Roth: Flying High, Having Fun

By John Roth, Blue Devil Weekly

DURHAM. N.C. - Duke sophomore Amy Fryt owns the ACC's top pole vaulting mark of the outdoor season entering the conference championship meet, but don't look for this engaging young Blue Devil to focus too much on finishing in first place.

Capturing the league title ranks a distant second to delivering her optimum performance and savoring the competitive moments with her teammates during the upcoming trip to Coral Gables, Fla. (Apr. 16-18).

“If I think too much about winning, or think too much that I have to make a certain mark, then it just takes the fun out of it for me,” said Fryt, who tied for second place at the ACC indoor meet two months ago.

“Obviously I'm very serious about it, but in pole vaulting one of the secrets is to relax. I've seen a lot of girls get too tense about it, take it too seriously. For me, I don't have as much fun doing anything else, so a championship is not what I think about. I think about performing well for myself. If I'm satisfied with my performance, then it was a good day. Winning is a bonus. When you start to think about things like that, it takes the fun out of it. I just go out there and have fun.”

So far this year, Fryt (rhymes with fit) has had fun AND won. She cleared 13 feet for the first time in her career at the end of the indoor season and won the ECAC championship in the final indoor meet. She then finished first in her first four outdoor meets and reached her career outdoor best at the recent Duke Invitational, jumping 12 feet, 11.5 inches to qualify for the NCAA Regionals next month.

“I'm happy about where I am right now, and hopefully things keep improving,” she said. “If I PR by six inches and get last place, I'd be happier than jumping six inches below my PR and winning.”

Fryt has improved her PR by a full eight inches over her freshman year. In fact, she has made so much progress that it is almost time to invoke comparisons with Duke pole vaulting legend Jillian Schwartz, a multiple All-America, 2004 Olympian ? and the only Blue Devil ever to jump higher than Fryt.

Schwartz's school record of 14-2 is still more than a foot better than Fryt's best to date, but Fryt is really just getting started in the sport. There was no vault coach at her high school in Goldsboro, N.C., so her father researched the event and helped her learn the basics. Her technique eventually was enhanced at a camp in Greensboro, but she didn't have too many opportunities to put it to the test because several of the high school meets she entered didn't have pole vault competition.

And she missed her entire outdoor season senior year while recovering from knee surgery to repair a volleyball injury.

“I knew going into high school that I wanted to do it, but I don't know why,” she said. “I didn't know anybody else who did it ? I just knew that's what I wanted to do, and when I got to high school I did it, and that was it.

“At my high school we had three poles, I think... and only one girls pole, the universal pole for all girls. We had limited resources. The mats we jumped on were very small. The runway was asphalt, not rubber like all the tracks are now. But at the time, that's all I knew. I had no idea you were supposed to have a specific pole for you and a faster runway and spikes. I just had no idea, but I learned.”

Fryt made the state meet in North Carolina her first three years and qualified for nationals her junior year. Duke's recruiting efforts began during her senior year and had to overcome one major obstacle ? her lifelong dream had been to attend UNC and compete for the Tar Heels in gymnastics, a sport she had enjoyed for 10 years. But the pole vault had replaced gymnastics as her athletic passion... her brother had just started at Duke... and the Duke coaches were supportive during her recovery from knee surgery.

“At Duke there was an opportunity to pole vault in college and that's all I wanted to do,” she explained. “After I thought about it, it sounded like a good fit.”

Fryt believes her many years in gymnastics have contributed to her success in the vault, a trait she shares with Blue Devil predecessor Schwartz. The 2001 Duke grad had done gymnastics as a youth but wasn't allowed to pole vault in high school, so she didn't take up the sport until college. She made rapid strides, eventually earning a spot on the ACC's 50th anniversary track & field team.

Schwartz, who retired from vaulting last year and is now coaching at Columbia, remains an inspiration to Fryt, along with Jenn Stuczynski, who didn't try the sport until finishing her college basketball career at Roberts Wesleyan in 2004. Within three years she was the American record-holder, supplanting the legendary gold medalist Stacy Dragila ? whose poster hangs in Fryt's room.

All three have been somewhere Fryt longs to reach ? the Olympics. It is such a motivational goal that Fryt had the Olympic rings tattooed on her right shoulder last summer as a reminder of what she hopes to do in the summer of 2012 or 2016.

Fryt considered leaving Duke last summer after pole vault coach Ryan Dall departed the program and was hired as the head track coach at Texas A&M-Kingsville. But then she realized just how much she was beginning to treasure the relationships she was developing at Duke, particularly with the other pole vaulters.

“My teammates are great ? they are my closest friends,” she noted. “The first day we were like best friends instantly. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

“I was hesitant and transferring was in the air, but after I thought about it, I couldn't imagine leaving. I never had teammates in high school. I was always the only one. In gymnastics I was the only one. I never had that close bond. Pole vaulters are kind of a special breed and we get along great and I love them to death. That was a huge factor, because I knew I wouldn't find friends as good as them anywhere else. It's a huge part of everything.”

It's one of the main reasons she's having so much fun, and jumping so high, so soon.

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