Katie Stripling soaring up ranks (Arkansas)

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/219572/

Stripling soaring up ranks
BY ROB KEYS
Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008
Email this story | Printer-friendly version
FAYETTEVILLE - If Katie Stripling ever learns to pole vault, other vaulters could be in trouble.

"All these other vault coaches think she's dangerous as hell,"Arkansas assistant track and field coach Bryan Compton said of Stripling, a 5-9 sophomore from Jonesboro. "They're just waiting for her to really turn it on."

Turn it on ?

Stripling has already qualified in the pole vault for this weekend's NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Tyson Track Center - her second such appearance - and is a legitimate contender for All-America honors.

Still, when the talk is about Stripling, it's usually about her seemingly limitless potential. Even Stripling describes herself as a work in progress.

"I still don't know everything I'm supposed to be doing right now,"Stripling said. "Hopefully over the next two years I'll figure it out."

Stripling was speaking specifically of the technical aspects involved with the "plant"segment of her approach, but she just as easily could have been talking about the approach itself or the actual vault.

Stripling had been competing as a high jumper and as a gymnast for years before she tried pole vaulting on a whim. She first vaulted as a senior in high school, competing at a conference meet despite having picked up a pole only three days earlier.

"I was just talking to a friend who was in the pole vault competition,"Stripling said. "Three days later I tried it, and three days after that was the conference meet."

Stripling already had plans to attend Arkansas and was granted walk-on status after a meeting between her family and Compton.

Compton knew he'd stumbled across a raw gem during the first day of team drills. Stripling shone in vertical and broad-jump testing and wowed Compton with a natural strength noticed during medicine-ball drills.

"All the other girls just kind of looked at her, looked at her marks and shook their heads,"Compton said with a laugh.

Stripling redshirted in order for Compton to help refine her form, but even as late as last spring's NCAA Outdoor Championships she vaulted "backward" - in the style of a high jumper - rather than turning over her body as she crossed the bar.

"Changes have come in really, really small increments,"Compton said. "When she gets in a comfort zone, she likes to stay there."The prog ress has been steady, though, and Stripling stunned herself by clearing a

1 career-high 13 feet, 8 / 4 inches with proper form in Arkansas' season-opening meet. The vault was a foot higher than her previous best. "I was thinking more like 13-2,"Stripling said with a smile. "At 13-6, I had never seen a bar that high before. But Coach [Compton ] told me to give it a chance, so I did."Arkansas Coach Lance Harter said part of Stripling's ability to compete at an elite level despite her relative lack of experience and technical shortcomings largely can be attributed to a competitive spirit that lurks behind an almost shy personality.

"She has a quiet demeanor, but she's deadly on the runway,"Harter said.

Stripling enters this weekend's meet with the NCAA's sixth-best jump and could score even higher, Compton said.

"If she gets on a roll, she could easily finish second or third,"he said. "She has that kind of ability."

Once Stripling has another summer to improve her plant and other fundamental elements, Compton believes she'll make even more significant gains.

That might not be good news for the rest of the field, but it's more than enough to keep Stripling smiling.

"It's a lot of fun,"Stripling said. "I've enjoyed the whole trip."Stripling at a glance COLLEGE Arkansas EVENT Pole vault CLASS Sophomore HEIGHT 5-9 AGE 20 (born Sept. 9, 1987 ) HOMETOWN Jonesboro HIGH SCHOOL Jonesboro NOTEWORTHY Was a conference champion high jumper at Jonesboro and didn't pole vault until late in her senior season.... Walked on at Arkansas in 2006.... Finished sixth at the SEC Indoor meet and third at the outdoor meet in 2007.... Also competed at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.... Vaulter a career-best 13-8 1 / 4 earlier this year and has the sixth-highest vault in the NCAA entering this weekend's NCAA Indoors meet. UA women competing