By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Contributor
Before her senior year of high school, UCLA junior pole vaulter
Erica Hoernig had never vaulted in her life. But she knew that a
single year of vaulting just wasn’t going to be enough.
“I didn’t feel like I could just do it for a year. I
thought that I would be able to improve,” Hoernig said.
“I thought that I’d give it a shot and try.”
“I knew that with more coaching and more time, I would
learn more, and there would be a chance for improvement,” she
continued.
A basketball player through high school, and a sprinter in the
off-season to stay in shape, Hoernig decided to try her hand at the
feeling of flight.
Her remarkable ability as a beginner is largely due to her
athletic talent and basketball training. It was exceptional enough
to both catch the eye of UCLA vault coach Anthony Curran and
qualify her for the 1996 Olympic trials.
“The tools to making a good pole vaulter are height, speed
and attitude,” UCLA head coach Jeannette Bolden said. These
are attributes that Hoernig wholly encompasses.
Involved in athletics since junior high, Hoernig has been
molding her work ethic as she grows. A team player and leader, she
was able to transpose her athletic ability on the basketball court
to the individual arena.
Competing with a slightly higher bar in the vault than 10-foot
basketball rims, Hoernig assumed a greater dose of pressure as she
immersed herself in the solo competition.
“In basketball, you have other people there to rely on,
and you help each other out,” Hoernig said. “In pole
vaulting, it’s so individual. Your success and defeats are
all on you.”
The demands of the sport are both physically and mentally
taxing. One athlete walks away number one. Success lies on only
one’s shoulders.
But the rewards are equally sweet.
“Even though there’s only one winner, as long as you
did your best, that’s all coaches can ask for,” Bolden
said.
Overcoming challenges has been a familiar practice for Hoernig.
Entering UCLA as a freshman, pole vaulting was not an NCAA sport.
In her first year of competition, Hoernig entered open meets and
competed unattached, as pole vaulting was recognized at the
national level, but not at the collegiate tier.
Competing on the UCLA track team with only a year of previous
vaulting experience, Hoernig looked forward to her potential
improvement, both physically and technically.
“I knew that with more coaching and more time, I would
learn more, and there would be a chance for improvement,”
Hoernig said.
As the bar has risen for collegiate pole vaulting ““ now in
its third year of NCAA competition ““ so has Hoernig’s
motivation. As one of the first athletes to compete in the NCAA
pole vault arena, her skills have continued to develop. Her season
best is currently 13-5 1/4, an improvement from her 1997 outdoor
best of 12 3/4.
“I think that I’ve grown with the sport,”
Hoernig said. “I’ve improved and learned more about the
sport and the technique and what you need to be doing.”
Her improvement in the event has come through an abundance of
hard work. Described by vaulting coach Anthony Curran as a
perfectionist, Hoernig is known to stay after practice ends to get
in extra work.
“She is extremely dedicated, Curran said. “A lot of
times after workouts I’ll see her on the high bar working on
her arm strength. She’s one of those girls who you
can’t get off the runway.
“She wants to make sure everything is perfect and that she
does everything right,” he added. “That’s what it
takes to be a great pole vaulter.”
It is through this dedication that Hoernig leads her teammates.
As the oldest and most experienced vaulter on the UCLA squad, she
serves as a role model and motivator for her teammates.
“She leads by example,” Curran said. “She
works hard, and other athletes can see her training hard and
staying after at workouts.”
“She’s very competitive, someone who can do big
results in all of the top meets; that is something that
you’re looking for in an athlete for sure,” he
continued.
Though some nervousness is present throughout her competition,
Hoernig’s confidence masks any apprehension. She is poised
and has the quickness to prepare herself for the leap.
A true team player, Hoernig looks to this season as an
opportunity for the team as a whole. Having already captured the
NCAA Indoor title, Hoernig looks to the outdoor championships to
solidify her team’s strength.
“I’m really looking forward to our team really
coming together to win outdoors to go along with the Indoor title
that we won,” Hoernig said. “I think mainly we’re
all focused on the team, not necessarily on the
individual.”
Now in the thick of the season, the USC meet, taking place this
Saturday at Drake Stadium, is upon the Bruins. With only two days
until the showdown, Hoernig is prepared for the duel.
“The USC meet brings out a lot of competition. People rise
to the occasion because it’s such a tradition,” Hoernig
said. “I’m looking forward to watching everyone compete
because everybody gets so excited and the enthusiasm is there which
drives people to perform really well. This meet brings out the
best.”
Though USC does compete in the pole vaulting event, the toughest
competition for Hoernig will come from within her team, which
sports two of the top collegiate vaulters.
“I think we learn a lot form each other and help each
other out a lot,” Hoernig said. “It’s always nice
to have somebody to compete with.”
A competitive athlete, twice named All-American, Hoernig has
consistently come through when her team has needed her. A veteran
of the 1997 and ’98 indoor and ’99 outdoor meets, along
with the ’96 Olympic trials where she placed ninth, she has
garnered tremendous competitive experience. That experience,
though, has not eliminated the nerves that competition brings.
“I get really nervous, but I like the competition,”
Hoernig said. “It’s fun, but sometimes I get a little
too stressed out about it and try too hard.”
Growing with the sport since its early stages, Hoernig has
matured from a novice into a seasoned pole vaulter. But with one
year of eligibility left, Hoernig continues to feel the craving
that got her here in the first place.