ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Brynn King qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the women's pole vault when she cleared 15-feet for the first time on Jan. 20.
A lot has happened for King in the past five months, and the Roberts Wesleyan University standout is eager to compete for a spot in the Paris Olympics when the tryouts commence at the University of Oregon's hallowed Hayward Field on Friday night.
"I feel good, it's been a lot of fun," said King, who has spent the past five weeks focused on her training after winning the NCAA Division II Outdoor championship on May 23 in Emporia, Kans. "I definitely see a lot of improvements in my training and it all seems to be coming together, so I am hoping that it will come together on the day, too."
A total of 24 vaulters are competing for three spots on Team USA in Paris. Competition to cut the field to 12 begins at 8:55 p.m. on Friday night and will be televised on the NBC family of networks which includes NBC, Peacock and the USA Network. The finals are scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m. on Sunday.
King, who is from The Woodlands, Texas, jumped at Roberts on Monday, traveled to Oregon on Tuesday and had practice days on Wednesday and Thursday. She is coached by 2004 Roberts graduate Jenn Suhr, a three-time Olympian and the 2012 Gold Medalist.
King said Suhr gave her some simple advice going into Trials.
"Basically, she said that you have already put all of the work in and all of the training is done and to just go out there, have fun and do what I know how to do through training," King said.
King has shown tremendous progress in the past year. When she transferred from Duke University to Roberts last spring, her personal best was two centimeters shy of 14 feet. Her new personal best, 4.68 meters (15-feet, 4 ¼ inches), was set while winning the Texas Relays on March 30. The Olympic qualifying standard is 4.73 meters (15-6 ¼).
King, who holds both the indoor and outdoor records for Division II, attended several big meets in the past few months, including the U.S. Indoor Nationals, Texas Relays, Kansas Relays, Texas Invitational and the adidas Atlanta City Games (which she won). She took away pieces from each meet and has adhered to the training program Suhr has put in place for her in hopes of continuing to improve.
"Not much changed," she said of her training heading into Trials. "In the end I have just tried to stay consistent and to keep jumping higher and higher."