pole vault. In the pool, Georgia women won six more national titles.
"There was definitely something in the air," Fountain-Vaught said of that time at Georgia. "When you see other women excelling and doing great, it just kind of gives you that fire to want to do great, as well."
For Fountain-Vaught, every title felt great to win, but she also knew that she could get better and better.
"I always felt like I could do more. I knew I still had so much more in me," she said. "You're always happy and you always feel blessed, but I also always felt like there was so much more that I could give."
Now, she's giving in a different way.
While Fountain-Vaught is no longer competing, track and field is still a huge part of her life. Married to Virginia Tech track associate head coach Tim Vaught — they have two young children together — Fountain-Vaught has served as a Hokies volunteer assistant. Much of her coaching and leadership time energy goes toward her passion project, her Fountain of Youth Track Club in Blacksburg.
"Once I moved to Blacksburg, I realized that I liked coaching the youth," she said. "My true passion is coaching our youth, teaching them how to run from ground zero. That's where I feel I thrive the most. Whenever I have the opportunity to coach youth, I'm all about it."
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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