Monica Stearns Article

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http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2004/04/21/9346

Stearns is a vaulting veteran

Senior pole vaulter Monica Stearns has been enhancing her skills since high school.

By Lou Raguse

Minnesota’s women’s track and field coach Gary Wilson is sending some experienced athletes and some first-timers to this weekend’s Drake Relays.

Nate Denay, Daily

Monica Stearns and the Gophers head to the Drake Relays this weekend â€â€

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http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2004/04/26/9433

Senior pole vaulter Monica Stearns continues to shatter her own school record


By Lou Raguse


DES MOINES, Iowa â€â€

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http://www.brainerddispatch.com/stories ... 0082.shtml

Underdog makes the most of her chance
WDC grad Monica Stearns holds U of M pole vault records
By TROY GUNDERSON
Sports Writer

Everybody likes an underdog.

In sports, there's nothing better than watching an underdog get a chance at greatness. And really, all an underdog wants is a chance.

Monica Stearns was a huge underdog when she walked on to the University of Minnesota Gophers women's track and field team as a pole vaulter in the spring of her freshman year.

Coming out of Wadena-Deer Creek High School in 1999, Stearns was never recruited by any colleges. Her best vault as a Wolverine was 9-feet-6.

But for some reason Gophers coach Gary Wilson gave the underdog a chance.

"I called coach Wilson and he told me to show up at his office," Stearns said in an interview from Jonesboro, Ark. "I was there 20 minutes later. He barely let me walk on the team. I knew I would have to work hard to try and get better but at least I got the chance."

The Gophers are glad they gave Stearns a shot as well. She turned her hard work into an enormously successful pole vaulting career.

Stearns holds both the indoor and outdoor pole vaulting school records at the U of M. She set the indoor mark at the 2003 Big Ten championships with a vault of 12-10, which earned her runner-up honors.

This spring Stearns set the outdoor record at a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse meet at 13-5 1/2. She also placed third in both the indoor and outdoor Big Ten championships this season, as well as at the prestigious Drake Relays and won the Macalester Invitational.

She was only one of two Gopher women to qualify for the NCAA Division I national meet, where she finished in 20th place with a vault of 12-9 1/2.

"My coaches gave me that one chance to walk on because they saw something in me and believed in me," said Stearns. "They also got me to believe in myself more."

Modest goals

When Stearns joined the Gophers her freshman year, her new teammates were on their way to warmer climates for a week and a half on the team's spring trip. But Stearns stayed in chilly Minneapolis and dedicated herself to her training.

The goals she set for herself at first were modest ones at best.

"I wanted to make the travel team and just go to one Big 10 championship," said Stearns. "Vaulting 12 feet seemed so unrealistic for what I thought my abilities were. But I did the extra work and I lifted a lot."

In her first meet of the 2001 season, Stearns cleared 11 feet, the cutoff to make the traveling team.

That same season, Stearns competed in her first Big Ten championship and tied for eighth place, earning the Gophers 1/4 of a point.

Stearns worked on her sprinting but, most important, she learned how to bend the pole to reach higher marks.

"I had no sprinting mechanics or technique when I got to the U," said Stearns. "I did a lot of plyometrics to get more pop out of my legs. My upper body strength was my biggest asset. In high school I had never bent a pole. But I learned how to run, plant and carry the pole so it would bend."

With 60 athletes on the team vying for 30 travel spots, competition between teammates can get fierce. Erica Findlay was the Gophers' top women's vaulter and instead of feeling threatened by Stearns, Findlay helped her to become better.


Monica Stearns

The 1999 Wadena-Deer Creek graduate holds the University of Minnesota records for pole vault, clearing 12-10 indoors and 13-5 1/2 outdoors.


"Erica took me under her wing and practiced with me and was a coach to me," said Stearns. "Erica was always better than I was and we had a good relationship."

Findlay was a senior in 2003 when Stearns was a junior, and owned all the Gophers' vaulting records. A week before the Big Ten championships, Findlay set a new indoor record at 12-6. Stearns then broke the record a week later.

"If I was fighting for a spot I don't know that I would have been as enthusiastic to help like Erica did with me," Stearns said. "Erica offered me a lot of support until I came into my own. There was a lot of competitiveness between us and she brought a lot of intensity to practice."

An Olympic dream

This season, Caroline White became Stearns' new coach. White, who learned under pole vaulting guru Earl Bell, stripped everything Stearns knew about the event and started fresh.

"Mentally I wasn't there," said Stearns. "I worked with Caroline and we started over from the beginning. We re-did everything. My coaches taught me more about the event. I never had one meet where I didn't clear at least one bar and that was because I knew my event better."

Stearns feels it was White's knowledge that helped her get to nationals. Last week Stearns cleared 14-0 at Bell Athletic Series No. 8 to earn her a spot at the U.S. Olympic trials July 7-19 in Sacramento, Calif. She also cleared 14-1 1/4 on June 23. The top three pole vaulters will go to Athens, Greece, to compete in the Olympics.

"Having Caroline coach me was the key ingredient," Stearns said. "My technique was outdated and her knowing this new technique from Earl Bell was key to my improvement. Every month I'd hit a wall so then we'd add the next part of the technique."

When Stearns looks back on where she started and where she is now, it amazes even her.

"To be able to walk on and go to one meet and clear 11 feet was more than I ever dreamed would happen to me," Stearns said.

And Stearns just may get a chance to live what thousands of athletes dream of: Olympic glory.

[Bruce Caldwell]

Congratulations to Monica from Bruce Caldwell and the ESSX Staff

OLYMPIC DREAM now in reach

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http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2004/06/30/9832

Stearns sets record; vaults toward Olympic Trials

Track and Field

By Dan Miller


our years ago when she walked-on Minnesota’s track and field team as a pole vaulter, Monica Stearns never imagined jumping over a 12-foot bar.

But this past weekend, she cleared a 14-foot-1.25-inch bar in Jonesboro, Ark. and provisionally qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials which begin July 9 in Sacramento, Calif.

After topping her own previous Minnesota record by more than six inches, Stearns said that literally raising the bar to new heights is now simply expected.

“I have been ready,â€Â