Lacy Janson fights for Olympics

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Latest generation pole vaulter fights for Olympics
By Mic Huber
Published Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
Last updated Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 4:20 a.m.
SARASOTA — Long before the sport of pole vaulting had taken her to great heights and new places, Lacy Janson had seen all 50 states. Back then her parents would load their four children into the back of the family station wagon and drive to a chosen destination.

"The kids would all lie down in the back and we would drive all night," Janson said. "We did it until we outgrew the station wagon."

It was a family thing, a practice that brought the household closer. Just like pole vaulting became a Janson family tradition, with all four siblings taking up the sport.

Pole vaulting will bring the Janson family together again today as they gather in Eugene, Ore., to watch Lacy attempt to make the 2008 U.S. Olympic team. The Olympic trials run through Sunday.

"Some people get nervous with a lot of family watching. Lacy seems to like it," said Chuck Janson about his daughter.

Lacy Janson, who was an all-state player in volleyball in addition to track at Cardinal Mooney High, is among a handful of women pole vaulters hoping to hit it big at today's meet. The immediate prize is one of three spots on the 2008 Olympic team.

"I have dreamed of the Olympics my entire life," said Janson, 25. "Here I am, finally in a place where I am a serious contender. It's like a dream come true."

Jenn Stuczynski is the clear No. 1 in women's pole vaulting. She set an American record last month with a jump of 16 feet, 3/4 inches.

Chelsea Johnson recently had a personal best of 15 feet,

41/4 inches. Janson and Jillian Schwartz share the third best mark of the track year at 15 feet, 23/4 inches.

There are four pole vaulters with jumps over 15 feet this year and that list does not include Stacy Dragila, the queen of American pole vaulters and former Olympic champion, who is coming back from an injury and capable of pulling off a big vault.

"It has never been like this," Janson said. "We have never had this many over 15 feet. We all know what is at stake."

The reward for the top three is a two-week stay in Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games Aug. 8-24, and a chance at earning Olympic medals.

Should their daughter's dream come true, a trip to China is a long excursion Chuck and Laurie Janson will eagerly make.

"We wouldn't miss it," Chuck Janson said.

The journey has been a long one for Lacy Janson. It has been a road that included a terrifying fall that left her wondering if she would ever jump again.

The fall occurred June 21, 2003, during a meet at the U.S. Track and Field Championships in Palo Alto, Calif.

It only took seconds, but Janson said everything seemed to be going in slow motion as she went up toward the bar, stopped in midair, and fell back, landing hard on her back on the concrete.

The next thing she felt was incredible pain and the sensation of not being able to get up.

Paramedics quickly arrived. Janson was placed on a backboard, her neck was braced and she was taken to the hospital. She was released hours later, but the pain and fear lingered.

Her parents were in the stands that day, and both recoil at the image of Janson crashing into the ground.

"The world stood still," Laurie Janson said.

It was a jump Janson never should have made. She had injured an ankle a week before the meet and then got sick the night before her vault. Up all night with what the family suspects was food poisoning, Janson was weak and unable to run at her normal speed.

The result was the terrifying fall, a trip to the Stanford Medical Center and a loss of confidence.

For a long time, Janson refused to admit that the fall had affected her psyche. Five years later, she knows better.

"I didn't trust myself for a long time after that," Janson said. "I think I let it work and work on me."

In addition to her own fall, Janson thought about a college friend who died less than six months before Janson's fall after missing a similar jump.

It was five months before Janson was able to jump again. And though there were a couple of individual results over the next year that were encouraging, Janson was not the same jumper. She played it safe.

Battling demons rattling around in her head, Janson did not even get off the ground at the 2004 Olympic trials, running through each of her three attempts.

"I was at a place where things did not feel right and I couldn't make myself take off the ground," Janson said. "As a vaulter, not being able to do anything is the most frustrating thing you can feel."

Unable to leave the ground was a pattern that would linger for a long time and make both Lacy and her family question whether she should walk away from the sport. Her father worried more that Janson would force herself to jump and that the result would be far more catastrophic.

"I was terrified," Chuck Janson said.

The record-setter at Florida State University took some time off after a sub-par junior season.

She slowly got better, and this year, approaching the fifth anniversary of the fall, Janson is jumping her best.

She reached a personal high at a meet in Fayetteville, Ark., this past February, when she went over 15 feet.

Janson, who is now a volunteer assistant coach at FSU, said she is in top shape and more confident than she has ever been.

"My mental game has never been better and technically I am doing things I have never done," she said. "Now if I can go out there and pop it, and jump my best, I should be fine."