Articles after Women's Finals

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http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008 ... orts03.txt

Owen matches her best: But Polson pole vaulter not going to Beijing
By the Missoulian and the Associated Press


EUGENE, Ore. - Melinda Owen's dream of competing in the Beijing Games ended in the finals of the pole vault Sunday at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials at Hayward Stadium. Some of her other dreams, though, were realized.

The Polson native matched her career best with a vault of 14 feet, 5/ inches in Sunday's finals, but the mark was only good enough to tie her for 10th place.

Jenn Stuczynski set the American record in winning the event, clearing 16 feet, 1� inches to earn one of the three spots on the U.S. Olympic team.
Stuczynski broke the mark she'd set in May by one inch, then made two attempts to break Russian Yelena Isinbayeva's world record, but didn't clear 16-5fi either time. She passed on a third attempt.

Others qualifying for trips to Beijing were Erica Bartolina and April Steiner Bennett.

Owen, who competed at the University of Idaho, cleared 13-9/ in the prelims to earn one of 12 spots in the finals and improved on that mark by eight inches on Sunday.

Veteran Stacy Dragila, an Idaho State graduate, failed to qualify, clearing a best of 14-5/, the same mark as Owen.

“No, I'm definitely not disappointed,” Owen said by phone from Eugene. “It was kind of like a little dream, something that I've always had in my mind that I wanted to do. I felt like a little kid sitting out there with all those people who I watched on video and kind of looked up to since I was a little kid.”

Chief among those was Dragila, the 2000 Olympic gold medalist.

“I just think vaulting next to her was a neat thing,” Owen said. “She had talked about being done after this. Having had her as someone I looked up to for so long and getting to vault side by side was a really cool experience.

“I hope I'm half as athletic as she is at her age.”

After clearing 14-5/, Owen went out at 14-7/.

“I had a really good first attempt, I was over and knocked it off on my way down,” Owen said. “I had a solid attempt at it.”

Owen said she's not sure what the future holds.

“Only the Lord knows, I think,” Owen said. “I have some things, some offers to keep going. I will just kind of see where it takes me.”

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http://www.sanluisobispo.com/sports/story/406776.html

U. S. OLYMPIC TRACK AND FIELD TRIALS

A disappointing finish for former Atascadero standout Chelsea Johnson at Olympic pole vault finals
The former Atascadero High standout clears 14 feet 5 1 /4 inches and finishes tied for seventh

By Chris Hansen

PHOTO BY MARK YLEN
Former Atascadero High standout Chelsea Johnson finished tied for seventh place in the women’s pole vault finals. Her only clearance was 14 feet, 5 1 /4 inches, nearly a foot under her season average.

EUGENE, ORE. --EUGENE, Ore. — Chelsea Johnson said on Thursday she was going to compete in the pole vault finals with an eye on a new personal record and with a desire to upset top-seeded Jennifer Stuczynski.
She accomplished neither. The Atascadero High School alum and NCAA record-holder from UCLA had a disappointing finish at the U. S. Olympic Track and Field Trials at Hayward Field on Sunday.

Her only clearence came at 14 feet, 5 1 /4 inches to finish in a tie for seventh place with Mary Vincent and Stacy Dragila, the nine-time U. S. champion and 2000 Olympic gold medalist who was attempting a comeback from three injury plagued seasons.

Johnson’s mark was more than a foot under her season-best of 15-6 1 /4 , set two weeks ago at a meet in Los Gatos. At the time, it was the third-best mark ever by an American.

Stuczynski, meanwhile, won her third-straight U. S. title with a height of 16-1 3 /4, breaking her own American record of 16-0 1 /4. She then took two unsuccessful attempts at a new world record of 16-5 1 /2.

Stuczynski will be joined on the Olympic team by April Steiner Bennett and Erica Bartolina. Steiner Bennett cleared 15-1, while Bartolina cleared 14-11.

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http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2 ... _in_vault/

Stuczynski saves her best for last in vault

By Shira Springer
Globe Staff' / July 7, 2008

EUGENE, Ore. - Jennifer Stuczynski, the American record-holder in the women's pole vault, came precariously close to not representing her country at the Beijing Games.

After passing on six heights at the US Olympic track and field trials yesterday, she elected to vault with the bar at 15 feet 1 inch.

Stuczynski failed to clear the bar twice, leaving her with one last attempt to make a height and continue competing. As Stuczynski prepared for her final attempt in a swirling wind, the Hayward Field public address announcer filled in fans. If she cleared the height, she made the team. If she missed, she would be watching the Games in upstate New York.

Tension filled Hayward Field. Once Stuczynski easily cleared the bar, she pumped her fist, then fell back into the mat with relief.

Less than 30 minutes later, she improved her American record by clearing 16-1 3/4. Next, she made two unsuccessful attempts at the world record with the bar set at 16-5 1/2 inches before passing on a third.

"The first [miss at my opening height] didn't scare me," said Stuczynski, who said she was never comfortable in her approach throughout the final. "The second one got me a little nervous. And the third attempt, I just tried to relax. I just thought, 'This is routine. You've got to just jump at it. If you don't make it, you don't make it and you'll deal with it later.'

"I was probably more relieved after making [that first height] than I was after the American record. It was exciting because I knew I was on the team at that point and I could just jump."

No performance better captured the unpredictable nature of the trials. It was a fitting end to nine days of competition filled with favorites falling, unheralded runners qualifying, and familiar faces returning. As usual, the US team heading to Beijing looks strong, even though it didn't take shape as anticipated. Then again, it never does.

Stuczynski knew her first Olympic trials would be nerve-racking, and thought afterward her excitement may have affected her approach. For that reason, she wasn't sure how she was able to improve her American record.

"I had two jumps and my coach kept telling me, 'You're going over it by this much,' " said Stuczynski. "I felt I was over it, but I couldn't get it into my head.

"On the runway, I didn't feel good. But on that one, I just tried to run and jump and see what happened. It worked out."

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http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/20 ... tolina.txt

Bartolina Beijing bound
By Jesse Sowa
For the Gazette-Times
Philomath High grad joins Olympic team after taking third in the pole vault

EUGENE — It was going to take Erica Bartolina’s best day as an athlete to accomplish her goal.

Bartolina had that day on Sunday and a little more at Hayward Field.

The Philomath High graduate set her personal best in the pole vault three times, eventually clearing 14 feet, 11 inches to finish third in the U.S. Olympic track and field trials and qualify for the Olympic Games in Beijing next month.

“I definitely knew I had a shot, but I really didn’t believe it was going to happen,” said Bartolina, whose previous outdoor PR was 14-51/4.

“I just kept fighting for it and did what it took.”

Bartolina opened the competition Sunday at 14-11/2, which she cleared on her second attempt. She then passed at 14-51/4. It took a clearance on her third and final attempt at 14-71/4 (the Olympic ‘A’ standard) for Bartolina to advance. But it wasn’t until her clearance on a third attempt at 14-9 that she made the team.

She jumped in elation after hitting the mat with her clearance, an Olympic berth secured.

“I think I brushed it a little bit,” Bartolina said. “I was scared. It was my third attempt. I stepped it off and did the run through and knew that was the only chance I would get.“

Jennifer Stuczynski set a new American and trials record of 16-13/4, while April Steiner Bennett was second after clearing 15-1.

Bartolina said she twice had third attempts because she didn’t fully commit to her jumps.

“My biggest problem usually is just mental, of hitting the jump and knowing it’s going to be OK,” Bartolina said. “I had some of that today, too, but it didn’t get away too much.”

It’s been a long road for Bartolina since her days at Philomath, where she won a state pole vault title in 1997 as a junior and graduated in 1998. She grew up on her parents’ 20-acre farm in Kings Valley, where she helped raise the family’s 150 sheep.

She attended Texas A&M for four years and realized she could compete beyond school. She currently trains under her husband, Michael, a coach at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, about 45 minutes from both Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

“As a power event athlete, the warmer weather is a lot easier to train in,” she said.

Besides her husband, Bartolina had plenty of other support Sunday — her parents, two sisters, grandmother, other family, former high school coach Joe Fulton and other past coaches, her former 4H leader and high school classmates who she recognized in the stands.

Her training went well entering the meet, as she was healthy for the first time since a fall in training in 2005 that she was still recovering from two years later.

Bartolina took just three attempts to clear two qualifying heights Thursday.

“That really helped me to calm my nerves and come into it confident I could continue doing what I did on Thursday,” she said. “The same venue, the same crowd ... it really allowed me to relax a little bit and focus on what I had to do.”

Bartolina had struggled for more than a year to get back to her best jumping. But that didn’t bother her entering the trials.

“I knew if I just did basic pole vaulting, it was going to be good enough,” she said. “My problem is I get in a meet and I try to do something better than I did in practice and it screws everything up.

“That was my attitude today, ‘Don’t try to be better today, just be basic.’ ”

It worked.

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http://www.oregonlive.com/trackandfield ... _pole.html

U.S. record falls in women's pole vault

by The Oregonian
Sunday July 06, 2008, 6:41 PM

As her competitors took their turns jumping heights ranging from 14 to 15 feet on Sunday afternoon, Jenn Stuczynski bided her time.

Stuczynski kept passing, waiting for the bar to go to 15 feet, 1 inch before making her first attempt.

After failing to clear the height on her first two tries, it appeared she might regret all the passes. A third miss and Stuczynski would miss out on making her first Olympics.

No worries.

Stuczynski not only cleared 15-1, she also cleared three more heights, eventually breaking her own U.S. record of 16-0¼ by vaulting 16-1¾.

She then had the bar raised to 16-5¾ to attempt to break the world record of 16-5¼, but after missing on her first two attempts, she called it a day and finished where she started, with a pass on the last attempt.

Philomath's Erica Bartolina will be joining Stuczynski in Beijing. Bartolina, who came into the final lacking the Olympic A standard of 14-7¼, cleared 14-11 to achieve the standard and finish third place.

April Steiner Bennett also made the U.S. team, vaulting 15-1 to finish second.

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http://www.democratandchronicle.com/app ... 80320/1007

Olympic dreams become reality for Riga's Stuczynski
SCOTT PITONIAK • STAFF WRITER • JULY 8, 2008


Monday, a day after making the U.S. Olympic team with a national record-setting pole vault, Riga's Jenn Stuczynski joined her teammates for day-long seminars about Chinese culture and protocol.

After what she endured during an emotionally and physically draining Sunday in Eugene, Ore., she would have preferred sleeping in.

"She is totally spent," said her coach, Rick Suhr, by telephone from Eugene.

"A lot of people out here told us that the process of making the Olympic team was even tougher than competing in the Olympics. After what I saw Jenn and the other athletes go through these past 10 days, I can see why they say that."

Although Stuczynski arrived in Oregon as the U.S. record-holder, she didn't earn one of the three pole vaulting spots until she cleared the qualifying height of 15 feet, 1 inch on her third and final jump.

"That was the most pressure I've ever felt at a meet," she told reporters afterward. "It was even tougher than going for a national or world record because it was an all-or-nothing, do-or-die jump."

If she had failed to clear it, the 26-year-old Roberts Wesleyan graduate wouldn't be competing at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China next month.

In a move that shocked the 21,000 spectators, athletes and coaches at the University of Oregon's Hayward Stadium, the public address announcer made sure everyone knew what was at stake just as Stuczynski was preparing to head down the runway.

"I couldn't believe it, and nobody else could either," said Suhr, a Spencerport native who has helped transform Stuczynski from novice to world-class vaulter in only four years.

"Here she is, ready to go, and the guy announces: 'This is it. If she makes it, she's on the team. If she doesn't, she's not.' There were people afterward who came up to me and said they wanted to strangle the guy."

Amazingly, Stuczynski was able to shake off the pressure of the moment and cleared the bar with plenty to spare. After that, she took aim at higher marks and wound up breaking her own U.S. record with a vault of 16 feet, 1 3/4 inches. She then failed on two attempts to top the world mark of 16-5 1/2 set by Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva.

"The strange thing is that she probably would have broken the world record on her third jump at 15-1 because she really nailed that one," Suhr said.

"She was easily a foot-and-a-half over that bar. But by that point, we would have been happy if she cleared it by just a hair."

During the trials, Stuczynski and Suhr had watched U.S. and world record holders in other events fall by the wayside. America's top two javelin throwers failed to qualify for the Olympic team. And on Saturday sprinter Tyson Gay, the world's fastest man, pulled up lame.

"That's the nature of these trials," Suhr said. "It puts incredible pressure on the athletes. They keep playing a commercial about this being the toughest team to make. It's true."

After Stuczynski set the American record, she was interviewed by NBC's Dan O'Brien, a former decathlete who didn't make the 1992 Olympic team because he failed to clear the qualifying height in the pole vault.

"He told Jenn, 'If anyone knew what you were going through before that third jump, it was me,'" Suhr said. "I've seen world-class athletes, people like O'Brien and (former Russian world record-holder) Sergi Bubka and (American record-holder) Stacy Dragila no-height the pole vault and not make the Olympics. That's what makes Jenn's jump so impressive. You talk about mental toughness. She has no shortage of it."

Suhr said Stuczynski's day began with breakfast at 9:30 a.m. and didn't end until after she and the other competitors underwent blood and urine drug-testing about 11 p.m.

Suhr said Stuczynski would take some time off to recuperate before possibly competing in a couple of European meets prior to heading to China in late July.

"She had to make a lot of jumps at the trials, so she's pretty beat up," he said.

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http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20 ... /FRONTPAGE

OLYMPICS I U.S. TRIALS
Janson falls short in bid for Beijing
Mooney grad eliminated after failing to clear 14 feet and nine inches

By STEVE ELLIS TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT
Published Monday, July 7, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
Last updated Monday, July 7, 2008 at 1:02 p.m.
EUGENE, Ore. — Sarasota's Lacy Janson was dealing with the disappointment of not going far in the pole vault finals of the U.S. Olympic Trials on Sunday.

Considered one of the favorites in her event to reach Beijing, the former Florida State vaulter, who trains in Tallahassee, was the third to be eliminated in a field of 12 after failing to clear 14 feet and nine inches.

Had she matched her personal best of 15 feet, 23/4 inches on Sunday, she would have finished second and landed on the Olympic team.

Janson and two other vaulters who were considered favorites to finish in the top four were knocked out early.

"It was weird day," offered Janson, a graduate of Cardinal Mooney High School. "I'm disappointed. I came in feeling strong."

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http://www.nola.com/sports/t-p/index.ss ... xml&coll=1

Pole-vaulter Bartolina reaches a new height
Monday, July 07, 2008
By Jeff Duncan
EUGENE, ORE. -- Erica Bartolina entered the women's pole vault competition at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials as a long shot.

She left as an Olympian.

Bartolina, who lives and trains in Hammond with the Mardi Gras Track Club, entered the meet with a personal-best vault of 14 feet, 5 1/4 inches, which ranked 13th among the competitors.

Bartolina bucked the odds and shocked the field of 12 finalists and a sellout crowd at Hayward Field on Sunday by bettering that height twice.

Her final mark of 14-11 was good for third place and earned her a most surprising trip to the Olympic Games in Beijing next month.

"Oh, definitely," said Bartolina, when asked if she surprised people. "I don't think anyone had me picked as a favorite to make the team -- except for my husband."

Bartolina moved to Hammond a year ago, where her husband Michael is an assistant track coach at Southeastern Louisiana. A former two-time Big 12 champion at Texas A&M, Bartolina was born and raised in Oregon and had about 15 family and friends in attendance, including her parents, grandmother, high school coach and 4-H leader.

"I had a lot of encouragement," Bartolina said. "I knew that I could do it. I don't know that I expected myself to do it, but I knew if I did what I could do it would happen."

As expected, Jenn Stuczynski won the competition, setting an American record of 16-1 3/4 in the process. April Steiner Bennett was a distant second at 15-1, just ahead of Bartolina.

"I knew if I just did basic pole vaulting that it was going to be good enough," Bartolina said. "My problem has been I get in the meet and I try to do something better than what I do in practice and it just screws everything up. My attitude that I took today was don't try to be better, just be basic. And it worked."

Despite her Oregon roots and Texas background, Bartolina considers herself a full-fledged Louisianian.

"It's a really good training environment for me," she said. "I don't have a lot of distractions, and the community down there has been really supportive of me."

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http://www.edmondsun.com/sports/local_s ... ndarystory

Former ‘Dog is bound for Beijing

Eric Spruill
The Edmond Sun
Edmond Memorial graduate Mike Bartolina always knew he was going to be a track coach. But he never expected to coach his wife Erica (Boren) Bartolina — a two-time Big 12 Conference champion at Texas A&M in the pole vault.

And after Erica sustained a back injury two years ago, the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing probably didn’t seem like a conceivable goal either, but come July 30th, that’s where the couple will be headed after Erica placed third at the U.S. Olympic Trials held in Eugene, Ore. to earn a spot on the team.

“Me being her coach was never the plan, we had the husband/wife thing going, but because of my job (Bartolina is the assistant track coach at Southeastern Louisiana University) we moved to Louisiana, and we really couldn’t find a coach,” the 1987 Edmond graduate said.

“I always knew that she was a tremendously untapped talent. And in the first year she improved to 14-5.25, which was more than a foot higher than her previous personal best. She actually placed fourth at the USA Track and Field Indoor Championships in 2005.”

To say Erica had untapped talent is an understatement. When she was just four-months-old she lost her right eye in a car accident, and it was not until the age of 14, that she began pole vaulting, with the advice of her high school track coach.

She went on to be a three-time state placer, and in 1997 won the 3A state championship in the pole vault, under the direction of Dennis Phillips, who was a former world record holder in the event.

But in 2005 after setting several personal bests with Mike as her coach, she took a fall and broke two vertebrae in her back, which was something the competition never knew. And it wasn’t until six months ago that she was 100 percent.

“It took two-and-a-half years for her to get back into form. It wasn’t until about six months ago, that she was competing at 100 percent, although you couldn’t see it on paper, because circumstances didn’t allow it. Like in Canada she went 14-3, which doesn’t look good in the newspaper, but it was also 50 degrees outside,” Bartolina said. “I expected Erica to finish fifth or sixth at the trials, but not 10th through 12th like the prognosticators, that’s where they picked her, because the results did not show where she was at.”

Heading into the trials, which were held at the same place Erica won the high school state championship in 1997, her personal best was 14-5.5, which was about to be shattered.

“We had a plan heading into the trials. We knew very well that it was going to take a 14-11 to 15-1 to qualify for the team. Our plan was to move very quickly, going 14-1, then to 14-7, and 14-11, while it may have seemed risky, we knew that this would be a way to limit her attempts,” Mike said. “It may have taken her three attempts to get 14-7, but on the third attempt she cleared it by a foot, and it was then I knew that she had a legitimate shot at the Olympics.”

And when she cleared 14-11, it was official, the Bartolina’s were Beijing bound, due to her third-place finish.

“It’s been a tremendous week so far, we just haven’t had a chance to sit down and let it sink in yet. Instead we’re making travel arrangements, but once we’res done with all the little nuts and bolts, it will feel great to let it sink in. I know Erica feels a tremendous sense of accomplishment,” Mike said. “This past week was great for Erica because she had a chance to go home and do this in front of all her friends and family. I also enjoyed it because there were a lot of people with Oklahoma ties in the stands watching.”

“Our normal life just went out the window.”

Erica will compete in a few preliminary events, before the Bartolina’s leave out for Beijing on July 30.

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http://www.nbcolympics.com/trackandfiel ... 48804.html

Erica Bartolina flies blind. The 28-year-old, who surprisingly qualified for the 2008 Olympic team with a third-place finish in the women's pole vault, has been legally blind in her right eye since she was four months old, when her family's car was rear-ended and a pair of scissors sitting on the dashboard punctured her eyeball. This is not quite Luke Skywalker using the force to block laser beams with a light sabre while blindfolded, but considering what Bartolina lacks in peripheral vision and depth perception in a high-risk event, qualifying for the 2008 Games is remarkable in and of itself.

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http://www.whec.com/article/stories/S50 ... ml?cat=565

Local Olympian returns home

Wednesday morning a local Olympian came back home to the Rochester area after turning some heads at the Olympic trials.

After qualifying for the Olympics this past weekend Jenn Stuczynski and her coach Rick Suhr returned home. Stuczynski set the American record in the pole vault at 16 feet, one and three-quarter inches securing her place on the Olympic team, just four years after taking up the sport.

Stuczynksi will be in Rochester for about 10 days for training and relaxing before she heads to Europe to compete in two meets.

News 10NBC talked with Stuczynski but what its like to be an Olympian.

“We went there and we prepared for whatever happens I wasn't really prepared for the amount of stress that I would feel leading up to it,” Stuczynski said. “But we went with it and we did what we had to do and now we can look back and its relief and we can plan for the Olympics and say I'm an Olympian now.”

Opening ceremonies begin August 8. You'll want to tune in August 18 for the pole vault. Riga's Jenn Stuczynski is going for the gold.