Dragila Savors Final Season, Miles taking it one year at a t

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http://www.sacbee.com/sports/story/1737108.html

For Dragila, Acuff, a final season to savor
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Published: Sunday, Mar. 29, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 4C
For Stacy Dragila and Amy Acuff, it's time to savor one last outdoor track and field season, say goodbye and cherish the memories.

And there are plenty.

Dragila, the former goat-roper from Placer High School in Auburn, won the first Olympic gold medal in the women's pole vault in 2000, earned two outdoor and one indoor world championships, claimed 17 national titles – nine outdoors and eight indoors – and cleared a then-world-outdoor best 15 feet, 10 inches in 2004.

Acuff, the acupuncturist who lives in Isleton, won six U.S. Outdoor high jump titles and five national indoor championships. She competed in four Olympic Games, finishing fourth in 2004, and cleared a personal-best 6-7 in 2003.

Both plan to retire after the 2009 outdoor season, which they hope includes a trip to Berlin in August for the world championships.

Other local track and field athletes, including 2008 Olympic women's discus gold medalist Stephanie Brown Trafton from Galt, plan to carry on with an eye toward the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London.

This season, though, the spotlight falls on Dragila and Acuff, longtime U.S. team pillars, who are prepared to walk away from a sport they helped build.

Take a bow, ladies.

STACY DRAGILA
Over the bar


How many times have track fans heard that phrase as Stacy Dragila soared into the sky, let go of her pole and landed cleanly with another big vault?

She thrilled the hometown crowd by winning the U.S. Olympic Trials at Hornet Stadium in 2000 and 2004. She made history with that 2000 Olympic gold medal in Sydney, cementing her status as a women's pole vault pioneer.

Now, at 38, she'd like to exit with one last appearance at the world championships.

"I see myself making the team and going to Berlin," Dragila said. "I think it would be a nice closure to the story."

Dragila recovered from Achilles' tendon surgeries in 2006 and 2007. She cleared 15 feet, 5 inches last year and 15-1 1/2 earlier this year at the Millrose Games in New York when she started to realize the end was near.

"I was putting my stuff away, and I thought, 'This is the last time I'll be on this runway,' " she said. "All the great memories … "

Dragila, who is engaged to U.S. discus thrower Ian Waltz, said she knows the day is coming when she goes to a meet as a spectator, not a competitor.

"Hopefully, I'll be able to sit in the stands and enjoy it," she said.




DEREK MILES
Within a whisker


At 36, Derek Miles says he's a better pole vaulter than ever. Given his recent record, who's to argue?

The Bella Vista High School graduate won the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials, then finished a heartbreaking fourth at the Summer Games. He matched his personal best with a 19-foot, 2 1/4-inch effort last year but couldn't go higher than 18-8 in Beijing and missed out on the bronze medal because Ukraine's Denys Yurchenko had fewer misses.

"If someone were to look at a résumé of competitions I've been in, world championships and Olympics and things like that, they'd probably say, 'That's probably your best finish,' " said Miles, who finished seventh in the 2004 Olympics."Unfortunately, it was probably one of my worst jumping days. It was one of my most memorable experiences, also one of my more nightmarish experiences."

Miles, an assistant track and field coach at South Dakota, hopes to qualify for the world championships and set a personal best.

"Ultimately, one of those big goals is to jump 19-4 or higher," he said. "If I can do that, the cards will fall into place with the rest of the goals."

Are the 2012 Olympics a possibility?

"If September rolls around and I'm competitive, I'll tackle another year," he said. "I'm certainly going to be motivated to go and do (the Olympics) again."