Minnesota's top pole vaulter just cleared 14 feet, four inches at the Minnesota Open last Saturday. The Gopher junior bettered her own school record and looks to get her own NCAA Championship this indoor season.

You got 14'4 this early in the season, how high can you go?

I don't know. My goal for the year was to jump 14'6. I'm heading in the right direction. I didn't expect to be jumping this high this early in the year, but I'm really happy with it.

Have you ever jumped in the 14s before?

My best last year was just shy of 14. It was 13'11.75.

That's a big four inches.

Four inches is a big gain. I was really happy with it. I wasn't expecting it at all, but we've been working hard.

Was everything just clicking or is there more there? Can you get 14'6?

I think so. I had a pretty good clearance on the bar. It wasn't like I brushed it and it was going to fall down. So, that makes me feel like there's room for potential. I feel like it being this early in the year, there's room for improvement.

14'6 is one of your goals. What are some other goals? What about you getting a National Championship?

(Laughs) Let's see. I would eventually like to make it to the Trials, but that's four years away. The lifetime goal is to make it to the Trials and see how I do. This year, it would be really sweet to make to the USA's. I don't know what I would need to get there yet, but we'll see what happens as we go.

That brings me to another question. You had the “B” Standard this past summer, did you belong at the Olympic Trials?

No. (Laughs) I don't think at the time that I was ready for it. I think if I get four more years then I'll be more prepared. I did make the “B” Standard, I was like three people away from making the actual Trials. It's not like I had a chance of going to the Olympics. It would have been a fun exposure and a good meet that I hadn't been around before.

My goal this year is to win one of the National Championships, either indoors or outdoors. They're always different.

Can you explain a week of training for you?

Sure. We weight lift in the morning, three days a week at my school. That's usually Monday, Wednesday, Friday for an hour. Then we do different running workouts each day. So, we do a speed day—with a little bit of endurance—on Monday. On Tuesdays we actually pole vault for a couple of hours. Wednesday is just a recovery day where you do do a little jog with body circuits or body weights. Thursday is speed again. Then Friday is pre-meet. Then Saturday we compete.

You don't count your mileage or anything or anything like that.

We don't count mileage. We go based on meters. You'll go one week where you go (total)—I don't even keep track, I'm not the coach...I just do what they tell me—(Laughs) we did 1000 this week. Next week we'll do like 1050. Then the next week a little bit more. They just change when you're rested and where the breakups are. Ten 100s or five 150s. And slowly increase that way.

Is there any chance of you going back to the hurdles or are you completely switched off?

No. I'm not going to go back to the hurdles. I tried it my freshman year of college for a couple of weeks and the coach said we could continue with hurdles, but if he chose, he'd rather that I continue with the pole vault. It's a more technical event, so it's hard to go back and forth. And if you miss a couple of days of pole vault practice to hurdle, you miss out on a lot. We just figured that we'd focus our energy on that instead of hurdling.

And that's fine with you?

Yeah. I missed it at first, because I enjoyed getting to try it, but now that I'm doing so well I think it was the right call. I wouldn't go back and change it.

How did you get into pole vaulting in the first place?

I did gymnastics since I was four. So, that's like 14 years of gymnastics. When I was in seventh and eighth grade, the girls on my team were pole vaulters and they said, “you need to come try pole vault. You're a gymnast, you've got all this body awareness, you're comfortable being upside down, you'd be really great at it. Come. It's really fun.” So, when I entered high school I tried it. It was a little hard at first, but after a while I really started to like it. I knew the people. It was really fun and a great atmosphere. I just did that through high school.

This is another runner ignorant question, but is it difficult to getting used to being that high in the air and being upside down, in such an awkward position?

It wasn't for me just because I was so used to flipping upside down. A lot of boys have a lot tougher time getting used to being upside down. It's a gradual thing. You start out where you barely make it to horizontal and slowly learn to go higher. As you progressively get higher you don't realize that you're falling from 14 feet in the air anymore. It just seems natural.

Have you ever witnessed any nightmare situations?

For myself not really. I've missed the mat only once in my life. I actually broke my teeth once pole vaulting. I hit the bar, landed on the mat, then the cross bar came down and hit me in the mouth. That's the worst that's happened to me. I've never broken a pole or anything like that.

We're not going to see you out there with a helmet on?

I don't waer a helmet. It's optional in college. We have a pretty safe coaching style. I've never had issues with missing the mats or landing in bad positions, so I'm very comfortable with my jumps.

Just watching out for that bar when it comes down?

Yeah. (Laughs) Pretty much.

Who are some athletes that you look up to?

Jenn Stuczynski is amazing in the fact that she's only pole vaulted for four years of her life. It's so strange, there's a girl named April Steiner. I met her once at a meet. She probably has no idea who I even am, but when I met her I thought she was the coolest person ever.

She might know who you are pretty soon!

(Laughs) Another person I look up is Shani Marks. She does the triple jump. She's one of our coaches and is a great inspiration coaching us all the time. Someday I'd like to be like her.

What do you do when you're not vaulting or studying?

Outside of studying. Not a lot. I enjoy doing other sports, going ice skating or playing basketball. I like music, making CDs and doing stuff with my friends. We go bowling or boating.

You're a Minnesota native and you obviously stayed in state. Why did you choose the University of Minnesota?

I was looking at two schools. I was considering going to Nebraska in Lincoln or going to the U of M. I looked at those two school and was more comfortable with the coaching staff here. I went to high school here in Minnesota and my coach was best friends with the pole vault coach that I have now. Their strategies were so similar that I didn't have to adjust to a new coaching style. I knew her already and it was just really comfortable.

Was winning the Pan Am Games gold medal your greatest achievement so far?

So far that's my biggest achievement. It was really out of the blue. I went to this meet, not even having expected to make it. They don't send you with a coach and you're there all alone. There was one of the boy's dad's in the stand, trying to help us out (he did a great job helping us). All my jumps just finally came together at that one meet. It was really exciting and I never expected that. That's probably the biggest meet that' I've won. I was really excited to make it as an All-American last year indoors.

Can you give me a crazy story involved with your pole vaulting?

I've seen poles break. That's about as crazy as it gets. We had a boy break a pole two days ago. He jumping on a new pole and the tape came untaped when he was jumping. He flipped off and you usually flipped over and land very safely on your back, but his pole then recoiled and unbent, flung, hit the standard, hit the ceiling of our building...which is very tall...and came back down. Everyone watched the pole and not the kid. That was the craziest thing I've seen in a while.