World-class vaulters headline unique Drake Relays event

DES MOINES - Jenn Suhr warily eyed the pole vault box.

Not for me, she thought, several years ago.

“I was a basketball player,” Suhr said. “I had no interest in the pole vault. I actually thought those people that did it were crazy.”

Call her a reformed skeptic.

And Drake Relays director Brian Brown announced Wednesday Suhr - the top-ranked women's pole vaulter in the world - will headline the star-studded field in the April 25 “Pole Vault in the Mall” event at Jordan Creek Town Center in West Des Moines.

The list of competitors also includes the second- to fifth-ranked United States women, Kylie Hutson (No. 2, defending Drake champion), Lacy Janson, Becky Holliday and Mary Saxer.

The men's field includes U.S. top-five Jeremy Scott (No. 1, defending champ), Derek Miles, Mark Hollis, Brad Walker and Scott Roth.

Miles, a Relays veteran from South Dakota, is 39 and said it's his last year of competition, unless he does something stirring like medaling in the 2012 London Olympics.

“You just want to jump higher than you've ever jumped,” the two-time Olympian said of what keeps him going. “I honestly feel I can do that. I just need to find the right way to put it all together.”

Suhr will jump in the mall for the first time.

Miles finished third last year.

“It's a good setup,” he said of the unique, retail-enclosed environment. “You feel like you're moving faster. There's just more energy. It's a hard thing to describe, but it raises your level of intensity.”

Suhr said she watched the event online last year and enjoyed it.

Whether outdoors or in a mall, the sport brings out here best - and the only raised eyebrows come due to her record-setting performances.

Now pole vault is something I live for,” Suhr said. “And it's something that (husband and coach Rick Suhr) and I are both die hards about. It's funny how you can grow up not even knowing the event to absolutely loving it.”

DES MOINES LANDS ANOTHER: USA Track and Field announced Wednesday Des Moines had been selected to host the 2013 outdoor championships. The event also was held on the Drake campus in 2010.

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 DES MOINES LANDS ANOTHER: USA Track and Field announced Wednesday Des Moines had been selected to host the 2013 outdoor championships. The event also was held on the Drake campus in 2010.