Monica Stearns Article

[Bruce Caldwell]

http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2004/06/30/9832

Stearns sets record; vaults toward Olympic Trials
Track and Field

By Dan Miller


our years ago when she walked-on Minnesota’s track and field team as a pole vaulter, Monica Stearns never imagined jumping over a 12-foot bar.
But this past weekend, she cleared a 14-foot-1.25-inch bar in Jonesboro, Ark. and provisionally qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials which begin July 9 in Sacramento, Calif.

After topping her own previous Minnesota record by more than six inches, Stearns said that literally raising the bar to new heights is now simply expected.

“I have been ready,â€Â