Stuczynski set the bar high
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:39 am
http://www.boston.com/sports/other_spor ... _bar_high/
She's set the bar high
Stuczynski has succeeded at vault in record time
Email|Print| Text size – + By Mark Blaudschun
Globe Staff / January 25, 2008
The question is basic: What do you want to be when you grow up?
For Jenn Stuczynski, the answer is anything but basic, because at nearly age 26 (on Feb. 6), she still doesn't know.
WNBA player?
Child psychologist?
Olympic medalist?
LPGA player?
All of the above?
None of the above?
Stuczynski has been chasing dreams most of her life. And she has achieved some. But for the 6-footer who came out of Fredonia High School in upstate New York as a basketball, softball, and track devotee, good at many things but a star at none, the chase goes on.
Finally, though, Stuczynski may be approaching greatness.
What do you want to be when you grow up, Jenn Stuczynski?
The best female pole vaulter in the United States and perhaps the world, if the journey that began just four years ago leads her to the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing in August. Gold may be an improbable dream, considering the dominance of Russians Yelena Isinbayeva and Svetlana Feofanova, the current and former world record-holders, respectively, but dreams, after all, are what the Olympics are built on.
The talents of Stuczynski, the two-time national indoor champion, two-time national outdoor champion, and US record-holder, will be on display tomorrow at the Reggie Lewis Center when she competes in the Reebok Boston Indoor Games.
How far Stuczynski has come, in what has been a medal sport for women only since the Sydney Games in 2000, can best be explained by her trainer, Rick Suhr, who likens Stuczynski's rise to world-class status only 10 months after she made her first vault to someone taking up golf and within a year being able to compete with Tiger Woods.
Stuczynski has never had constraints on her ambitions. In high school, she played basketball in the winter, softball in the spring, and competed in a number of track events, from hurdles and relays to javelin and high jump. Not surprisingly, she was the New York state heptathlon champion her senior season.
At Roberts Wesleyan College, an NAIA school in Rochester, N.Y., Stuczynski set the school basketball scoring record and guided her team to the national championship game her senior year. Her accomplishments drew the attention of Suhr, then an assistant track coach at the school, who recognized potential for her in the pole vault.
Stuczynski was lukewarm to the idea at first.
"I was still playing basketball at the time and Rick approached me and asked me about it," said Stuczynski in a telephone interview earlier this week. "We talked about it and I said, 'I don't think so right now.' But about a week later, the track team was practicing at the other end of the gym and I went down. I was curious."
Curiosity has been a driving force for Stuczynski. That, and competition.
"I'm competitive at everything," she said. "Every sport. I did try softball, though, because I liked the uniforms. And I wanted to be a cheerleader in high school. So, I would play for the girls' team and then put on my uniform and was a cheerleader for the boys' team."
In April 2004, with her college basketball career finished, Stuczynski tried pole vaulting for the first time.
"A very humbling experience," she said with a laugh. "I have it on tape. Maybe someday I will put it out on YouTube. I knew it was going to be hard, but I didn't realize how hard. I was pretty embarrassed."
Her first successful vault was 8 feet 6 inches, which is truly Pole Vaulting 101.
She worked two jobs - including stocking shelves at her father's grocery store in Fredonia - and worked out under the guidance of Suhr, who lived two hours away in Rochester.
Slowly, steadily, she got better. In stunning fashion, she won the US indoor title in Boston in 2005 with a vault of 14-3 1/4, which prompted her to put her plans of becoming a child psychologist on hold so she could train full time.
"We weren't even going to put her in the meet," said Suhr, who became Stuczynski's manager shortly after she graduated from college in 2005. "She barely qualified at the minimum standards. No one knew who she was. People thought she had gotten married and came back with a different name. She was there wearing a Roberts Wesleyan T-shirt. It's an incredible story."
Even now, the fairy tale aspect of the story lingers. Stuczynski trains in a pair of Quonset huts in Churchville, N.Y. Propane blowers provide heat in the setup, which includes a 100-foot tunnel to the other hut, where the ceiling measures 19 1/2 feet.
"A few people have hit the ceiling," said Suhr with a laugh. "We've talked about upgrading, but we never got around to it. The heater is set up right near the pit, so when you come down, it's nice and warm, about 90 degrees. But you go away from it and it's about 9 degrees."
Stuczynski, who has signed a deal with Adidas, can afford a higher-profile training approach, but that's not her style. She says training in spartan conditions has toughened her mentally. It paid off when she vaulted 16 feet last June 2 at the Reebok Grand Prix to break the American record she had set at 15-10 1/2 two weeks earlier.
"It was crazy," said Stuczynski, describing the fanfare that came her way as she moved to the upper echelon of her sport. Only the Russians have ever cleared 16 feet in women's pole vaulting.
"I wanted to be the first American to clear 16 feet, because everyone remembers the first," said Stuczynski.
Suhr, whose commitment was evident when he took out a second mortgage on his house to help cover Stuczynski's training costs until she got an endorsement deal, says the message he gave Stuczynski four years ago remains.
"I told her, 'You are good in softball, you are good in golf, you are good in basketball,' " he said. " 'You can be a great pole vaulter. You can make a living at this.' And it's all coming true - faster, quicker than anyone could have imagined."
Suhr says this indoor season has elevated her to a new level.
"This indoor season she has gone from being an intermediate to an experienced veteran," he said. "She has advanced to the next level. She has jumped higher and faster than anyone in the world has ever done."
And in doing so, she has moved past 2000 Olympic champion Stacy Dragila as the premier American women's pole vaulter, just behind the Russians on the world stage.
Stuczynski laughed when asked if she finally knows what she wants to be when she grows up.
She's set the bar high
Stuczynski has succeeded at vault in record time
Email|Print| Text size – + By Mark Blaudschun
Globe Staff / January 25, 2008
The question is basic: What do you want to be when you grow up?
For Jenn Stuczynski, the answer is anything but basic, because at nearly age 26 (on Feb. 6), she still doesn't know.
WNBA player?
Child psychologist?
Olympic medalist?
LPGA player?
All of the above?
None of the above?
Stuczynski has been chasing dreams most of her life. And she has achieved some. But for the 6-footer who came out of Fredonia High School in upstate New York as a basketball, softball, and track devotee, good at many things but a star at none, the chase goes on.
Finally, though, Stuczynski may be approaching greatness.
What do you want to be when you grow up, Jenn Stuczynski?
The best female pole vaulter in the United States and perhaps the world, if the journey that began just four years ago leads her to the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing in August. Gold may be an improbable dream, considering the dominance of Russians Yelena Isinbayeva and Svetlana Feofanova, the current and former world record-holders, respectively, but dreams, after all, are what the Olympics are built on.
The talents of Stuczynski, the two-time national indoor champion, two-time national outdoor champion, and US record-holder, will be on display tomorrow at the Reggie Lewis Center when she competes in the Reebok Boston Indoor Games.
How far Stuczynski has come, in what has been a medal sport for women only since the Sydney Games in 2000, can best be explained by her trainer, Rick Suhr, who likens Stuczynski's rise to world-class status only 10 months after she made her first vault to someone taking up golf and within a year being able to compete with Tiger Woods.
Stuczynski has never had constraints on her ambitions. In high school, she played basketball in the winter, softball in the spring, and competed in a number of track events, from hurdles and relays to javelin and high jump. Not surprisingly, she was the New York state heptathlon champion her senior season.
At Roberts Wesleyan College, an NAIA school in Rochester, N.Y., Stuczynski set the school basketball scoring record and guided her team to the national championship game her senior year. Her accomplishments drew the attention of Suhr, then an assistant track coach at the school, who recognized potential for her in the pole vault.
Stuczynski was lukewarm to the idea at first.
"I was still playing basketball at the time and Rick approached me and asked me about it," said Stuczynski in a telephone interview earlier this week. "We talked about it and I said, 'I don't think so right now.' But about a week later, the track team was practicing at the other end of the gym and I went down. I was curious."
Curiosity has been a driving force for Stuczynski. That, and competition.
"I'm competitive at everything," she said. "Every sport. I did try softball, though, because I liked the uniforms. And I wanted to be a cheerleader in high school. So, I would play for the girls' team and then put on my uniform and was a cheerleader for the boys' team."
In April 2004, with her college basketball career finished, Stuczynski tried pole vaulting for the first time.
"A very humbling experience," she said with a laugh. "I have it on tape. Maybe someday I will put it out on YouTube. I knew it was going to be hard, but I didn't realize how hard. I was pretty embarrassed."
Her first successful vault was 8 feet 6 inches, which is truly Pole Vaulting 101.
She worked two jobs - including stocking shelves at her father's grocery store in Fredonia - and worked out under the guidance of Suhr, who lived two hours away in Rochester.
Slowly, steadily, she got better. In stunning fashion, she won the US indoor title in Boston in 2005 with a vault of 14-3 1/4, which prompted her to put her plans of becoming a child psychologist on hold so she could train full time.
"We weren't even going to put her in the meet," said Suhr, who became Stuczynski's manager shortly after she graduated from college in 2005. "She barely qualified at the minimum standards. No one knew who she was. People thought she had gotten married and came back with a different name. She was there wearing a Roberts Wesleyan T-shirt. It's an incredible story."
Even now, the fairy tale aspect of the story lingers. Stuczynski trains in a pair of Quonset huts in Churchville, N.Y. Propane blowers provide heat in the setup, which includes a 100-foot tunnel to the other hut, where the ceiling measures 19 1/2 feet.
"A few people have hit the ceiling," said Suhr with a laugh. "We've talked about upgrading, but we never got around to it. The heater is set up right near the pit, so when you come down, it's nice and warm, about 90 degrees. But you go away from it and it's about 9 degrees."
Stuczynski, who has signed a deal with Adidas, can afford a higher-profile training approach, but that's not her style. She says training in spartan conditions has toughened her mentally. It paid off when she vaulted 16 feet last June 2 at the Reebok Grand Prix to break the American record she had set at 15-10 1/2 two weeks earlier.
"It was crazy," said Stuczynski, describing the fanfare that came her way as she moved to the upper echelon of her sport. Only the Russians have ever cleared 16 feet in women's pole vaulting.
"I wanted to be the first American to clear 16 feet, because everyone remembers the first," said Stuczynski.
Suhr, whose commitment was evident when he took out a second mortgage on his house to help cover Stuczynski's training costs until she got an endorsement deal, says the message he gave Stuczynski four years ago remains.
"I told her, 'You are good in softball, you are good in golf, you are good in basketball,' " he said. " 'You can be a great pole vaulter. You can make a living at this.' And it's all coming true - faster, quicker than anyone could have imagined."
Suhr says this indoor season has elevated her to a new level.
"This indoor season she has gone from being an intermediate to an experienced veteran," he said. "She has advanced to the next level. She has jumped higher and faster than anyone in the world has ever done."
And in doing so, she has moved past 2000 Olympic champion Stacy Dragila as the premier American women's pole vaulter, just behind the Russians on the world stage.
Stuczynski laughed when asked if she finally knows what she wants to be when she grows up.