Lindsay Vollmer, who will compete at the USA Junior Nationals this weekend in Eugene, Ore., prefers to be solid in all the heptathlon events instead of starring in a few.
Photo by Dean Backes
Heart. Desire. Adrenaline. Maybe even a combination of the three.
Regardless of what you want to call it, Lindsay Vollmer earlier this month displayed the stubbornness and toughness it takes to win championships on the heptathlon circuit.
The
Penney (Hamilton, Mo.) graduate rebounded from a hip flexor injury in the midst of competition at the Great Southwest Heptathlon in Albuquerque, N.M., to hold on for a 111-point win over Centennial (Las Vegas) alum Karli Johonnot, earning a spot at the USA Junior Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., which begin today and go through Friday.
With a mere three weeks in between the two meets, Vollmer has had little time to celebrate her second straight Great Southwest win. Now the former 5-foot, 10-inch Hornet has to prepare for a much stronger field. About half of the competitors at this weekend's meet will have just concluded their college freshman campaigns.
"It's definitely going to be more competitive," Vollmer said. "Everybody is going to have to bring their A-game. It's a huge difference. The competition (at Junior Nationals) is on a whole different scale. A lot of these athletes train year-round.
"Everybody has to be focused. We're not going to be able to giggle as much. We are here to do well, so we have to be in a zone. If I want to do well I'm going to have to bring it even more."
Although defending champion Alex Gochenour, a graduate of Logan-Magnolia (Logan, Iowa), and San Diego State's Allison Reaser are sure to be larger than life challenges for Vollmer and the rest of the field, don't sell Vollmer short. She figures to throw her hat into the Junior National championship ring as well.
Linsdsay Vollmer won the javelintitle at the Great Southwest,tossing 140 feet, 1 inch.
Photo by Dean Backes
Mark Vollmer is hoping his daughter's recent success in the javelin will continue this weekend. Lindsay tossed the spear 140 feet, 1 inch to win the event at the Great Southwest, surpassing her previous personal best. Lindsay lacks the size of most throwers, but her dad said she makes up for it with her technique.
"She has not been resting, that's for sure," he said. "She has had some rough practices. Lindsay practices hard every day, in all seven events. We're not all that interested in the quantity of practices right now, but the quality. I think we have her at a point where she's ready to peak."
The outcome of the Great Southwest appeared to be settled early on. But Lindsay's injury occurred during her winning long jump leap of 18 feet, 10 3/4 inches, throwing a little drama into the mix going into the final two events.
Following the win in the meet's fifth event, Lindsay had about 30 minutes to get taped up and chat with her father before outdistancing the 22-athlete field in the javelin throw.
"I didn't have time to sit around and worry about why the injury happened to me," Lindsay said. "The trainers wrapped me up and did some other guru stuff. I'm not sure what it was they did, but it felt better."
Lindsay appeared to ignore the injury when she unleashed her one and only javelin throw to take a commanding 546-point lead over Johonnot going into the meet's final event. Vollmer then struggled to a 16th-place finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 2 minutes, 51.72 seconds, while Johonnot won the event with an eye-popping 2:15.87 clocking.
Lindsay, however, held on for the 5,185-5,074 win over the Nevada track standout. Johonnot will compete in Eugene as well.
"After the first lap I could tell she was laboring," Mark said. "Had she run 10 seconds slower her lead would have been in jeopardy."
In her defense, the injury made it difficult for Lindsay to lift her leg, let alone put the pounding on it that two trips around the track will do.
"Going into the 800 I told myself it would be about three minutes of pain," Lindsay said. "But I knew it was going to last just a short while. It was definitely a struggle. It was difficult to do what normally comes easy.
"I remember thinking to myself, 'This is not feeling very good.' Then I started telling myself, 'I have only 400 meters to go…I have just 300 meters left…the finish line is coming up. It's coming.' I started counting down the distance by 100 meters. But I had to try to put it behind me and forget about the pain. It was just something that I had to do."
Lindsay, who appears to be at full strength going into this weekend's competition, needed a score of at least 4,500 points at the Great Southwest in order to move on to the USA Junior Nationals. She nearly captured that point total after five events and easily reached her qualifying mark with her javelin throw. Lindsay finished the meet with the fifth-best Junior Nationals qualifying mark.
If Lindsay, who finished fourth at the USA Junior Nationals a year ago, can knock off the 30 seconds she added to her 800 time earlier this month, the University of Kansas recruit should challenge for the championship in Eugene this weekend.
"My goal was definitely to win (the Great Southwest)," Lindsay said. "I expect to go out and win. I want to improve on what I have been doing, to get better marks. That's all that I can ask of myself. If I can do that, then hopefully everything else will work out."
Vollmer started strong at the Great Southwest, winning the 100 hurdles with a time of 13.99. A fifth-place effort in the high jump (5-4 1/2), the second event of the competition, dropped her into third place behind Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.) athlete Ashlee Moore and Lawrence Free State (Kan.) competitor Alexa Harmon-Thomas, momentarily.
Lindsay, who has led Penney to four of its five straight Class 2 state track and field championships, regained the lead for good when she threw the shot put a field-best 36 feet in the competition's third of seven events. Vollmer finished second to Johonnet in the 200 (25 seconds), before winning the long jump.
The four-time first-team all-state basketball player in Classes 2 and 3 (2,148 points for her career) has demonstrated that she is one of the more balanced athletes competing in the heptathlon. But not all heptathletes rely on balance.
"It depends on the athlete," she said. "Some are great in one event and then turn around and struggle in another. Those two events kind of balance each other out. But I prefer to be pretty good across the board. I like being solid in all of them."
Although she qualified to compete in the 100 hurdles and the javelin throw during the track and field portion of this weekend's meet, Vollmer has opted to stick solely to the heptathlon.
