In the 2008 season he turned professional and focused full-time on pole vaulting. His first season brought great improvement: in April he cleared at a Drake Relays promotion meeting. He improved to soon after – a feat which ranked him twelfth in the global lists that year. He competed at the 2008 United States Olympic Trials, but did not make the team. The following year he married his partner Amanda, who also served as his coach. That season he no-heighted at the United States Indoor Track and Field Championships, but his best performance of the year at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, vaulting to finish in fifth place.