NCAA Women - Gergel beats Sutej both 4.45 =MR

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Starting Height: 3.90 -4.00 -4.10 -4.20 -4.30 -4.35 then 5cm
Single pit. 5-alive until fewer than 9 at a given height
One hour time limit (Rule 6-1.11) in effect
Flight 1
Pos Bib Name Yr Affiliation
1 167 Joanna Wright SR Georgia Tech
2 297 Natalie Willer SR Nebraska
3 429 Katerina Stefanidi JR Stanford
4 413 Stephanie Duffy SR South Florida
5 129 Jessica Hemingway SR Eastern Michigan
6 154 Mandissa Marshall SO George Mason
7 275 Neal Tisher SO Mississippi
8 184 Kelsie Ahbe SO Indiana
9 545 Logan Miller SO Washington
10 49 Tina Sutej JR Arkansas
11 185 Vera Neuenswander SR Indiana
12 352 Melissa Gergel SR Oregon
13 103 Lauren Terstappen FR Clemson
14 361 Jordan Roskelley SR Oregon
15 133 Daisy Glasser SR Florida
16 395 Kelsy Hintz SO San Diego St.
17 10 Katherine Lee JR Akron
18 253 Kiley Tobel FR Michigan
19 262 Samantha Sonnenberg SR Minnesota
20 341 Sarah Pappas SR Oklahoma
21 412 Bethany Buell FR South Dakota
22 240 Rachel Laurent JR LSU
23 41 Tara Diebold JR Arkansas
24 51 Stephanie Foreman JR Arkansas State

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Live video may be available here: http://www.ncaa.com/sites/default/files ... _XTO-1_109

Live results should be at FlashResults.com

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Here are some preview articles:

http://www.newstribune.com/news/2011/ju ... pionships/


Vera Neuenswander of Indiana University will compete in the women’s pole vault today at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa.

Neuenswander (Jefferson City High School) is the No. 3 seed in the event, which begins at 5:25 p.m.

Neunswander is a redshirt senior after sitting out the 2009-10 season to complete her student-teaching requirement. As a junior in 2009, she was second in the Outdoor championships, clearing 14-11⁄4. She was 12th in the nation as a freshman.

Neuenswander won a Big 10 title earlier this season.

Earlier this week, Neuenswander was named to the Spring Academic All-Big Ten team with a 4.0 GPA.

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http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/sports/ ... 64c66.html


VERMILLION, S.D. -- An already historic season will continue for University of South Dakota freshman Bethany Buell at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Des Moines this weekend.
Buell, a freshman from St. Louis. Mo., is the first Coyote ever to qualify for the Division I Championships. She will compete in the pole vault at Drake Stadium Friday at 5:25 p.m.
The 19-year-old daughter of Bill and Kerry Buell tied for 10th in the NCAA West Preliminaries in Eugene, Ore. Buell cleared 13-3.5 in the wind and rain May 27.
"It wasn't ideal weather but you just have to focus on what you're doing and block out all the rest," Buell said. "It's an honor to represent the state as well as the University of South Dakota."
Buell, the 2011 Great West Conference indoor and outdoor pole vault champion, is ranked No. 12 nationally, thanks to a school-record vault of 13-9.75 in the Howard Wood Relays on May 7 in Sioux Falls.
"Bethany did a great job competing and we have high expectations for her this weekend," USD women's track coach Lucky Huber said. "She's a great athlete who works hard, is extremely smart and has learned a lot. That's a good combination."
Buell took a redshirt during the 2010 outdoor season. The 5-foot-4 graduate of Rockwood Summit High School is in her second year at USD and has taken part in indoor competition for two seasons.
"I definitely learned a lot about myself as a vaulter and the sport, which is what it takes to get to the next level," said Buell, a two-time high school state pole vault champion. "I learned about patience and all of the little details that add up.
"This has been a pivotal season for me. I've gained a lot of strength and learned so much about the physical and mental aspects of the event."
While learning how to be a collegiate pole vaulter, Buell has had the benefit of working with Derek Miles, a two-time Olympian who's in his ninth season as a USD assistant coach.
"She's been hitting all of the goals I've set for her as we go," said Miles, who finished fourth in the pole vault at the 2008 Beijing Olympics after competing in 2004 in Athens, Greece. "We wanted to get her to 13 feet by the first year and the national meet by her second. Bethany keeps hitting benchmarks, which is a testament to how hard she works. She's committed to doing everything right every day.
"No. 1, pole vault is one of those things that takes time to figure out and No. 2, the longer you go the more dangerous it becomes to stay healthy. It's hard on the body and over time you start to develop nagging injuries."
Miles won the 2008 Olympic Trials and was the IAAF 2008 World Athletics Champion.
"He's helped me so much in becoming a student of the sport, finding out what works works for you and how to get better and stronger," Buell said. "I've been able to gain so much knowledge from him and I'm lucky to have him as a mentor."
Buell was the only freshman from the West Preliminaries to qualify and one of just two in the field.
The top eight finishers earn All-America honors while those placing ninth through 16th are second-team All-Americans. Those who participate at least a round will be listed as honorable mention All-American.

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http://www.siftingsherald.com/sports/x6 ... le-heights


Pole vaulter soaring toward unbeatable heights

By Nate Allen
The Daily Siftings Herald
Posted Jun 06, 2011 @ 12:56 PM



Fayetteville, Ark. —
Tina Sutej stands one meet away from posting a University of Arkansas athletic year that can be equaled but never surpassed.

Only this week’s NCAA Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships separates her from winning every one of her pole vault competitions since the NCAA Indoor season began back in January.

Competition won includes the NCAA Indoor Championships, the SEC Indoor and SEC Outdoor Championships, breaking the Penn Relays record to become that meet’s first woman to clear 14-feet (14-7 1-4) and setting the collegiate indoor (14-10 3-4 ) and collegiate outdoor (15-1 1-2) records at the SEC meets also records for Slovenia, her native land.

Despite coaching the greatest distance runners in the history of UA women’s track, Arkansas head coach Lance Harter said he’s never been associated with the heights Sutej attains.

“Even Deena Drossin and Amy Yoder had a setback or a hiccup here or a hiccup there at one time or another,” Harter said. “This is history that we are witnessing. And what’s really exciting is she is a junior and obviously a big building block for our future.”

The coach coaching Sutej, women’s vault-throws coach Bryan Compton, concurs.

“Kylie Hutson did it (undefeated) last year,” Compton said of the since graduated Indiana State vaulter. “But she didn’t set two NCAA records. Tina has been a little more dominant this year than Kylie was last year.”

Sutej adapts to her success as easily as the Slovenian adapts speaking English. That’s smoothly and superbly.

“I started jumping good my first meet and it just kind of continued,” Sutej said. “I am a little surprised. I didn’t think every single meet was going to be good for me. You aren’t always ready to jump, but I always ended up jumping good, at least better than other people.”

She has been precision consistent at track and field’s consistently most dicey event.

“Her consistency is without explanation,” Harter said. “It’s a feather in her cap and obviously a testament to Bryan’s coaching.”

With an assist to Razorbacks men’s vault/sprints coach Doug Case.

Case assisted Arkansas men’s head coach Chris Bucknam at Northern Iowa and came with Bucknam to Arkansas in the summer of 2008.

“My friend (Andre Poljanee) was a pole vaulter at the University of Northern Iowa and was coached by Coach Case,” Sutej said. “My friend gave Coach Case my e-mail address. Coach Case that year moved to Arkansas and he gave my e-mail address to Coach Compton. I wanted a new experience. I was ready to give it a try somewhere. I was injured at home a lot and I thought a new place would help me.”

Especially with Compton’s Arkansas history of coaching 2008 U.S. Olympian April Steiner and 2010 graduated multi-All-American Katie Stripling of Jonesboro the UA’s lead vaulter until Sutej’s success started with her winning the 2010 SEC meets and clearing 14-5 1-2 for second at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor.

“Coach Compton told me about the program and I liked it,” Sutej said. “He told me about April and Katie that Katie was 9-foot vaulter in high school and then came here and jumped 14. So I thought he must be doing something good.”

Training with Steiner and Stripling and former Razorbacks Janice Keppler and Sarah Landau and current fellow NCAA qualifier and SEC Outdoor runner-up Tara Diebold have benefitted her greatly, Sutej said.

What, Compton asks, sets her apart from the great ones he’s coached?

“She just has a knack for it,” Compton said. “She can hold and take off higher than anybody in the country and there are probably only one or two in the world that can take off where she does and holds it as high as she does. She takes off around 12-10 or 13 and most kids are taking off at 10-6 or 11. Her speed (she ran one meet on Arkansas’ 4 x100 relay) and athleticism come through. She’s jumping on 15-1 poles where most kids are jumping on 14-foot poles at the highest.”

Sutej’s success comes at a cost, Harter said.

“The one thing that has changed is we are buying a lot of poles,” Harter said. “As long as she keeps doing what she’s doing, I don’t mind buying those. She is truly an exceptional young lady and obviously has big things to come.”

She will vault for Slovenia at the World Championships in August in Korea.

Expect her to vault in the 2012 Olympics as a just recent UA grad.

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http://www.argusleader.com/article/2011 ... t%7CSports


Reaching for rare air
Freshman pole vaulter makes USD history by advancing to Division I track meet
9:02 PM, Jun. 8, 2011 | 3 Comments

USD freshman pole vaulter Bethany Buell ranks 12th in the event entering the Division I national meet. / Aaron Packard / For the Argus Leader


Written by
Mick Garry
FILED UNDER
Sports
University Of South Dakota
VERMILLION - The physical and mental circuitry has to be in good working order to continue to climb as Bethany Buell has in her short time as a college pole vaulter.

Equipped with what her coaches say is a unique ability to synthesize information, Buell, a redshirt freshman at the University of South Dakota, will compete in the NCAA Division I National Outdoor Track and Field Championships this week in Des Moines, Iowa. She carries with her some USD history, in addition to her own aspirations.

As a testament to the difficulty in advancing as far as she has, no other college athlete in the state is joining her. Nor are any of the former standout high school athletes from the state who have gone on to compete at major colleges elsewhere.

"She's what I'd call our featured athlete as we go through the transition to Division I," said USD women's track coach Lucky Huber. "It seems like that is working out pretty well. Our plan was to have Bethany come in, develop and get better and by doing so attract other kids, whether it's in the pole vault or other events, and keep leap-frogging up."

Buell is the one doing the leap-frogging for now, with a personal best of 13 feet, 9.25 inches that broke the Howard Wood Dakota Relays record in May. She won the Great West Conference pole vault this spring, and, because USD was able to fast-track its outdoor track programs this year to full eligibility, advanced to the NCAA West Preliminary Meet in Eugene, Ore., two weeks ago.

Then, with a jump of 13-3.5, she finished tied for 10th place in Eugene and qualified for a trip to Des Moines. It was a first at USD.

"It was a goal all season long," Buell said, recounting the moment when she learned she'd advanced. "Then I heard my name called that I'd made it. It has been a blessing."

Like a lot of female vaulters, Buell has a strong background in gymnastics, which eases the adjustment to using a pole to try to flip yourself over a bar. But athletic ability is not where Huber, nor assistant coach (and two-time Olympic pole vaulter) Derek Miles start when telling you why this 5-foot-4 St. Louis native is nearing the 14-foot mark in the vault.

"What's unique about Bethany is that I can see three things wrong in a jump, and she can work on all three things in her next jump," Miles said. "In my first year working with her, I'd see her jump and then say, 'These are the things we're going to try to fix.' "

Miles would then list them, indicating which of the three they'd focus on in the next jump.

"She'd say, 'Well, why don't we fix all three things in one shot?' " Miles said. "It's not often you see an athlete who can process one of the things you give them to work on, let alone two or three."

Making the grade

It's not just what you'd call a "knack" on Buell's part that she's adept at the mental management side of the pole vault.

With a 3.97 grade-point average in psychology, she obviously picks up everything pretty quickly, not just instructions from an Olympian.

The combination has been a good one for Miles, who has a great grasp of the technical elements of the event, and Buell, who has a great appetite for them.

"I think the secret is that you can't get too far ahead of yourself," Buell said. "You have to concentrate on what you're working on at the moment. If you're worrying about five things you haven't accomplished yet, your brain is going to get overloaded and you won't be able to do the first thing you were trying to do."

In recruiting Buell, a two-time state high school pole vault champion in Missouri, Huber and Miles saw someone they suspected would be able to handle the sometimes painstaking process of improving technique.

"Quite honestly, and this is kind of a cliche, but you look for really smart kids," Huber said. "Pole vaulting is a complex event. The combined GPA of our pole vaulters here is off the charts. With Bethany, you have those kinds of qualities. Then you bring in Coach Miles' ability to not only teach it, but bring a passion to the event, and you can see why things have come together."

Eager to learn

Buell's introduction to vaulting began in middle school, where Chris Moore, a gym teacher and one of Rockwood Summit High School's track coaches, suggested she try the event in high school. A year later, Moore, himself a former pole vaulter, began teaching her the basics.

"It wasn't until her sophomore year that you could tell she was going to be really good at this," Moore said. "The thing with Bethany is that she had that drive to be really good at whatever she tried to do. That drive is what kept her going."

On the flight to Oregon for the West Regional, while others were talking, relaxing or sleeping, Buell was reading the meet's participation manual. Perhaps a little nerdy, but the coolness of hitting 13-9 balances it all out.

"She's kind of a look-ahead-and-plan type of kid," Huber said. "She wanted to know how the warmup was going to start and how everything was going to work. To me, that's a big part of why she's been successful. She wants a lot of information. When you're as smart as she is, you can handle all the things that come at you in the pole vault. Some kids get a little overwhelmed by it."

Reaching higher

Buell's vault at the Howard Wood Relays ranks her No. 12 nationally going into the Division I meet, where Tina Sutej, a Slovenian who vaults for Arkansas, is the top-ranked athlete, having cleared 15 feet.

Buell was the only freshman vaulter to advance to the national meet from the West Regional and is the only freshman ranked in the top 20 in the event.

Because success in the event is so tightly strapped to technique, the better vaulters are usually upperclassmen. It is why Miles, Buell's tutor, remains a world-class competitor at age 38, having cleared 19 feet three different times in 2010.

It is also why Buell can realistically expect to keep climbing. The higher you go, though, the tougher it gets.

"The inches become far more expensive pieces of real estate," Miles said. "The difference between 14 feet and 14-3 is much bigger than the difference between 13 feet and 13-3. It becomes exponentially more difficult.

"My job with Bethany is to prepare her for that without making it sound negative. If we can go through the process, we can still get to those heights."

With Miles' presence at USD an obvious selling point, the Coyotes this fall signed two of the nation's top five high school vaulters - Emily Grove of Pontiac, Ill., who has gone 13-5; and Kaitlin Petrillose of Austin, Texas, who has gone 13-8.

They will very quickly next year be compared to their slightly older teammate, who is intent on continuing to push her school record higher.

"I'd love to be a 15-foot vaulter someday," Buell said. "But I have to get to 14 feet first. It's one step at a time, but it's great knowing that when you get to that next step, Coach Miles is going to know what to do."

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Here's the direct link to the Xs and Os: http://www.flashresults.com/2011_Meets/ ... gs34-1.htm

Sutej is passing to 4.20, Stefanidi passing to 4.10, and Gergel, Diebold, Neuenswander, and Ahbe passing to 4.00. Everyone else is in, they'll be running 5-alive.

The field event video feed is currently showing the women's javelin.

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The vault is off to a good start with first attempt makes at 3.90m for Willer, Duffy, Hemingway, Miller and Wright. The only miss so far is from Marshall.

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The video just switched over to the men's HJ, maybe we'll get our turn in a bit

First attempt misses for Tisher, Terstappen and Roskelly.

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Glasser joins the group who made 3.90 on their first attempt. Marshall makes it on her third. Tisher NHs.

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Roskelly makes 3.90 on her third. Terstappen NHs.

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Lee and Pappas over on their first attempts.