Gymnastics helps Burggraf vault to Austin Peay (OH)

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Gymnastics helps Burggraf vault from RV to track at Austin Peay
Lady Viking to continue career in pole vault
By DENNY McPHERSON
The Marion Star

CALEDONIA - River Valley High School graduate Carrie Burggraf is attending Austin Peay State University on a full-ride track scholarship, but she believes gymnastics helped punch her ticket to the Division I school in Clarksville, Tenn.

Burggraf, a 2006 RV alum, competed in gymnastics for 13 years. This past spring the Lady Viking pole vaulter qualified for the USA Gymnastics Region V Level 9 meet.

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"Gymnastics gives you agility, strength and speed, and it teaches discipline," Burggraf said. "I loved it, and I am definitely a better pole vaulter because of it.

"You get upper body strength from gymnastics and you are twisting your body, like you do in pole vaulting," she said.

Lori Parthemore, girls head track coach at River Valley, said Burggraf gained more than just strength from gymnastics.

"The poise she has, she got that from gymnastics," Parthemore said. "She carried it over into her track."

River Valley pole vaulting coach Kevin Keller said Burggraf, who also competed in volleyball and cross country at RV, has changed her mind concerning what sport she likes the best.

"It was only earlier this year she said pole vaulting was not her favorite sport, but now she says it has surpassed gymnastics," Keller said.

Burggraf's success in vaulting may have had a lot to do with that.

Burggraf finished fourth this season in the Div. II state pole vault at 11 feet, her personal best and a River Valley record. She had cleared 9-6 earlier in the Central District meet to tie for first place and she finished third in the regional meet at 10 feet.

Besides adjusting to a new event, Burggraf also battled a hamstring injury last spring.

"She got hurt the second week in April and she was in danger of not finishing the season," Keller said. "But she did all of the rehab to bring it back."

"People told me I would be lucky to compete the rest of the year, but I went to physical therapy and that helped me get past it," Burggraf said.

Burggraf hasn't decided on a major field of study at Austin Peay, saying it will be either education or health and human performances.

She also took a long time in deciding to participate in the pole vault.

"Carrie only started pole vaulting in March of her junior year," Keller said. "I tried to get her to jump before that. She said she was a sprinter, a long jumper and a gymnast. I told her because of that she was a perfect fit for pole vaulting.

"We started from square one and she cleared 9-6 her junior year and was fifth in the regional meet. She made tremendous strides that first year."

Burggraf admitted those strides were difficult ones to take initially.

"At first it was kind of frustrating," Burggraf said. "I could make height, but I hated to get worse. I wanted to post a personal record every meet.

"I couldn't turn at all that first year, but my second year I worked on form a lot."

Austin Peay track coach Doug Molnar and Keller both see a lot of potential in Burggraf.

"Carrie has a great career in front of her," Molnar said in a news release on the Austin Peay Web site. "She is only a neophyte in the pole vault. She has made tremendous strides in her progress in just a few short weeks."

"She ranks up there with the most determined and toughest competitors I have coached," Keller said. "When the competition gets tough, she gets tougher. She always has more to give, and I think the Austin Peay coach saw that in her."