Noonan Article (IL)

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.starnewspapers.com/star/spsp ... 071sx1.htm

Noonans are All-American athletes


Sunday, August 7, 2005



By Curt Herron, The Star

It was a big deal when both Dianna and Joe Noonan earned all-state honors at the IHSA Class AA state track and field meet.

And though that seems like an awful difficult feat to top, the local pole vault sister and brother act did just that last weekend.

The siblings can now add 'All-American' to their impressive accomplishments following the USATF National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Joe, who will be entering his junior year at Lincoln-Way East this fall, came away with a national title.

And Dianna, who recently graduated from East and will be continuing her career at Grand Valley State University, wound up settling for fourth place.

Not bad, considering that the two members of the Southwest Suburban Cheetahs track and field team have only really been serious about the sport for a brief amount of time.

Joe, who took seventh at the IHSA meet, got the good times rolling last Thursday while Dianna, who was fifth at the IHSA meet this year and placed eighth at state a year ago, made her mark one day later.

After turning in a 14-11 effort, Joe easily took first place honors in the intermediate boys division.

Dianna was one of three jumpers who were second-best in the young womens competition with a 12-1.5 effort, but she claimed fourth due to misses.

While Dianna had made it to this same competition a year ago and just missed being an All-American, Joe's rise to the top has happened quite rapidly.

"I never thought that I could pull this off," said Joe of his championship. "But even after I won it, I still felt that I needed to improve more. When I got on the awards stand at about 9:00 that night, I was just beaming.

"I can't really put into words what I was thinking, but it felt awesome. This has been a good way to start off my high school career and nothing is going to take me away from the pole vault now."

At the start of the year, Joe was only jumping about 11-0, but he improved about two feet in a week and a half to all of a sudden make himself someone to watch at the IHSA meet in Charleston, where he PR'ed with a 14-6 jump to take seventh place.

He's quick to hand out credit for his improvement to volunteer coach Don Slota, who worked with him two or three days a week to improve his form and also helped his sister.

After only going 13-6 in the Junior Olympic Region meet, Joe got things going again when he went 15-0 and won a Beach Vault meet at Grand Haven, Michigan.

That set the tone for his impressive championship in Indianapolis.

"As I was looking up at the crowd, I was really getting pumped up for the vault, even though I had to wait about four hours before it started," said Joe. "I just had to stay focused and relaxed until I started vaulting.

"I kept thinking about how I had to make the next height and how I didn't want to miss too many. When I got to around 14-6, there was only me and two or three others. Going into my third attempt, I was running through my mind what I needed to do and I made it, while no one else did."

Joe admits that he and his sister pushed one another to do better in this competition, just as they've often done in the past.

"We were both happy for each other and we both cheered each other on," said Joe. "We always did things together as kids, like baseball and basketball, and it's carried through to high school.

"We both practice and work out hard and listen to our coach and neither one of us get scared by the heights or the people that we're up against. We see how each other practices and I think we both knew that we kicked butt there."

Dianna echoed the nature of the rivalry between the two athletes.

"It's kind of unheard of to have a brother and sister like us in pole vaulting," said Dianna. "But it's been fun to go to competitions with my brother and showing that two people from the same family can go and do well in the pole vault.

"It's been a lot of fun to have him competing with me since we've both done very well. We're real competitive and that helps us push ourselves even more."

After participating in several different events in track and field, Dianna began to concentrate exclusively on the pole vault this past season under the direction of Slota.

That not only helped her improve her performance at state, but also was one of the big reasons why she returned to nationals and performed well there.

"Going to nationals again was a big step for me," said Dianna, who went 10-4 and placed 11th last year in the meet. "I went 12-1 and had a really good shot and if I had a bigger pole, maybe I could have been second.

"But it was so exciting and it makes me really happy just thinking about it. It's really exciting to finish off my high school career so strongly and it gives me confidence for pole vaulting in college. I'm very proud to be an All-American."

Now Dianna will turn her sights to Grand Valley State in Allendale, Michigan, where she'll continue her education and career.

"Grand Valley was the first school that I visited and I fell in love with the campus right away," said Dianna. "The girls coach welcomed me like family. In high school, pole vaulters were close, so I felt that I needed that in college to help my transition.

"I don't know what my major is yet, but hopefully it's something involving sports since I'm absolutely in love with the pole vault."

Besides being a two-time all-state athlete at East, Dianna has also been a good role model for those who have disabilities, having been born with 70 percent hearing loss.

As one who's had to overcome real adversity during her life, it seems safe that Dianna will achieve more big goals in the future.

"I'm really excited because I worked so hard and was so dedicated to something, and it paid off," said Dianna. "People can tell when your heart is into something since it will take you places."

[VaultMarq26]

I have jumped with both of these kids for a couple years. I love jumping with them because they they just love to vault. Congrats to both of them. On a side note, the pictured of them in the paper were pretty cool too.

[izzystikchik]

I'm glad to hear that the noonan's got their well deserved "spot light", i've only jumped against dianna and i've never come across anybody so determined and focused as her