Still soaring
tflagstad@journalnet.com
While growing up in Polson, Mont., Melinda Owen tracked the endeavors of 2000 Olympic pole vault gold medalist Stacy Dragila.
Because of what Dragila managed to accomplish in the sport, Owen decided to start pole vaulting.
Never did Owen imagine she'd ever meet the Idaho State graduate.
A year after completing her career at the University of Idaho, Owen has more than just met her idol. For the past year, Owen has trained with and competed against Dragila at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif.
"It's been like a dream," Owen said. "Honestly, I feel like I've just been living in a world that is make-believe."
Owen nearly missed her chance.
Dragila talked openly about 2008 being her final season and thought about walking away. After failing to make the 2008 Beijing Olympics, though, the 38-year-old Dragila -- the sport's first female gold medalist -- decided to stick with vaulting for one more season.
She'll try to qualify for one more national team Sunday at the U.S. national track and field championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
"It would mean a lot," Dragila said. "I haven't been on the team in a long time. It's the ultimate since it's not an Olympic year."
Following the 2008 season, Dragila moved from Pocatello to California mainly so her fianc�, discus thrower Ian Waltz, could focus on his training for the 2012 London Olympics. But the change in location also provided the nine-time American champion vaulter a chance to continue her career with consistently nice weather and constant attention from trainers.
After missing all of 2006 and the bulk of 2007 because of injuries -- and subsequent surgeries -- to both of her Achilles' tendons, Dragila has remained relatively healthy. Although, her sciatic nerve -- a nerve that starts in the lower back and runs down the legs -- has acted up and has required plenty of work by chiropractors and other specialists.
At the center, Dragila met Owen, and the two started training together. The way the 24-year-old Owen tells it, it's impossible to tell Dragila is in the twilight of her career based on her strenuous workouts.
"She's crazy," Owen said. "I mean that in a good way. She's amazing. There's no way anybody should be physically capable of doing what she does, but she's 38 and doing it."
Dragila hopes that work pays off with a top three performance at nationals, which would earn her a spot at the world championships set for Aug. 15-23 in Berlin.
The goal certainly appears attainable. Throughout the outdoor season, Dragila has routinely finished second at meets behind reigning U.S. champion and American record holder Jenn Stuczynski.
With a jump of 15 feet, 1 1/2 inches to her credit this year, Dragila enters the competition with the second-best mark behind Stuczynski.
"When somebody like her can still come out and kick your butt," Owen said, "she deserves to be out there."
Dragila, who won world titles in 1999 and 2001, last made a national team in 2005, when she failed to make it out of the first round at the world championships in Helsinki, Finland.
In Sunday's competition, which is set to start at 12:30 p.m., Dragila believes it'll take a mark right around 15 feet to climb into the top three.
"It's just a matter of getting out there and competing against everybody," she said. "I feel like I rise to the challenge when I'm against my peers. It really brings out the best in me."
Regardless of how nationals turn out, Dragila plans on catching a flight to Europe the day after returning home from Eugene.
She'll spend a final summer going from meet to meet on the European circuit.
While she admits she likely can't match the performances of Stuczynski and 2008 gold medalist Elena Isinbaeva of Russia, Dragila feels she can continue improving with each meet and can aim for a top five finish at worlds.
Whether that happens, Dragila sounds confident that this is her final season of competition.
"As this year really proved," she said, "I need a lot of maintenance to stay together, and that's not a lot of fun."
By Tim Flagstad
http://www.idahostatejournal.com/articles/2009/06/26/news/local/2.txt
