After a little Internet surfing, Jenn Suhr landed at Jordan Creek Town Center in West Des Moines.
The world’s top-ranked female pole vaulter was shopping for something to spice up her season, and discovered the Drake Relays annual mall event, which takes place Wednesday at 6:15 p.m.
“I’ve heard great things about it in the past and it’s on my bucket list to do,” Suhr said. “I heard it was electrifying, the crowd is great. It’s just a pumped up atmosphere.”Suhr headlines an entry list that features the top-five American women vaulters: Kylie Hutson (ranked No. 2), Lacy Janson (No. 3), Becky Holliday (No. 4) and Mary Saxer (No. 5).
The field also includes Israel’s Jillian Schwartz, who was ranked No. 10 in the world in 2010.
“(My husband) Rick and I saw it online and thought ‘This is it,’’’ Suhr said of the mall vault. “This is perfect.”
Suhr, a silver medalist at the 2008 Olympics, competed at the 2010 USA Track and Field national outdoor meet, winning with a vault of 16 feet, ½ inch.
“I just remember coming out and jumping the highest jump in the world that year,” said Suhr, a 10-time U.S. champion. “I have great memories of the town and everything involved. I’m excited to go back and revisit everything.”  Continue reading →

USA Today –Describing Jenn Suhr as an animal lover is an understatement. The USA’s top female pole vaulter has limited herself to Morris, an orange cat, and Tundra, a white Great Pyreneesdog, because her constant travel makes it hard to find petsitters for more than two animals.Suhr, formerly Stuczynski, won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She holds the U.S. record and is the No. 2 women’s pole vaulter all-time behind two-time Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia.Eight years ago Rick Suhrsaw her playing basketball and liked her competitiveness. He told Suhr she should try pole vaulting. He’s been coaching her ever since and the two married in January 2010.These days Rick Suhr calls his wife the local conservation officer. She’s always on a four-wheeler riding their 10-acre property in Rochester, N.Y., looking for animals. Once she found a badly hurt fawn; Rick told her it was dead. Jenn Suhr nursed the baby back to health feeding it goat’s milk.I have a wild game camera. We set it up on the property where there’s the most traffic of deer, fox, rabbits. I put apples out there to get them in front of the camera. When I travel I usually come home and check it. When I first got it, I was checking it every day. Now it’s probably once a week. The first night I put it out there I got an eight-point buck on there so I thought this is going to be awesome. And then I went two weeks without anything.I told him we’re going to take the pole vault barn and turn it into a kennel.   Continue reading →

Decathlon’s Top Three Medal Contenders Are American; the Residue of a Visa Sponsorship

Wall Street Journal–Ashton Eaton posted the world’s highest score in the decathlon last year, making him a favorite to win Olympic gold in London this summer.But also favored are Bryan Clay (the defending Olympic champion) and Trey Hardee (defending world champion).And here’s the red-white-and-blue of it: All three are American.Not long ago, the Continue reading →