Women Are No Longer Poles Apart

The gap between Stacy Dragila and the other top women pole vaulters in the United States could be closing.

The latest evidence of that came in the L.A. Invitational indoor track and field meet at the Sports Arena on Saturday night when Mary Sauer of San Dimas set a meet record of 15 feet before missing three attempts at an American record of 15-51/2.

Dragila, winner of the first Olympic women’s pole vault competition at the 2000 Games in Sydney, was selected as Track & Field News magazine’s world woman athlete of the year for the 2001 season after winning her second world title and setting eight world records during the indoor and outdoor seasons.

Her final indoor record of 15-5 has been bettered three times by Svetlana Feofanova of Russia this year and Sauer had a couple of decent--if not great--attempts at topping that mark Saturday.

“I think if I just would have done the same jump [ I had] at 15 feet I would have made it,” Sauer said of her first, and best, attempt at 15-51/2.

“But I [jumped with a stiffer] pole and raised my grip a little bit. I figured that when you’ve got a record on the line, you just have to go for it.”

Sauer, a native of Green Bay, Wis., took up the pole vault in November 1997 after competing in the high jump and triple jump during her two years at San Dimas High and four years at Azusa Pacific.

She cleared 13-111/4, 14-51/4 and 15 feet on her first attempts Saturday.

She initially asked to have the bar raised to a career-best 15-21/4 after clearing 15 feet with three or four inches to spare, but then decided to take a shot at Dragila’s mark.

A clearance at 15-21/4 would have topped Sauer’s previous best of 15-11/2 and moved her to third on the all-time world indoor list behind Feofanova (15-6 1/4) and Dragila, but she wanted to take a shot at the national record.

“I thought I would be very upset if I made [15-21/4] by a whole bunch,” Sauer said. “I mean, I’ve jumped [15-11/2]. I know I can jump [15-21/4], but I feel like I can get the American record right now.

“When you have the opportunity to go for a record, you just have to go for it. I would have been very upset if I made [15-21/4] by a whole bunch and missed [15-51/2].”

Mel Mueller, who trains with Sauer twice at week under the guidance of UCLA assistant coach Anthony Curran, finished second at 14-51/4 with Canadian Ardin Tucker third at a career-best 13-111/4.

Mueller had cleared an indoor career-best 15-11/4 to defeat Sauer in a meet in Flagstaff, Ariz., on Feb. 9, but she struggled Saturday.

She cleared 13-111/4 on her first attempt, but needed two tries to get over 14-51/4 and had only one decent attempt at 15 feet.

Mueller predicted last month that a woman would break the 16-foot barrier in the pole vault during the upcoming outdoor season, but added it might not be Dragila, the current record-holder at 15-91/4, or Feofanova.

Sauer agreed.

“I think we are going to have our share coming along,” she said. “Stacy has been jumping for a long time. I haven’t. Everyone is jumping up a notch.”

Bernard Lagat of Kenya won the men’s mile for a record-tying fourth consecutive time to highlight several other high-quality performances in the meet.

Lagat, the second-fastest 1,500-meter runner in history at 3 minutes 26.34 seconds, let former San Bernardino Valley College standout Ricky Etheridge lead through the first quarter-mile in 57.2, but surged into the lead after four laps on the 160-yard wood track and was never seriously challenged after that.

He had a 10-yard lead on two-time Olympic finalist Jason Pyrah of the U.S. when he came through the 880 in 1:57.5 and his lead continued to grow as he passed the 1,320 in 2:57.2 and finished in 3:56.34.

Jonathon Riley closed well to finish second in 3:59.92 with Pyrah third in 4:00.25.

“I wanted to run faster than I did here last year,” said Lagat, the silver medalist in the 1,500 at the world championships last year. “Last year I [ran 3:57.61] so I wanted to run something faster than that.”

Angela Williams of USC was a runaway winner in the women’s 50-meter dash while Mickey Grimes defeated Jon Drummond in a photo finish in the men’s event.

Williams, the only woman to win three consecutive NCAA titles in the 100, won her second consecutive L.A. Invitational title with a 6.17-second clocking that equaled her career best and gave her a comfortable margin of victory over former USC runner Torri Edwards.

Grimes and Drummond, members of the U.S. 400 relay team that won the world title last year, were each credited with times of 5.73 in the men’s 50.