Jenny Soceka Article (WI)

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http://www.madison.com/captimes/sports/preps/75780.php

Dennis Semrau: No record, but Soceka gets gold


By Dennis Semrau
June 5, 2004

Jenny Soceka earned her first individual state title with a vault of 12 feet. (Mike DeVries photo)


LA CROSSE -- Jenny Soceka was born to be a pole vaulter.

Even before the event was added to the WIAA girls track and field menu, the Madison Memorial junior was inadvertently preparing for the event as a gymnast.

"I've been in gymnastics since I was 3," said Soceka, who will take a break from the sport this summer to concentrate on the pole vault. "In gymnastics, you learn how to feel where you are in the air. That's really hard for some people because you have to do flips and twists and stuff. You do the same in pole vault, too. Plus, the strength helps you."

Soceka earned her first individual state title on Friday afternoon when she won the WIAA Division 1 pole vault competition at Memorial Stadium with a leap of 12 feet.

But that wasn't all the effervescent Soceka accomplished.

She won her heat in the 100-meter high hurdles trials, recording the third-best time in the event. That was after warming up for the pole vault.

Then, after she won the pole vault title, Soceka hustled to join her teammates and run the lead leg of the Spartans' 800 relay that finished sixth in the preliminaries and qualified for today's finals.

"It was a lot to do but it helped the team," Soceka said. "My goal today was to break the (pole vault) record of 12-6. But we also want to repeat as state champions, so getting 10 points was more important than setting a record."

While she has another year left to achieve her goal, Soceka laughed when retelling the tale of how she became interested in the pole vault.

"Even before I started pole vaulting, I knew I wanted to try it. I told my friends in seventh grade that I was going to go to the Olympics in pole vault," Soceka said with a laugh.

"And they said, 'Whatever, you've never pole vaulted in your life.' Now, I don't know if I'm ever going to go to the Olympics, but I'll do my best.

Madison Memorial girls track and field coach Matt Hendrickson said that is all the Spartans expect out of her.

"Looking at her form, she wasn't quite there. But I think she was a little nervous," Hendrickson said of Soceka's attempt at the record, which was set by Ashwaubenon's Liza Lewis last year. "I think she was more nervous than she thought she was going to be."

While Soceka didn't use it as an excuse, her busy schedule most likely had something to do with it. She missed her first two attempts at 11-6 and then at 12 feet before improving on last year's runner-up effort of 11-9.

"It was fortunate she was able to finish the pole vault before the four-by-200," Hendrickson said. "It was probably a little more rushed than she would have liked. But she got her first and that's what she wanted and we needed."

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http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/sports/ ... 65&ntpid=4

Female athlete of the year: Jenny Soceka, Madison Memorial. The girl beat mononucleosis in the middle of the track and field season and returned in time to win her second consecutive Division 1 state pole vault title, her first state title in the 110- meter high hurdles and to run a leg of the 800 relay that took the gold. It was merely the curtain call for the University of Wisconsin track and field recruit, who also led Memorial's girls gymnastics team to its first state berth since 2001 (it finished fourth) and impressed the heck out of me by making two interceptions against my sophomore niece in a Powder Puff football game during homecoming week.