OBSERVER Staff Report
Though she's active in competition throughout the year, Fredonia native Jenn Suhr's (nee Stuczynski) 2012 Olympic run officially begins today at the U.S. women's pole vault trials in Eugene, Ore.
The preliminaries were scheduled to be held on Friday, but rain forced the issue and all 29 contestants automatically advanced to the finals today.
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OBSERVER?File Photo
Fredonia native Jen Suhr is shown competing in an indoor event earlier this year. Suhr will attempt to make her second straight U.S. Olympic team today, in the women’s pole vault, as she will compete against 29 other Olympic hopefuls at the U.S. Track &?Field Championships, which are being held in Eugen, Ore.
Suhr, a silver medalist at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, is the top-seeded athlete in the trails with a height of 16 feet, 1.25 inches.
Her nearest competitors come in at nearly 10 inches lower as Kylie Hutson and Lacy Janson each enter with heights of 15-3.
In the '08 trails, Suhr nearly didn't make her opening height. She entered at 15-1 and failed on her first two attempts before clearing the bar on the third and final try. She went on to break the U.S. Trails and American records.
To qualify for the Olympic team again, Suhr will have to finish in the top three at the trails and clear the Olympic A Standard height of 14-9 (4.5 meters).
