Stuczynski ready for 100th Millrose Games

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Stuczynski ready for 100th Millrose Games
01-15-2007
Contact:
Tom Surber
Media Information Manager
USA Track & Field
317-713-4690
On Monday, January 15, America's #1 women's pole vaulter Jenn Stuczynski, spoke to the New York Track Writers in advance of the 100th Millrose Games.
The 100th Millrose Games, the second stop in USA Track & Field's Visa Championship Series, will be held Feb. 2 at Madison Square Garden beginning at 5:45 p.m. The Visa Championship Series begins January 27 with the Reebok Boston Indoor Games, continues with the Tyson Invitational February 9 in Fayetteville, Ark., and concludes with the AT&T USA Indoor Track & Field Championships February 25-26 in Boston.
The leading U.S. women's pole vaulter last season, Stuczynski won eight events in 2006 and finished the season ranked #6 in the world. The third-place finisher at the 2006 World Athletics Final, Stuczynski posted a personal best winning clearance of 4.68 meters/15 feet 4.25 inches on January 14 in Ypsilanti, Michigan. She posted the six highest clearances by an American during the 2006 indoor season, and also cleared the four tallest heights by an American during last year's outdoor campaign.
Stuczynski has already cleared the 15-foot barrier twice this indoor season, winning the USATF Holiday Classic on December 30 in Rochester, N.Y. (4.58m/15-.25) and also capturing the Cornell Open in Ithaca, N.Y., on January 7 (4.61m/15-1.50). Both performances bettered the previous women's pole vault records for those facilities.
Additional Millrose headliners already announced to compete are 4-time Wanamaker Mile champion Bernard Lagat, world championships medalist Craig Mottram, reigning World Indoor shot put champion Reese Hoffa and world record holder and Olympic champion pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva. Also competing at Millrose will be Tirunesh Dibaba, the reigning double World Champion at 5,000 and 10,000 meters who will be headlining the NYRR Women's 3000m Run, the first race over a mile for women in Millrose history.
Below are excerpts from Monday's conversation with Stuczynski at the Track Writers Lunch.

Q: You've enjoyed a meteoric rise in a very short time in becoming the nation's #1 women's pole vaulter. How do you explain that?

A: I don't really know. Every day we just go back into our building and practice and sometimes it goes well and sometimes it doesn't, but we know the goals that we have and we just keep plugging away at it. It's just one of those things where we work hard at it.

Q: You've already been over the 15-foot barrier twice in 2007, how are things going for you so far in this early indoor season?

A: They're going very well. Our training in the off-season, when we came back from Europe, we didn't take much time off at all, and a lot of the training was to get me stronger and faster and we wanted to make about three or four technical changes and we did that. They're not 100% but they're better than what they were. We did these meets to see if we can apply the changes under fire with three attempts, can you make the changes you've been working on and so far it's paid off. We'll see with the rest of the season.

Q: We've heard that you've been dealing with an upper respiratory problem. Can you talk about that?

A: Yeah, that's something that's going around here in western New York. It's cold out here and it's been warm, up to 70 (degrees) and today there's an ice storm out, so it's going around. It's better now, though, so there's nothing to worry about now.

Q: When the weather is bad like this is it a problem to get to the building where you train?

A: No. I'd say it's about 100 feet in the backyard, so I just walk back there and turn on the heaters.

Q: So the building isn't actually heated, is it?

A: We actually have two propane blowers, one that works and one that doesn't, that actually blow out some heat for us. It's a building that we jump in that's on boards. It's so cold at times that you know when you hit a baseball in the cold and you don't hit it in the right spot how it stings your hands? That's pretty much what you feel when you plant the pole, it sends like a shock wave though your body. It's something you get used to after a while.

Q: Can you talk about some of the things you learned last year?

A: Last year we went to meets driving around every where to compete and jump heights. We went to Europe and learned how to travel with poles, we're still learning, and traveling overseas. I learned a lot by watching people, too. I watch (Yelena) Isinbayeva and (Monika) Pyrek and listen to their coaches and I watch how focused they are. A lot of things go around you, and things that you can't control, and I've learned that you have to not get emotional because a lot things out there you can't. People don't speak English at times, and I've learned by watching them that you sometimes have to take the punches that come and not try to control everything.

Q: When you first started vaulting you had a number of other vaulters to work you with. Has that changed now that some of them have gone on to college?

A: I actually jump by myself. Once in a while I'll go up to Roberts and jump. There's a jumper there, who jumps about 16 (feet) to 16-6. I'll go up there once in a while, but I pretty much jump by myself.

Q: How do you fell about that?

A: It doesn't really bother me. I take my time and every jump is videotaped, so I watch every jump afterwards and my coach will watch every jump, so there's a lot of dead time and it's hard when there's more than one person jumping because then you have to rush through it because someone else is coming down the runway. I'll jump and then do drills after I jump to try to correct something and then I'll jump again. The one-on-one works well right now.

Q: Since you've accomplished so much in such a short time, does that make you confident that you can seriously challenge the world's best in the near future?

A: Yeah. I've accomplished a lot and I've accomplished it fast, but there's
still things that I'm learning. Every day I go back there and I'm working on something else, and let's say you work on the top part of your vault coming off the pole, and sometimes your takeoff suffers because you're not thinking about it all of the time. Sometimes you work on the takeoff and the top part suffers. There's three things I have to do to have a good jump put together and when I combine those three that's when it's going to be, but I'll combine two out of three or sometimes half of the three, but never all three together. That's what we work on to keep improving.

Q: Do you have any set goals for this year?

A: We set goals, we don't really set height goals, though. I want to be able to swing better and more efficient, and come off the pole better and when I do that's when the heights come, but I don't set height goals just because I don't want to limit myself with them.

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Stuczynski set for Millrose Games



(February 1, 2007) â€â€