By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Contributor
Women have been making NCAA track and field history since 1982,
but since 1998, with the acceptance of women’s pole vaulting
as a NCAA-sponsored sport, they have been soaring to even greater
heights.
An intricate mix of speed, balance and acrobatic ability,
women’s pole vaulting has spread like wildfire in the world
of collegiate sports. Having recently challenged the world record
of 15-1 1/4, held by Stacy Dragila, Bruin sophomore Tracy
O’Hara is on her way to making history in this new collegiate
event.
“Pole vaulting requires every single aspect of athletic
ability in order to do it well,” pole vault coach Anthony
Curran said. “A pole vaulter must have good speed, body
control, strength, power and gymnastic ability.”
Having competed in gymnastics for 10 years prior to pole
vaulting, O’Hara gained the necessary sense of awareness of
her body in the air.
“The skills I learned in gymnastics like flipping and
being upside down in the air really help,” O’Hara said.
“If I miss the box, I know exactly where I am in the air in
terms of the pit, and I won’t get hurt because I’ll
make it down safely.”
In this competition of acrobatic feats, there is an element of
danger ““ of not nailing the landing.
“She is a headstrong athlete who has no fears. This factor
is really important because it is a dangerous sport,” Curran
said.
Three years after starting competition, O’Hara has taken
the collegiate competition by storm. She passes bars 13 feet high,
and at last week’s NCAA championships, she entered the
competition at 13-1 1/4.
“Usually I have to wait about two hours before I come
in,” O’Hara said. “I sit for an hour, do warm-up
drills, strides and pole runs, and then right before I jump I do a
whole other warm-up.”
Pole vaulting competitions can take up to four hours.
“It’s probably one of the most gruelling events
outside of the steeple chase and the 5,000. Pole vaulting is so
challenging because you’re standing out there on the hot turf
for several hours,” said Guy Branson, father of Andrea
Branson of Kansas, who tied for ninth place in the NCAA
championships.
“Competing in one event for five to six hours is draining
even if you’re just sitting, and then you get up and run your
100-foot dash carrying a pole, and then at the end of it is the
hardest part because you’ve got to do this tremendous
exertion of gymnastics.”
The technical aspect of pole vaulting centers around three
aspects: the run, the mid-air turn, and clearing the bar.
“When you’re running down the runway, you have to be
really tall. You count your steps, and on your final step, you
throw your arms up, plant the pole, swing your legs up, get
vertical, turn in and clear the bar,” O’Hara said.
“You swing, you turn, you clear the bar.”
She makes it sound so simple.
Another key to getting the height is to use the right size
pole.
“The length of pole that you use is relative to your size.
The key to vaulting higher is using a stiffer pole, but you have to
have the technique in order to do this,” Curran said.
Tracy, who weighs about 122 pounds, vaults with a 13-6 pole that
is meant more for a 170-pound vaulter.
“The best athletes jump on poles that are denser than
their body weight. She is very strong for her body weight,”
Curran said of O’Hara.
Clearing the bar is the object of the game, and each competitor
only gets three chances at each height. Once each athlete has
either cleared it, or missed three times, the bar is raised for the
next level.
The NCAA-winning height in 1998 was 12-5 1/2, in 1999 it was
13-5, and this year O’Hara clinched the title at 14-5
1/4.
“Next year it might go up an inch or two, but I know it
won’t go up a foot like it did this year,” O’Hara
said “I think it will go up six inches, max.”
Due to the short history of women’s pole vaulting, the
record heights have been increasing drastically. Athletes and
coaches are working to perfect the technique involved so as to
establish a sort of benchmark height.
“Because it’s so new, there hasn’t been an
average height for women’s competition,” O’Hara
said. “For men it’s 18-6. They always have the same
qualifying height for big competitions. Last year for us it was
12-5, and this year it was 12-9 or 12-10. There needs to be a
height set for every meet.”
“The women’s record is within reach for
everyone,” she added. “People attempt it
monthly.”
Having been one to reach for that mark, it is clear that
O’Hara is on her way up.
“I figured, “˜When else am I going to get the chance
to do it again?’ I didn’t really expect to clear it. I
did it mostly to get a good view of where I’m at,”
O’Hara said. “I’m glad that I didn’t (clear
it) because I don’t want that kind of pressure right now.
I’m glad that I (tried) because I know that it’s in
reach and that it is possible.”
O’Hara did make it over the bar but caught her arm on it
on the way down.
As the nation’s top collegiate vaulter, she has utilized
her athletic ability to break into a new realm of track and field.
And with the Olympic trials just around the corner, O’Hara is
on her way into history beyond the collegiate arena.