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Dragila, Saxer in Millrose women's PV spotlight
01-23-2005


Contact:
Jill Geer
Director of Communications
USA Track & Field
317-261-0478 x360









NEW YORK - The best of the past and present will meet one of the bright stars of the future in the Millrose Games' women's pole vault competition on Friday, February 4 in Madison Square garden. All-time great Stacy Dragila and high school phenom Mary Saxer are among the competitors in a strong women's vault field slated for competition.


The second event of USA Track & Field's 2005 Indoor Visa Championship Series, the 2005 Millrose Games will be televised on NBC from 2-3:30 p.m., Eastern Time on Saturday, February 5.


2000 Olympic champion Stacy Dragila returns to the venue that has brought her some of her biggest successes for the women's pole vault. She broke the world record at the 2001 Millrose Games with a clearance of 5.63m/15 feet, 2.25 inches; two years later, in 2003, she broke her own American record with a vault of 4.72m/15 feet, 5.75. Her current indoor AR stands at 4.81m/15-9.25.


The American indoor and outdoor record holder in the women's pole vault, Dragila has won eight national indoor and eight outdoor titles. She also won gold medals at the 1999 and 2001 World Outdoor Championships, and she was the gold medalist at the 1997 World Indoor Championships.


High school record holder makes Millrose debut


With her sudden rise to pole vaulting excellence, Mary Saxer of Lancaster High School in upstate New York will compete in her first major invitational meet as she begins learning the ropes of what it takes to vault on the next level.


After raising the national high school girl's indoor pole vault record three times already this year, Saxer did it twice more January 8 at Dartmouth College, becoming the first U.S. high school girl ever to clear 14 feet either indoors or outdoors.


Heading into Dartmouth, Saxer had already set national records of 4.10m/13-5.25, 4.11m/13-5.50 and 4.14m/13-7. She raised the record that day to 4.15m/13-7.25 before her barrier-breaking clearance on her second attempt at 4.27m/14-0. Not bad for a young woman who has been vaulting for little more than a year, and whose indoor practice facility in the Buffalo area often tops out at 40 degrees Fahrenheit.


If that wasn't enough, during her record-setting performance in the pole vault at Dartmouth, Saxer also competed simultaneously in the long jump, where she was the runner-up with a best of 5.62m/18-5.25.


2001 World Indoor silver medalist and two-time Olympian Kellie Suttle also is in the Millrose field, along with 2002 NCAA Outdoor champion Tracy O'Hara, who finished tied for fifth at the 2004 Olympic Trials in Sacramento. Also look for up-and-comers April Steiner (ranked #8 in U.S. by Track & Field New in 2004) and 2004 USA Indoor third-place finisher Lindsay Taylor to challenge the favorites.


Hartwig, Harvey join men's pole vault field


The Fred Schmertz men's pole vault field for Millrose, which already boasted Olympic silver medalist and #2 world-ranked Toby Stevenson and 2003 Millrose champion/#4 world-ranked Derek Miles, has added even more depth and crowd appeal.


Jeff Hartwig, who owns the U.S. indoor and Millrose Games records in the pole vault, returns in 2005 to the place where he has found so much success. Hartwig's mark of 5.8m/19-3 at the 2002 Millrose Games broke his own meet record and still stands. He broke the American record three times that season, ending with his 6.02m/19-9. At age 37, Hartwig is still on top of his game, having won four major events in 2004 and finishing the year ranked fourth in the U.S.


Also joining the deep talent pool at Millrose is 2001 World Indoor Championships silver medalist Tye Harvey. Harvey was fourth at the 2004 Olympic Trials and finished the year ranked #6 in the U.S.


About the Visa Championship Series


The Visa Championship Series features over $1.5 million in prize and promotional dollars, including a $50,000 jackpot and prize package going to the Visa Champions. Visa Champions will be the top male and female performers of the Visa Championship series.


For more information on the 2005 Millrose Games and USATF's Indoor Visa Championship Series, visit www.usatf.org.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u ... a_s_back_1

Dragila Readies Return to Pole Vaulting

Mon Jan 24, 5:59 PM ET

By ANDREA ADELSON, AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK - The last time the world saw Stacy Dragila (news - web sites), the pole vaulting queen exited the Olympic stadium in disbelief. With a cap pulled low on her head, tears streamed down her face as she came to grips with what seemed incomprehensible.

The two-time world champion and 2000 Olympic gold medalist failed to qualify for the final in Athens.

Inflammation in her Achilles tendons forced the 33-year-old Dragila out early. As she trudged off the field, Dragila thought, 'Maybe I should be done.'

"Walking away with nothing I was pretty devastated," Dragila said on a teleconference Monday. "Maybe the day went by and that night went by and I said, 'I'm not a quitter. I'm a fighter. If I can get over this injury, I'll be back.'"

Dragila is back, and wants to prove she is better than ever when she returns to the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 4. The first lady of American pole vaulting believes she can still compete with top Russians Svetlana Feofanova and Yelena Isinbayeva, who ended up winning Olympic gold while setting a world record at 16 feet, 1 1/4 inches.

No American made the final in Athens. Dragila, who failed to clear a pedestrian 14-5 1/4 in the qualifying round, ended up watching the final on a big screen while eating dinner in town with fellow vaulters Kellie Suttle and Jillian Schwartz.

"It was fun to be together and not really in the setting of the track where everybody would be eyeing us and wondering what we were thinking," Dragila said. "We were just by ourselves with nobody really knowing who we were and enjoying the competition for what it was and really wishing we could have been out there."

The Achilles problems started just before the U.S. Olympic trials in July, when she started wearing new jump shoes. Though she felt fine for the first week with the footwear, both Achilles started to swell up. Rather than admit something was wrong, Dragila continued on with the pain.

She ended up winning the trials, but the pain got worse when she went to Europe for meets leading up to the games. It ended up costing her.

"By the time I got to the runway my steps were off and confidence had dropped significantly," Dragila said. "I didn't know which way to go."

Dragila took about a month off to rest, while re-evaluating whether she wanted to keep going with her career. Now, she wears slightly bigger shoes and the Achilles problems are gone. Dragila has won the Millrose title six times and will face some new competition this year.

Mary Saxer of Lancaster High School in upstate New York will compete in her first major invitational meet. Saxer became the first American high school girl to clear 14 feet on Jan. 8.

"There's going to be a lot of people in that arena and that's going to be a new experience for us," said her coach, Rick Suhr. "We're looking more forward to seeing Stacy jump and seeing the other athletes jump that we read about or hear about all the time."

They should be reading more about Dragila, who plans to vault for at least two more years before making any decisions about her future. Though it is four years away, Beijing in 2008 is still a possibility, even though Dragila will be 37.

"As disappointed as I was in 2004 and walking through the closing ceremonies, as soon as they brought out the kids to get excited for Beijing, I just got a little excited," she said. "So the ultimate goal would be to go to 2008 and Beijing, but realistically having awesome seasons the next two years would be a highlight."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/25/sport ... lrose.html

The Millrose: Something Old, Something New
By FRANK LITSKY

Published: January 25, 2005



Stacy Dragila spent much of yesterday in Phoenix working to regain the form that once made her the world's best female pole-vaulter. Mary Saxer, a high school senior who may become the next Stacy Dragila, spent three hours yesterday in Lancaster, N.Y., outside Buffalo, taking a three-hour examination in global studies. They will get together next week.

Dragila, 33, has little to prove. She has won two world championships outdoors and one indoors, eight national titles outdoors and eight indoors, and a gold medal in the 2000 Olympics. She has won the Millrose Games pole vault six times, and she has changed the women's pole vault from a novelty to a prime attraction.

On Jan. 8, in the Dartmouth Relays in Hanover, N.H., Saxer became the first schoolgirl to vault 14 feet. Yesterday, Millrose officials announced that Dragila and Saxer would compete in their showcase track meet Feb. 4 at Madison Square Garden. This will be Saxer's first major invitational meet.

During a teleconference with the New York Track Writers Association, Dragila talked of her travails last year. Instead of winning an expected medal in the Athens Olympics, she failed to qualify for the final, a victim of inflamed Achilles' tendons. Dragila said she considered retiring from the sport.

"But I'm not a quitter," she said. "I'm a fighter. I'm thankful I'm healthy and back on the runway again."

On Friday, Dragila cleared 14 feet 11 inches to win the women's competition in the Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nev. Her career best is 15-9¼.

Saxer has been vaulting for a little more than a year. She works with Rick Suhr, a club coach. Her training conditions are less than ideal.

"At this time of year," Suhr said, "the temperature in the field house gets up to 35. When you get outdoors in the spring, it's 30 or 40. And they don't allow spikes on the runways."

Dragila's advice to Saxer: keep going and stay positive.

"I think they're taking a great approach," Dragila said. "My first coach said this is a three-ring circus. You've got kids running across the runway. You have to be prepared for a lot of things. This will give her great confidence."

The women's competition will be Friday, February 4. Anyone out there know the layout well enough at Madison Square Garden to recommend good seat locations?

http://www.usatf.org/news/view.aspx?DUi ... 3_13_04_57

lrose Games press conference excerpts
02-03-2005


Contact:
Jill Geer
Director of Communications
USA Track & Field
317-261-0478 x360









A press conference was held Thursday promoting USA Track & Field's 2005 Indoor Visa Championship Series and the 98th running of the Millrose Games that will take place Friday, February 4 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.





The second event of USATF's 2005 Indoor Visa Championship Series, the Millrose Games will be televised on NBC from 2-3:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, February 5.





Athletes appearing at the press conference included 2000 Olympic women's pole vault gold medalist and former world record holder Stacy Dragila, 1996 Olympic men's 110m hurdles gold medalist and four-time world outdoor champion Allen Johnson, 2004 Olympic women's 200m silver medalist Allyson Felix and 2004 Olympic men's pole vault silver medalist Toby Stevenson.





Excerpts from the press conference follow:





Stacy Dragila


Q: You had an eventful year in 2004. What was it like for you?


A: I did have a great indoor season and finished with a silver medal at the World Indoor Championships. Going into outdoors I was progressively getting better. I jumped the world record early outdoors, but unfortunately it was recalled as not a world record but a world best. Everything was going as planned going into the Trials. The Trials was an awesome experience to be back in Sacramento. I won the Trials and made the team and after that I kind of went downhill with some injuries to my Achilles. Things did not go as planned at the Olympics and I went away feeling a little bit lost because I saw myself being on the podium and fighting for the silver medal because I knew the gold medal was out of reach. I walked away asking myself 'am I too old, am I washed up.' It took me a little while, but when my injuries subsided I got fired up again and sat down with my coach and rewrote our goals. We're taking the indoors very cautiously and very slowly to prepare for the outdoor world championships.


Q: How tough was it to shake off your disappointment from Athens?


A: So many of us dream to be Olympians and dream of being on that podium and that's our life's goal, and once you don't achieve that you think that everything else doesn't count. My coach had to remind me of what I've done before then to set myself up. We all glamorize the Olympics and it is a big meet and everybody seems to watch that meet more than any other, but as athletes we need to know that we need to be consistent. As athletes we persevere and work through difficult times and we learn a lot from those times as well.


Q: Isn't what you do, many times, much more mental than it is physical?


A: Most definitely. When it gets down to that crunch time it's more mental than anything else. We know what we need to do, and we put it on auto-pilot and sometimes it's the mental factor that overtakes the body.


Q: So where are you now both physically and mentally? Are you ready to go?


A: I'm healthy and I'm taking it lightly this indoor season, and I will be ready to gear up for this outdoor season. I'll continue to work on the technical things that my coach and I have been working on and I thought I would learn a little bit faster than I have, but I'm being patient and the ultimate goal is still out there for me and I feel that I can still obtain it.


Q: What is your ultimate goal?


A: For sure to get over the 16-foot barrier and then the 5-meter barrier, which is out there and certainly realistic.



Toby Stevenson


Q: How is vaulting different indoors from outdoors?


A: It's more chaotic and there's more energy and some people get distracted by it, but I feed off of it. I love it. Here you have the energy of New York and its fans right on top of you and it's awesome. I think it's great.


Q: What does winning the silver medal in Athens do for your confidence?


A: The Games obviously boosted my confidence, but the thing about the pole vault is that you go out there every day and every day is different. No matter what the day is anybody can win and anything can go on out there, and there's so many factors that go along with that. So I'm humble every time I go out there with a calm, cool confidence. You can't be cocky because the pole vault can come up and bite you in the a** at any moment. I want to continue to improve, and I'm still learning the event and I've got room to grow.


Q: What did you work on most in the off season?


A: The immediate off season after the Games was to recover from the whirlwind of activity. It was a mental rest more than anything. I think that physically that I can always get faster, stronger and bigger, and it's kind of simple. I've got little secrets that I can't divulge right now because I don't want to help out my competitors.


Q: You're noted for your excited reactions after a big clearance, which fans seem to enjoy. Do you consider yourself an entertainer?


A: I want to put on a show. I think everybody should want to put on a show. People forget that we're a professional sport and we're there to put on a show for people, and if people don't like watching us, guess what, they're not going to come back. The more people there are in the stands the, better it is for every athlete on the field, and if they love watching me compete and jump then that's awesome.


Q: What's your #1 goal right now?


A: I really want the American record. I don't think the world record is out of reach. I want to end my career before it is done at least having taken a shot at the record. I'm not saying I'm going to do it, but I would love to at least try.


For more information on the 2005 Millrose Games and USATF Indoor Visa Championship Series, visit www.usatf.org.

http://www.usatf.org/news/view.aspx?DUi ... 4_21_21_54

Stacy Dragila, women's pole vault winner - I won. I'm pleased with that. I wanted to get on a longer pole tonight and I did. I think the pole was actually a little too small. I think it was a step in the right direction. Obviously the big heights weren't there, but the potential is there, and that's what the indoor season is about for me. [On Mary Saxer]: I thought she was very composed out there. She has a very bright future to be out there amongst us was huge for her. She's the next generation. I wish I was her age when I started pole vaulting. She's got a great set-up - a great coach, great training partners and a great set-up.

Mary Saxer, women's pole vault competitor - I cleared 13-6 starting off in practice the other day, so I wasn't shaken by it (the starting height). There's so much energy here. Vaulting against athletes like Stacy Dragila, it was so exciting. At high school meets, I know I'll be 1 or 2, but here it's a different story. All the girls came up and introduced themselves. They were all really nice. A meet like this is a great experience for me. I can only improve from here. I had nothing to lose. My goal was to break my own national record again, even if I only went a half-inch over. I didn't have the best warm-up, so it's not unexpected that I didn't do well in the meet. I was a little bit nervous, but not too bad. Stacy seems like she has a great attitude, no matter what she does in competition. I look up to her in many ways, and meeting her was so great. She was really nice and supportive.

Derek Miles, winner men's pole vault - It was fun. Millrose is such an intimate because everybody is so close. This year, there seemed like there was quite a bit more excitement. It was perfect for getting on bigger sticks. That was the biggest pole I had been on since the Olympics. That means I'm running better than I was at the Olympics. I feel stronger and it's still fairly early in the season. I wanted to take shots at something higher than 19 feet. There was a couple of close attempts, but there were some things wrong with my takeoff.