LAWRENCE, Kan. – KU’s former NCAA champion pole vaulter Amy Linnen is one of 24 women featured on the 2011-12 University of Kansas Women of Distinction poster.

The women of distinction represent KU faculty, staff and students, some of whom are recent graduates. All have distinguished achievements in their work on campus and in communities locally, regionally and abroad. KU honored the group at a reception Wednesday afternoon in the Kansas Union.

Linnen, who will be inducted in the KU Athletics Hall of Fame this fall, was an All-American pole vaulter for the Jayhawks in both the indoor and outdoor track seasons of 2005. She won the national championship in the indoor pole vault that season.

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Philedelphia, PA –Pole vaulter Keisa Monterola charges and plants the pole in the box, launching herself in the air. She throws her body over the bar before descending down to the pad as the crowd roars throughout the arena.

Monterola, a transfer student from Clackamas Community College (CCC), placed fifth at the 2011 Pan American Games with a mark of 14 feet, 1 ¼ inches in Guadalajara, Mexico, Oct. 24. She will be looking to break Eastern’s pole vaulting record and qualify for the 2012 Olympics.

Monterola represented EWU and her home country of Venezuela in the games.

While her 14-1 ¼ mark is less than a foot better than the Eastern pole vaulting record of 13-2 ¼, it does not count because she was not competing in an NCAA sanctioned event, according to Eastern’s athletic website.

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Morgann Leleux has gone where no Louisiana athlete has gone before — again.

Leleux, who is in her freshman year at the University of Georgia, has been named High School Athlete of the Year by Track & Field News magazine for 2011.

Leleux already stood alone as the best female pole vaulter in high school history, clearing 14-2.75 at the LHSAA State Meet at LSU in May. The latest honor is just as rare an achievement.

“She’s the first pole vaulter and the first from Louisiana to win the award,” said Shane Leleux, Morgann’s coach through her high school years who is now focused on the continuing role of supportive father as she furthers her career at UGA.

“I think the fact that she was the first four-time All-American swung it. And, I didn’t realize she was the first to do that, either.”

Leleux cleared 13 feet as a freshman at Catholic High-New Iberia, then topped 13-2.25 and 13-9 the next two years, actually clearing 14 feet in a meet after the Louisiana prep season was over.

Then came her senior campaign last spring, when she set her sights on a national record in the event. But she became ill during the indoor season and jumped sparingly before district action.

She recovered in time to literally set the bar high for future vaulters.

Leleux still suffers from Epstein-Barr virus, but has benefitted from new medication and is eager for the upcoming track season.

“She’s ripped, and has been doing a lot of running,” Shane Leleux said. “I’m eager to see what she can do if she concentrates on track. Before, she was in gymnastics 6 days a week.”

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Tomball native Alex Bentley was at a crossroads as an athlete entering his senior season at the University of Houston. A promising college career had not progressed past the NCAA regional level while a broken ankle hampered his junior season and ultimately sidelined him as a medical redshirt in 2010.

When he returned to action for the 2011 indoor and outdoor seasons Bentley was driven to make the most of his final year, surrounded by personal and external expectations.

“You have your coach and everybody on your side, but at the same time you’re still that guy who’s still here in his fifth year,” Bentley said. “All the guys you came in with are gone. But once you get past all that you’re really just competing for yourself in track and field. I wanted to prove I could go to nationals. I always had that over my head, that I was brought in to go to nationals and hadn’t gone yet.”

Bentley’s senior season altered the trajectory of his career in pole vaulting. An outstanding year, complete with his first national qualification, not only fulfilled but renewed potential. The Tomball High School and University of Houston graduate is now an Olympic hopeful.

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