The New York Times-20080127-A Champion Vaulter Has Come a Long Way

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A Champion Vaulter Has Come a Long Way

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When Jenn Stuczynski started pole-vaulting, she trained in two primitive Quonset huts in Churchville, N.Y., near Rochester. In her first meet, she cleared 8 feet 6 inches.

Four years and four national championships later, she still trains there, but her bar has been raised. In June, she set an American outdoor record of 16 feet, a height bettered only by Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia.

On Saturday night, in the Boston Indoor Games at the Reggie Lewis Center, Stuczynski took aim at Stacy Dragila's American indoor record, 15-9 1/4, set in 2004. Stuczynski won the event Saturday at 15-1, but knocked over the bar three times at 15-9 3/4.

I'm not disappointed, she said. I actually look at it as a start because this was my first major meet of the year.

In a nation with so many excellent training facilities, Stuczynski's is almost comic. The lights are dim despite a new $10 bulb. In the bitter upstate winter, a propane heater keeps the temperature warm near the landing pit, but nowhere else. The windows are boarded, but snow still blows in. A radio offers a little entertainment, but the tuner goes only down, not up.

In an interview Friday, Stuczynski told of the travails. First, she must drive two hours from her home in Fredonia, N.Y.

When I'm there, I have to blow snow off the pole because it comes through the window, she said. I've learned how to dress warm. I don't think we've had a workout without my feet being frozen, but I know how to deal with the cold. I dress in layers. I always wear socks to cover my arches. Then there's spandex shorts, leg warmers, a heated top with a T-shirt over it. It's not pretty, but it makes me tough.

When Stuczynski was 9, she started playing golf and was a quick success, but, she said, I'd rather play than practice.

As a 6-footer in high school, she was a softball, basketball and track athlete and a cheerleader. At Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, she helped her basketball team reach an N.A.I.A. final.

Rick Suhr, a basketball and track coach, saw the makings of a pole-vaulter. She was reluctant, but tried. Within a year, she won the national indoor championship, although she said she did not know it at first. I got a qualifying height of 13-7 for the nationals and then I trained hard for two weeks, she said. When I got there, I didn't know a lot of the girls. I didn't know what was happening in the competition until an official said, 'Where do you want the bar?' I didn't realize until then that I had won.

For 11 years, Dragila dominated the sport in the United States. Since 2006, Stuczynski has ruled while Dragila has battled Achilles' problems. They will meet Friday in the 101st Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden, but Dragila, 36, does not appear sound enough yet to beat Stuczynski, who will turn 26 on Feb. 6.

Unlike many other athletes who are sitting out the indoor season to prepare for the Olympics, Stuczynski is planning a full indoor schedule.

Indoors is fun, she said. There's no wind and you don't have to worry about the pole being caught. It's one way to have fun in the pole vault.

As a potential Olympic medalist, she could train anywhere, but when she leaves Boston, she will go back to the Quonset huts.

I love it, she said. To train somewhere else would kind of ruin the purpose. That's where I started and that's where I'm going to stay.

NOTES

The capacity crowd of 4,015 on Saturday saw Ethiopia's Meseret Defar win the women's two mile in 9 minutes 10.50 seconds, the fastest indoor time ever. Her fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba won the women's 3,000 meters in 8:33.37. The women's winners included the Americans Lela Nelson in the long jump (21-4), Jenelle Deatherage in the mile (4:32.95), Miki Barber in the 60 meters (7.27 seconds), Ashley Kidd in the 200 (23.55 seconds) and Morgan Uceny in the 800 (2:05.75). Among the men's winners were Craig Mottram of Australia in the 3,000 meters (7:34.50, the fastest in the United States), and the Americans Christian Cantwell in the shot-put (68-9 3/4), Khadevis Robinson in the 800 (1:50.92) Andrew Rock in the 500 (1:02.87), Dabryan Blanton in the 60 (6.65) and Antwon Hicks in the 60 hurdles (7.59).

[Illustration]PHOTO: Jenn Stuczynski, who holds the American outdoor record, was set to take aim at Stacy Dragila's indoor mark on Saturday. (PHOTOGRAPH BY MIKE HEWITT/GETTY IMAGES)