Friday, March 8, 2013

USA Indoor Nationals - 4.75(15'7")


Extraordinary is what I’ll call Saturday’s USA Women’s Pole Vault Competition.  ONE world record, TWO personal bests, and FOUR vaulters over the 15’ mark!  It was the best women’s indoor competition in the USA…ever. 

Credentials for Indoor USA's

The competition was delayed by an hour because the men’s heptathlon pole vault was still going on.  Instead of getting all worked up about it, my best friend, Mary Saxer, and I decided to hang out in the warm up area.  We laid down, put our feet up(literally), and jammed to some pump up music on my iPhone(which consisted of Macklemore’s song, Thrift Shop)!  Haha

Finally the men’s heptathlon pv ended and we were ready to go out and warm up on the runway.  Right away I knew this was going to be a good day!  My steps were on, I was being aggressive, and felt fearless.  I got on the biggest pole I ever had in warm-ups, which was actually a brand new pole from Gill Athletics!
I came into the competition at 4.40m(14’5”) with an easy first attempt clearance.  Greg(my PHX coach) had me pass 3 heights up to 4.55m(14’11”), then to 4.65m(15’1”) with easy first attempt makes.  Then the bar goes up to 4.70m(15’5”).  By this time all of the running events on the track were finished and all eyes were on the pole vault!  The atmosphere in the building was electrifying!  I couldn’t believe that literally hundreds of fans stayed to watch the outcome. That gave the entire field a really good feeling of support.  Unfortunately I missed my first 2 attempts at 4.70m(15’5”) and quite frankly was running out of gas.  So I went down to the end of the runway, visualized myself clearing this bar, and told myself that I knew I could do it.  3rd attempt personal best clearance!  Yes!!  Now the bar is up to 4.75m(15’7”).  I had 2 solid attempts at it.  My adrenaline was running high; I was pumped, and knew I was going to clear it.  The bar might have shook a little, but it stayed!  OMG, I thought to myself, I just cleared 15’7”…I’m Back!  My eyes instantly welled up with tears of happiness.  Greg called me over for celebration hugs and high fives, then looked me in the eyes and told me that it was time to regroup…the bar was going up to 4.80m(15’9”).  I tried to get ahold of myself before I took that next attempt, but once they moved the bar up I only had 3 minutes.  I still hadn’t calmed all the way down for my first 2 attempts at 4.80m(15’9”).  On my 3rd attempt I was up and over the bar, but came down on it.  AHHHH!  So close!  But holy shit, what a day!  It felt so great to be in the upper 15’s and to finally, after 2 years, increase my personal best. 

4.70m(15'5") clearance


Jumping  4.75m(15’7”) puts me 3rd on the All-Time Indoor USA list behind 2 Olympic Champions and a world record holder…#2 - Stacy Dragila 4.83m(15’9.25”) & #1 - Jen Suhr 5.02(16’5.5”).  It also puts me 11th on the All-Time Indoor WORLD list!  Only 10 other women in the world have jumped higher.  It seems unreal to put it in that perspective.

View a recap of the women's pole vault competition by clicking this link:

View my 4.70m(15'5") jump by clicking this link:














After I was finished, Jen Suhr went on to jump 5.02m(16’5.5”) – the new world record.  What a jump!  Even though I placed 2nd, it’s pretty cool to have the person that beat me jump the world record.  Congratulations Jen!

There was an incredible amount of excitement in this meet!  Congrats to my BFF Mary Saxer for clearing the IAAF “A” standard 4.60m(15’1”) and placing 3rd!  Can’t wait to see what we can do outdoors!  Thank you for always being there for me :)


Mary and I after the meet!

So now that my indoor season is over, I have taken a full week off!  I am ready to get back to the grind of heavy lifting and running for a base training cycle on Monday!

Bring on the Outdoor Season!!  I AM READYYY!

Thanks for reading!

Kylie
@ratherBvaulting
www.facebook.com/pv.kylie

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