PoleVaultPower.com

Let the season begin!

http://gohuskies.collegesports.com/spor ... heats.html

http://gohuskies.collegesports.com/spor ... 06aaa.html

Saturday's UW Indoor Preview is the first of eight indoor track and field meets at the University of Washington this winter.


Jan. 12, 2006


Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader


On the Track: Washington's eight returning All-Americans and outstanding group of newcomers will have to be at the top of their game Saturday, as nearly a half-dozen former Olympians and an equal number of past NCAA champions help the Huskies' track and field teams kick off the 2006 season with the UW Indoor Preview at Dempsey Indoor. All but two of the Huskies' All-Americans will be in action, including a featured matchup in the women's pole vault of UW All-Americans Carly Dockendorf and Ashley Wildhaber against former NCAA champions Tracy O'Hara, Becky Holliday and UW's own Kate Soma. The men's vault -- featuring 2004 U.S. champion and Olympic silver medalist Toby Stevenson, Danish Olympian Piotr Buciarski, 2005 U.S. champion and former Husky Brad Walker, and 2004 NCAA Outdoor champion Tommy Skipper -- will also be a can't-miss event,

2006 Season Preview: Never has a UW track and field team returned more All-Americans than the team's eight in 2006, nor has any Husky squad ever counted 16 NCAA Championships competitors among its preseason returnees. Gone from UW's record five-woman NCAA Championships pole vault contingent is NCAA champion Kate Soma, but All-Americans Carly Dockendorf (6th, outdoors) and Ashley Wildhaber (5th, indoors) return, along with NCAA competitors Kelley DiVesta and Stevie Marshalek.

Vault Supremacy: The 2005 season left little doubt that Washington reigns supreme in the world of collegiate women's vaulting. An NCAA-record five UW women's vaulters competed at the NCAA Championships in 2005 -- including four each indoors and out -- while three earned All-Americahonors, and senior Kate Soma brought home the 2005 NCAA outdoor title. The story should be much the same for Washington in 2006, as four of the five return, including senior All-Americans Ashley Wildhaber (5th, indoors) and Carly Dockendorf (6th, outdoors), junior Stevie Marshalek and sophomore Kelley DiVesta. All five, including the departed Soma, boast bests above 13 feet, a feat never before accomplished by any NCAA quintet, while three of the five -- including Soma, Wildhaber and Dockendorf -- rank among the 10-best vaulters in Pac-10 history:

All-Time Pac-10 Pole Vault Top-10
Name, School, Year - Mark
1., Chelsea Johnson, UCLA, 2004, 15-0
2., Amy Linnen, Arizona, 2002, 14-10 1/4i
3., Becky Holliday, Oregon, 2003, 14-8
4., Tracy O'Hara, UCLA, 2000, 14-7 1/4
5., Kate Soma, Washington, 2005, 14-3 1/2i
6., Tamara Diles, Wash. State, 2002, 14-3 1/4i
7., Nikki McEwen, Oregon, 2003, 14-1 1/4
7. Connie Jerz, Arizona, 2003, 14-1 1/4
9., Carly Dockendorf, Washington, 2005, 13-9 1/4
9. Ashley Wildhaber, Washington, 2005, 13-9 1/4i
9. Andrea Dutoit, Arizona, 2001, 13-9 1/4

Rare Double: From the first time she entered a pole vault competition -- going 12-1 1/2 at Husky Stadium in 2002 -- it was obvious that junior Carly Dockendorf, already a decorated UW gymnast, was in an elite class of athletes. In 2004, though, Dockendorf moved into a class all her own, qualifying individually for the NCAA Championships in both track and field, and gymnastics. While it is not uncommon for a college athlete to compete in multiple NCAA Championships in one year -- track/cross country and volleyball/basketball doubles being among the most common -- to do so in two unrelated sports in which qualification is based on individual, not team, performance is extremely rare. The junior nearly repeated the feat in 2005, qualifying for the NCAA Track Championships both indoors and out, but falling just one-tenth of a point shy of qualifying for the NCAA gymnastics meet in April.

Double-Duty Dockendorf: There is no doubt that pole vaulter/gymnast Carly Dockendorf -- the nation's No. 2 returning pole vaulter, along with teammate Ashley Wildhaber -- is one of the finest two-sport athletes in UW history. The Port Moody, B.C., native added to her legend last March with a 17th-place finish in the vault at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Arkansas, just 19 hours after competing in Utah for the Husky gymnastics team. Dockendorf then closed the 2005 campaign with a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Championships, her vault of 13-9 1/4 equal to the ninth-best mark in Pac-10 history, and the fifth-best mark ever by a Canadian citizen. Balancing two sports, though, is nothing new to Dockendorf -- the senior earned back-to-back NCAA gymnastics berths in 2003 and 2004, and placed 11th in the vault at the 2004 NCAA Track Championships. Amazingly, Dockendorf has been pole vaulting for less than four years, having begun the sport only after watching Husky vaulters train during her freshman gymnastics season in 2002, and has still vaulted just 27 times in competition during her entire pole-vaulting career. Dockendorf began her two-sport double on a full-time basis in 2003, winning All-America honors on the gymnastics floor while placing eighth in the pole vault at the Pac-10 Championships. She completed her gymnastics eligibility in 2005 with the most perfect 10s (six) of any UW gymnast all-time, and will have one full year of track eligibility remaining in 2006.

Athletics Canada All-Time Women's Pole Vault Rankings
Name, Year - Mark
1., Dana Buller, 2005, 14-9 1/2
2., Kelsie Hendry, 2005, 14-7 1/2
3., Stephanie McCann, 2004, 14-5 1/4
4. , Ardin Tucker-Harrison, 2002, 13-9 3/4
5., Carly Dockendorf, 2005, 13-9 1/4
6., Sue Kupper, 2005, 13-7 1/4
6. Trista Bernier, 1998, 13-7 1/4
8., Jackie Honey, 2001, 13-6 1/4
9. Adrienne Vangool, 2004, 13-5 3/4
10., Simona Kovacic, 2003, 13-2 1/4

UW Indoor Preview
Washington