http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregon ... thispage=2
Becky Holliday, in her first competition since recovering from a freak injury, won the women's pole vault with a jump of 14 feet, 11/4 inches. The mark tied her meet record, which the former Oregon vaulter set last year.
"I would have liked to have gone higher, but I was out for a month," she said.
Holliday hurt herself when she threw down her pole in frustration at the end of a run-through, and the pole bounced up and jammed her in her left leg. Thrown off balance, she suffered a sprained ankle.
Oregon sophomore Tommy Skipper, who won NCAA pole vault championships in the 2004 outdoor and 2005 indoor meets, also came back from injury and cleared 17-03/4.
Obviously rusty, Skipper failed to get over the bar on the other five attempts he took, two at 17-03/4 and three at 17-81/2.
He finished third in Saturday's competition, but more important, gained a qualifying mark for the NCAA West Regional championships.
Skipper underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in March. But, after resuming training, he strained his left hamstring two weeks ago. The injury has limited him in practice.
In fact, in the past two weeks, Skipper had taken one full-approach vault. The hamstring finally stopped hurting Friday, which was when Skipper finally decided he was well enough to compete.
"Up here, everything felt good," Skipper said, pointing at his head. "But as far as my condition and rhythm on the runway, everything is terrible right now."