Women's Pole Vault - Suhr, Holliday, Janson make team

[rainbowgirl28]

Becky waiting for the wind. She has some time now.

[rainbowgirl28]

Holliday misses her second. I got distracted and didn't see it. She is passing to the next height.

Wind is still right now.

[rainbowgirl28]

Bar at 465 now. Holliday up first. She times out, does not try.

Suhr shaking hands, she's done.

[rainbowgirl28]

All done!

Now for interviews and the press conference.

[rainbowgirl28]

Here are the tweets I made from the mixed zone and press conference:

Lots of teary-eyed girls went through the mixed zone, but they held it together nicely for the interviews.

Press conference: Jenn: It hasn't set in yet. Blessed to make the team.
Becky: So excited to make the team at Hayward
Lacy: Always wanted to make an Olympic team, first in gymnastics, then volleyball and now it's finally come true!
Becky: Wants to tell @USATrack_Field not to forget the older athletes! Technical events take time! Been unattached since 2006.
Becky: thanks the friends and family who loaned her money. She'll pay you back!
Jenn: was under on first jump, knew she would make second. Passed until field thinned out.
Becky: felt like she let her fans down because she hasn't made a team in so long.
Becky: almost retired in 2006. Pfaff resurrected her career. Move to Chula Vista was huge help. Moved to Jonesboro this year
Becky: see the Olympic rings every day in CV. Helps keep you focused on your goals.
Jenn: Tries not to think about PV while waiting. Today she was thinking about painting rooms at her house!
Lacy: had to move up poles on third attempt but it didn't work. Had to wait and see what Mary did. She didn't watch.

[rainbowgirl28]

Some thoughts I had about yesterday's competition:

The officials were FANTASTIC. They got the bar up so fast, and the girls did a great job of being ready when it was their turn.
The height progression was PERFECT for this situation and this competition. The goal of this meet is to pick the top three, and this progression got them there efficiently.

I hope that in the future USATF will use a progression more like this for Trials. The original progression was 20-30-40-45-50, so even with a field of 12, it wouldn't have been that much faster.

All of the girls that NHd looked solid. No one embarrassed themselves. If they had this weather and had done prelims, I'm sure most of them would have cleared a bar or two at least.

If you missed it on my tweets, April Kubishta had a pretty epic Besmeresque mishap. I dunno she was way under or whatever and bent the crap out of the pole but never got very high off the ground and had no penetration, so the pole shot her back... but she used her catlike relfexes to land on her feet and run out of it, drawing loud applause from the crowd.

Viuf and Owen had big clearances at 4.25, it's a shame the next height didn't work out. On Owen's third jump, her top hand slipped off and she crashed into the pit with her head a little close to the box for comfort. She was fine, but that's a horrible way to exit your competition.

Gergel had the most love from both the bar and the crowd. She had decent height on both her clearances, but brushed the bar pretty good on the way down.

Hutson and Bennett both looked good too. The wind was getting more swirly/headwind at 4.50, I think with a consistent tail they would have had no problem getting over.

Big PR for Kat Majester. She made both bars on first attempt and finished =5th! She is probably the newest to the sport of all of the girls there, but she is starting a job as an NFL cheerleader... so we'll see how long she sticks with PV. I bet that's a lot more lucrative.

Biggest surprise of the day was Brysun Stately. I've been watching Brysun jump a long time, and I know she's capable of pulling stuff out of thin air when it counts, but WOW... she had a ton of height over 4.25. Passing 4.40, even though it would have been a PR (heck I think 425 is her second best clearance ever), made some sense. Her goal was to make the team. She needed to jump 4.50 to do that since she didn't already have A standard. She took three VERY respectable jumps at it. She's ready to jump 4.40+ right now. She said she's been opening 4.20+ at all her meets lately (cleared around that at a few Mt SAC PV meets) and that she didn't have big enough poles until the Trials.

Saxer looked very good, it was a real heartbreaker at 4.55. She took a few tries at each attempt, but she had plenty of height, it was just getting the adjustments dialed in. She said later that she switched to 15' poles at the end of indoor, and she's been working on getting used to them all season.

Janson had huge height over the lower bars. It sounded like she was blowing through her pole at 4.55 and was afraid to move up because of the headwind. She definitely could jump a lot higher at the Olympics.

Holliday looked great. Flying down the runway. It's easy to forget she used to be a Duck, because it's been a long time, but she had good crowd support and all of her clearance looked great. The wind got super crappy by the end, and I'm betting she was pretty amped up about making the team... it can be hard to keep going.

Jenn looked slower than normal. She was on a shorter run and had a thigh wrap, knee strap, and I think both ankles might have been taped (she had socks covering it, but there was something peeking out). She's obviously coming off some kind of injury. But she jumped one more bar after making the team, so she can't be in too bad of shape. She made 4.60 with room to spare with a slow run. If she can get healthier and faster by London, she'll definitely be a medal contender.


We're sending an awesome team to London, I am very excited for everyone who made it. I wish we could take more!

[achtungpv]

Janson had huge height over the lower bars. It sounded like she was blowing through her pole at 4.55 and was afraid to move up because of the headwind. She definitely could jump a lot higher at the Olympics.

This is why you should practice in bad winds. A tail wind in Europe is rare.

Janson's my favorite US woman vaulter. I hope she can hit her potential in London. I know it's lurking in her...somewhere.

[achtungpv]

Big PR for Kat Majester. She made both bars on first attempt and finished =5th! She is probably the newest to the sport of all of the girls there, but she is starting a job as an NFL cheerleader... so we'll see how long she sticks with PV. I bet that's a lot more lucrative.

NFL cheerleaders receive no salary and are paid only for games. The range is $50-$75 per game. So, sadly, yes, it probably does pay more that pole vaulting unless you are truly world class.

[73-vaulter]

NFL cheerleaders receive no salary and are paid only for games. The range is $50-$75 per game. So, sadly, yes, it probably does pay more that pole vaulting unless you are truly world class.

What I worry about is that you know the pay of NFL cheerleaders.