North Star's Jiskra goes from vault to vault (NE)

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North Star's Jiskra goes from vault to vault
BY RON POWELL / Lincoln Journal Star
Thursday, Apr 26, 2007 - 12:47:04 am CDT
A few years ago, Cami Jiskra’s goal was to earn a women’s gymnastics scholarship to an NCAA Division I college.

The only vault she cared about then was the kind that could draw a perfect 10 from the judges.

The vault is still important to the Lincoln North Star senior, but she’s traded in the gymnastics leotard for the track and field tank top and shorts. Speed down the runway is still a critical component, but now Jiskra has a pole in her hands when she makes that sprint.

It might be Jiskra’s last year of high school, but it’s her first season pole vaulting. Just a month into her rookie year, she’s already cracked the state’s girls all-time chart and is receiving recruiting attention from some Division I schools.

Jiskra moved into a tie for ninth all-time by clearing 11 feet, 6 inches and winning at the Harold Scott Invitational last Thursday. A day later, she finished third at the Kansas Relays by going 11-0. That event was won by defending Class A champion Natalie Willer of Elkhorn, a Nebraska recruit who went a personal-best 12-4 (third all-time).

“It’s amazing what she’s (Jiskra) accomplished in such a short amount of time,’’ Lincoln Public Schools pole vault coach Chris Johnson said. “She has the build of a good pole vaulter. Her shoulders look powerful, and that’s because of gymnastics. Cami has good core strength, and that’s important in this sport.’’

Jiskra competed in gymnastics for 10 years and reached Level 10 before she began phasing out of the sport two years ago. Elbow and knee surgery last year eliminated any comeback.

Jiskra, a varsity cheerleader, was a jumper and 400-meter runner in her first two years on the North Star track team.

Johnson actively recruited her to vault but to avail until last summer, when he convinced her to try it at his weeklong pole vault camp.

“He’d been begging me to try it for a long time. I figured I’d do it just to get him off my back,’’ Jiskra said, laughing. “Everything just came natural to me. By the end of the week, I got 8 foot. That was enough to keep me going.’’

Jiskra worked with Johnson twice a week during the remainder of the summer, setting the stage for this season. In her first pole vault competition, she went 9-6 at an indoor meet at the Devaney Sports Center just before preseason practices in early March.

Jiskra won her first high school meet with a 10-6 effort at the Nebraska-Kearney Indoor meet. Johnson had difficulty convincing some of the college coaches on hand that this was Jiskra’s first time vaulting in high school.

“That first meet was pretty exciting,’’ Jiskra said. “I was shooting for 9-6 again. I kept going up two inches and I never thought I’d get that high. I had a lot of vaults that day.’’

Johnson saw the competitive side of Jiskra after the Omaha Central Invitational two weeks ago. Jiskra finished second to Anna Greenwald of Kearney and only went 10-0.

“Cami was super-mad about it, she didn’t like the taste of that at all,’’ Johnson said. “She came back last week and went 11-6 and 11-0, so you can tell she likes that challenge. Because of her high-level gymnastics, I don’t have to do the mental preparation with her. That base is already there.’’

Ironically, Willer trained with Jiskra in the Nebraska School of Gymnastics when they were younger. “She’s excited to see me vaulting,’’ Jiskra said. “I’m closing the gap on her, but it seems like when I PR (personal record), she does too.’’

Jiskra says gymnastics and pole vaulting “are similar in a lot of ways.â€Â