Nebraska pole vaulter Willer stays grounded

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http://www.theindependent.com/articles/ ... 993460.txt

Nebraska pole vaulter Willer stays grounded

COLLEGE TRACK & FIELD
By Jon Nyatawa
World-Herald News Service
Published: Friday, February 6, 2009 7:45 PM CST
LINCOLN — Nebraska’s record-setting pole vaulter keeps her journal in the track and field office, not far from a TV screen.

The pages contain no secrets, just self-analytical notes gathered from countless film-watching sessions.

“The coaches really try to force you to examine yourself and what you’re doing,” Willer said. “There’s some jumps that as soon as I hit the mat, I know what I did. I don’t even have to ask coach.”

But the sophomore from Elkhorn has had plenty of reasons to give herself good reviews so far this year.

Willer broke Nebraska’s indoor pole vault record at the season’s first competition. The next week, she cleared 14 feet, becoming just the seventh female younger than 20 to clear 14 feet in U.S. track history.

And at this weekend’s Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational, one of the nation’s biggest indoor meets, Willer will try to improve on the second-best pole vault in Division I so far this season.

Seventeen other men’s and women’s teams, plus several community college athletes, started competing Friday at the Devaney Center indoor track, though most event finals are scheduled for Saturday afternoon. Willer will jump around 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

“It’s a big meet, with lots of competition, lots of girls,” said Willer, who turns 19 Tuesday. “But you know, my goals are essentially the same as they’ve been for every meet. I want to jump higher, and I want to do it with good technique.”

Willer can’t afford to be satisfied with the early success. She knows that she trails the national leader, Minnesota’s Alicia Rue, who has already jumped 4 inches higher.

Plus, NU pole vault coach Kris Grimes is quick to remind his young standout that there are several international athletes that have already soared past Willer’s highest marks. Willer realizes she has work to do.

“Her expectations for herself are not limited to Nebraska or the Big 12,” Grimes said. “She has a perspective that goes beyond that.”

Willer’s already knowledgeable enough about her sport to stand next to Grimes and trade assessments of other pole vaulters as they compete at meets.

She laughs when she recounts her first ever pole vault attempt - a seventh-grade catastrophe that was never considered safe until she wore a helmet. Willer, once an aspiring gymnast, didn’t even like the sport until high school.

But now she’s one of the nation’s best pole vaulters, and she’s hardly ready to settle at just that.

“Once you start having a lot of success, sometimes you start getting starry eyes,” Grimes said. “But she’s good at staying grounded.

“She understands what it takes.”