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Shen star leaps into spotlight
O'Connor a pole vault star for U. of Washington

By BILL ARSENAULT, Special to the Times Union
First published in print: Thursday, February 5, 2009
Jared O'Connor continues to reach new heights in the pole vault for the University of Washington men's track team.

O'Connor, a senior from Clifton Park (Shenendehowa), finished third in the event at last weekend's UW Invitational in Seattle. He cleared 17 feet, 1 inch, which bettered the NCAA provisional height and was easily his personal best indoors. Prior to that, his best was 16-71/2.

O'Connor, who started out at the University of North Carolina, hadn't sparkled in the pole vault until last spring when he cleared 17-5 to capture the NCAA West Regional title and then became an All-American by finishing tied for second in the NCAA championships with a 17-2¾ effort.

In high school, O'Connor was a two-time state champion in the pole vault indoors.

Jared's technique over the past year has really improved a lot, with the coaching of Pat Licari. From what I saw compared to last year, his swing is much improved!

After watching him jump, I talked to both of them, and they identified a couple technical points that they're working on (Petrov model). Jared's 17-1 (5.21) is a good start, but he still has huge upside potential. He's on track for a great season (indoors and out)!

Scott Roth also vaulted (unattached) in the meet - short runup only - and also cleared 17-1, which duplicated his SB from the Jan 17 meet. He appears fully recovered from last year's back injury, and is just taking it easy indoors so that he doesn't come back too fast. He's redshirting the indoor season, but with his return outdoors, the UW should have a great duo this year!

As far as bettering the NCAA indoor provisional mark (I'm not quite sure how these work), I don't know that the Albany (NY) Times Union report is accurate. My understanding from Jared is that he will need at least 5.31 to get in, but maybe 5.36 to guarantee a spot.

Go Huskies!!!

Kirk

KirkB wrote:As far as bettering the NCAA indoor provisional mark (I'm not quite sure how these work), I don't know that the Albany (NY) Times Union report is accurate. My understanding from Jared is that he will need at least 5.31 to get in, but maybe 5.36 to guarantee a spot.

Their report is accurate, the provisional mark is 5.20 and he bettered it. We know 5.21 won't get in, but their statement is still accurate.