University of Massachusets Athletics
Despite Difficult Season, Bakanowski Heads To NCAA Regionals
May 28, 2006 | Women's Track & Field
May 28, 2006
It's been a successful, but frustrating, season for Kristen Bakanowski.
The UMass-Amherst sophomore and former standout at Algonquin won the pole vault at both the Atlantic 10 and New England championships, and her best vault, 12 feet, has her ranked 27th in the East Region and 105th nationally. Today, Bakanowski will compete at the NCAA Regionals in North Carolina, with the opportunity to move on to the NCAA Championships.
But she's been hurt all season. That's the main reason why she hasn't improved from last year, when she also cleared 12 feet.
The injury, a stress fracture on the top of her left foot, started bothering Bakanowski at the end of the indoor season, two weeks before the ECAC Championships. She sat on the sidelines for those two weeks, didn't practice and then competed. Then she took the first two weeks of the outdoor season off, hoping the rest would do some good.
It did a little, but not much.
"Basically, it's been a difficult year because, since the indoor season, I've had a stress fracture," Bakanowski said. "I haven't done any running workouts since the indoor season, and I've only been pole vaulting once a week. I've been trying to minimize the pounding, and I'm finally starting to feel a little better."
She added that the season "has definitely been different. My running pattern is all messed up and my practices aren't consistent."
Still, there have been some successes, like that A-10 title, her first outdoors after winning as both a freshman and sophomore indoors.
"It felt good," she said. "It feels good to win."
Off the track, she has her mind set on what her future may hold: a major in psychology with a minor in education, then a master's in education and a career in elementary education, with some coaching on the side.
But the season has been about managing pain and the injury, working out enough to stay reasonably sharp, but not so much so as to aggravate the stress fracture. Making the season even more frustrating is that Bakanowski felt she was on the verge of a breakthrough.
She's basically been jumping the same height since high school, hovering around that 12-foot mark, but 12-6 and 13 feet were in her sights this season.
Pole vaulting is an extremely technical discipline, one with more elements than most events in track and field, each of which has to be mastered in order to improve. According to Bakanowski, she improved rapidly while in high school to get from 10 feet to 12 feet, but that was simply based on athleticism. At 12 feet, most pole vaulters hit a plateau and it takes a couple of years of working on technique to get past it.
Bakanowski said she had finally reached that point where she would get past the 12-foot plateau, and would rapidly improve to where she could be considered one of the elite pole vaulters in the East and not be dominated on the national level.
"I came into the season wanting to get 12-6," she said. "I had been working on my inversion and getting better. But since the foot injury, that's come to a halt. It's been disappointing. My goal this season was to win the Atlantic 10, and I did that, but in a way it's been disappointing because my jumps have stayed the same."
She added, "I've basically been making 12 feet on my own, just because I can run fast. But after that, it's all technique. I'd like to get 13-2 before I leave college."
If Bakanowski can get to 13-2 over the next two years, it would make her one of the favorites at NCAA Regionals, perhaps put her in the top five, and would help her reach her goal of competing at the NCAA Championships.
This year, however, Bakanowski is going to NCAA Regionals simply for the experience.
"I'm going so I can see all the top dogs out there," she said. "I'm used to winning with my opening height, and that doesn't really help. I want to see people who are better than me, so I can strive to be like them."
Still, Bakanowski is hoping for a new personal record this weekend. The opening height will be 3.66 meters, which is 12 feet. The next height will be 3.81 meters, which is 12-6. That's the one she wants.
And with her foot feeling a little better, and knowing that after the meet she can rest for a few weeks and let the foot really heal, she might just get that new personal record. She might just be finally on her way past that plateau, and on to new heights.