My Hometown Sports
Legendary pole vaulter Jenn Suhr announces retirement from the sport Jenn Suhr remembers seeing a member of the Roberts Wesleyan College men’s track and field team practice pole vaulting in the Voller Athletic Center about 20 years ago and shaking her head in awe. “He was clearing about 12 feet and I asked him if he was going to the Olympics because that just seemed amazing to me,” she said. That vaulter never qualified for the Olympics, but Suhr did. Three times. The 2004 Roberts graduate, Jenn Suhr shows her golf medal to who was a basketball player those gathered at the airport to named Jenn Stuczynski when welcome her home from London. File she reluctantly first picked up photo by Walter Horylev. a pole at age 22, embarked on
an incredible 18-year career that saw her become the greatest women’s pole vaulter in American history. Suhr, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist, 17-time U.S. national champion and current world record holder in the indoor pole vault, officially announced her retirement from competitive track and field on June 23 at age 40. Her announcement came on the eve of the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Suhr said she knew it was time because the focus of her conversations with her husband and coach, Rick Suhr, had shifted from heights and meets to things that would be happening after pole vault. “It just kind of just clicked and I have no regrets,” Suhr said. “I think that this is a great place to end. I am not ending with an injury, and I am not ending in a place where I can’t vault.” “The Roberts community celebrates the outstanding achievements and athletic career accomplishments of alumna Jenn Suhr ‘04,” Roberts Wesleyan College President Dr. Deana L. Porterfield said. “She has been a role model to our community as she earned accolades on the international stage, holding the highest records in the world, with persistence and humility.
Jenn was presented with plaques and proclamations from the Town of Riga, the Village of Churchville, the Greater Churchville-Riga Chamber of Commerce, Monroe County, and the New York State Senate and Assembly. She signed autographs for a long line of fans and those in attendance were welcome to get a close-up view and even hold the gold medal. File photo by Dave Knox.
4 | My Hometown July 2022
