PoleVaultPower.com

Delta Timing Group - Contractor License
NCAA Division I 2009 Outdoor
Track & Field MidEast Regional
Louisville, KY - 5/29/2009 to 5/30/2009

Event 34 Women Pole Vault
=================================================================================
Jump Heights: 3.66- 3.81- 3.91- 4.01- 4.11- 4.21- 4.31- 4.41 +
Five-alive jumping format until fewer than 9 remaining.
Use Rule 7.1.6c.1 jump-off format to establish distinct 5th
final place for advancement purposes only.
American: A 4.92m 7/6/2008 Jenn Stuczynski, Adidas
College Best: C 4.58m 4/20/2006 Lacy Johnson, Florida State
MidEast Reg: R 4.26m 5/30/2008 Kylie Hutson, Indiana St.
Card Park: ! 3.91m 4/22/2006 Jocelyn Lindsey, Purdue
Name Year School Finals Points
=================================================================================
Finals
1 Vera Neuenswander JR Indiana 4.31mR 14-01.75 10
3.66 3.81 3.91 4.01 4.11 4.21 4.31 4.35
PPP PPP O O XXO O O XXX
2 Kylie Hutson JR Indiana State 4.21m! 13-09.75 8
3.66 3.81 3.91 4.01 4.11 4.21 4.31
PPP PPP O O O O XXX
3 Katie Stripling JR Arkansas 4.21m! 13-09.75 6
3.66 3.81 3.91 4.01 4.11 4.21 4.31
PPP PPP O O XO XXO XXX
4 Janice Keppler JR Arkansas 4.11m! 13-05.75 5
3.66 3.81 3.91 4.01 4.11 4.21
PPP O XO O XO XXX
5 Mary Saxer SR Notre Dame 4.11m! 13-05.75 4
3.66 3.81 3.91 4.01 4.11 4.21
PPP O O XXO XO XXX
6 Tina Sutej FR Arkansas 4.01m! 13-01.75 2
3.66 3.81 3.91 4.01 4.11
PPP O O O XXX
6 Brianna Neumann JR Purdue 4.01m! 13-01.75 2
3.66 3.81 3.91 4.01 4.11
PPP PPP O O XXX
6 Tara Diebold SO Arkansas 4.01m! 13-01.75 2
3.66 3.81 3.91 4.01 4.11
PPP PPP O O XXX
9 Katelyn Rodrigue JR LSU 4.01m! 13-01.75
3.66 3.81 3.91 4.01 4.11
PPP PPP O XO XXX
9 Rachel Laurent FR LSU 4.01m! 13-01.75
3.66 3.81 3.91 4.01 4.11
PPP O O XO XXX
11 Stephanie Chin SO Indiana 4.01m! 13-01.75
3.66 3.81 3.91 4.01 4.11
PPP O XXO XO XXX
12 Carrie Kayes JR Akron 3.91m! 12-10.00
3.66 3.81 3.91 4.01
PPP PPP O XXX
13 Sarah Landau SR Arkansas 3.91m! 12-10.00
3.66 3.81 3.91 4.01
O XO O XXX
14 Lynda Cooper SR Alabama 3.91m! 12-10.00
3.66 3.81 3.91 4.01
XO XO XO XXX
14 Ashley Smith SO Michigan State 3.91m! 12-10.00
3.66 3.81 3.91 4.01
O XXO XO XXX
16 Katherine Lee FR Akron 3.91m! 12-10.00
3.66 3.81 3.91 4.01
XO XXO XO XXX
17 Katie Shaw JR Michigan State 3.91m! 12-10.00
3.66 3.81 3.91 4.01
PPP XO XXO XXX
18 Alicia Essex SR Tennessee 3.81m 12-06.00
3.66 3.81 3.91 4.01
PPP O PPP XXX
18 Carrie Burggraf JR Austin Peay State 3.81m 12-06.00
3.66 3.81 3.91
O O XXX
20 Catherine Frappier JR Arkansas State 3.81m 12-06.00
3.66 3.81 3.91
XO O XXX
21 Shari Harmon SO Toledo 3.81m 12-06.00
3.66 3.81 3.91
PPP XO XXX
22 Molly Bartkiewicz JR Austin Peay State 3.81m 12-06.00
3.66 3.81 3.91
XXO XO XXX
23 MacKenzie Fields FR Cincinnati 3.81m 12-06.00
3.66 3.81 3.91
O XXO XXX
24 Michelle Eby FR Cincinnati 3.66m 12-00.00
3.66 3.81
O XXX
24 Nichole Manning SO Western Illinois 3.66m 12-00.00
3.66 3.81
O XXX
24 Stephanie Foreman FR Arkansas State 3.66m 12-00.00
3.66 3.81
O XXX
26 Laura Williams SO Indiana 3.66m 12-00.00
3.66 3.81
XO XXX
27 Erin Havener JR Wisconsin-Milwaukee 3.66m 12-00.00
3.66 3.81
XO XXX
27 Jessica Novakowski SO Eastern Michigan 3.66m 12-00.00
3.66 3.81
XXO XXX
-- Emily Sawyer SR South Alabama NH
3.66
XXX
-- Equonda Netters JR Jackson State NH
3.66
XXX
-- Courtney Siebenaller FR Dayton NH
3.66
XXX
-- Elizabeth Stover FR Purdue NH
3.66
XXX
-- Mallory Peck SR Purdue NH
3.66 3.81 3.91
PPP PPP XXX

From walk-on to champion, Stripling eyes national title

By NATE ALLEN
Northwest Arkansas Times

Published: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 PRINT E-MAIL


ARKANSAS MEDIA RELATIONS Katie Stripling is the record holder for the pole vault at the University of Arkansas, an SEC outdoor champion and current national leader in the event. Arkansas' women's team vaults with four vaulters into today's start of the four-day NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships at John McDonnell Field.

Three of those pole vaulters, senior Sarah Landau, a transfer from the University of Miami; junior Janice Keppler, a transfer from Eastern Michigan University; and sophomore Tara Diebold of Branson, Mo. are fine vaulters with fine high school backgrounds as 13-foot vaulters.

Their leader, not only their leader but the nation's collegiate leader, couldn't vault within 3 feet of them in high school.

Obviously many a new height has been cleared by Katie Stripling, the University of Arkansas record-holder, reigning SEC Outdoor champion and current national leader (14-5 1-2) since she was a novice vaulter as a Jonesboro High School senior.

"I was a high jumper," Stripling recalled, "and I had a friend that pole vaulted. Her coach saw me high jumping and decided to see if I would try pole vaulting and I did. I was a gymnast, so it was kind of the same a little bit. So it's fun. It didn't long at all to give up high jumping for pole vaulting."

You mean living in the same town as Earl Bell, the former Arkansas State Olympian and master vault teacher with his fabled Earl Bell Center, never caught her formative years' attention?

"I didn't even know Earl Bell," Stripling replied. "I just knew there was an Earl Bell Center. I played on his park. That's about it."

Arkansas women's head coach Lance Harter and women's vault/throws coach Bryan Compton knew zip about her when she and her parents visited the track offices in the summer of 2005. They said she was enrolled at the UA and asked if she could she walk on.

"I asked how high did she jump," Compton recalled, "and they say, '9 feet, 10 inches.' That's not very high, but that's why you let them walk on."

And redshirt them but don't ignore them. Because you never know what you've got in walkons unless you take the time to see.

"It wasn't long watching her work out," Compton recalled, "that I said, 'She's going to be something special.'"

What Stripling lacked in pole vault knowledge and technique she more than made up for in strength and that gymnast ability she had mentioned. Compton knew this diamond in the rough truly could become a polished gem.

"She can do too many things I've seen other vaulters not be able to do," Compton said. "She can do some things in the weightroom that other jumpers maybe can't pull off. Just be patient with her."

Except after that redshirt year of 2006 the progress hasn't exactly been patient with the now fourth-year junior.

It's more like a rocket. She cleared 12-8 in her first indoor season of 2007 and by that 2007 outdoor season she was the Penn Relays champion clearing 13-1 1-5 and was an NCAA Outdoor qualifier.

In 2008 she won the SEC Indoor, clearing 13-6 1-2, and, despite a disastrous Regional meet forcing her to take a skin of her teeth atlarge qualifying route, took an All-American third at 13-9 1-4 at the SEC Outdoor. Still vaulting into last summer, she cleared 14-3 1-4, breaking for the first time the 14-0 record that 2008 U.S. Olympian April Steiner set as a Lady Razorback in 2003.

Eclipsing Steiner's Arkansas best still boggles Stripling's mind.

"She was the first person I met besides Coach when I got here," Stripling said. "So I got to come out and watch her pole vault one day before I met anybody else. I have always looked up to her since I got here."

It boggles Compton's mind, too, considering Steiner was an accomplished junior college transfer with a strong prep background when she set the record. Stripling's collegiate rise was from the ground up.

"You look at how long April has been doing it," Compton said. "And then you look at Katie. People in the vaulting world don't realize how young she is."

Stripling showed youthful lapses in the 2009 SEC Indoor, struggling to clear the initial bars and finished with just one eighth-place point at 12-9 1-2, but then took an All-American third at 13-9 1-2 at the NCAA Indoor.

Stripling has soared lights out in the outdoor season, including her latest school record 14-5 1-2 for a win at the SEC meet.

She has a bona fide shot at winning it all in Fayetteville's Friday final, but the vault is a dicey event.

Last year's national women's leader didn't survive Wednesday's Day 1 Outdoor prelims.

"You can't just have a good day," Compton said. "You have to have a good two days."