Dragila wins U.S. Indoor pole vault title
Dragila wins U.S. Indoor pole vault title
ATLANTA, Georgia (AFP): Stacy Dragila won her sixth consecutive US Indoor women's pole vault on Friday, clearing 4.56m to edge Kellie Suttle by virtue of fewest misses.
Suttle set a new personal best in the event to join Dragila on the US team that will compete at the World Indoor Championships March 9-11 in Lisbon.
Suttle's previous best was 4.53m, set outdoors last year.
Dragila's height was well below the world record 4.70 she cleared in Pocatello, Idaho, on February 17 -- her third improvement of the mark in 15 days.
"I keep landing deep in the pit, so I still need to get some of the kings out," Dragila said. "I need to focus more on conditioning and doing intervals. My coach will not be with me in Portugal, so I need to get ready."
She is especially looking forward to the World Indoors after a disappointing eighth-place finish there in 1999.
"It means a lot to me, because in '99 I was recovering from a foot injury," she said. "It was a humbling experience and it shows that I'm human like everyone else. I think I'm still right there."
The victory also kept Dragila on track to win the Pontiac Grand Prix Cup, a point-based system that awards a 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix car to both the top male and female athletes of USA Track and Field's Indoor Golden Spike Tour. The victory gave Dragila 2,465 points, the standard that athletes competing in Saturday's events must chase. Terrence Trammell, who will compete Saturday in the men's 60m hurdles, is the favorite to win the Pontiac Grand Prix Cup on the men's side.
In Friday's other individual-event final, Tiombe Hurd successfully defended her US Indoor title in the women's triple jump with a leap of 14.04m.
In Friday's qualifying heats, 40-year-old Johnny Gray broke his own US masters record in the 800 with his time of 1:48.81 in the heats of the 800 meters. Elliot Gaskins was the top qualifier for Saturday's final at 1:47.97. Defending US Indoor and Olympic Trials champion Hazel Clark led all women's qualifiers at 2:06.89.
Kevin Little, the 1997 World Indoor champion, was the top qualifier in the men's 200 with a time of 20.61 seconds. Defending indoor champ James Davis posted the fastest 400m qualifying time of 45.79, and after four events Stephen Moore led the heptathlon with 3428 points, propelled by a 2.17m clearance in the high jump.