Here’s an article that appeared in the Columbia Daily Tribune regarding Jennifer Bennett of Missouri University:
http://www.showmenews.com/2003/Feb/20030223Spor006.asp She probably doesn’t represent a serious challenge to the fourteen footers contending for the national championship coming up shortly in Fayetteville, but a 13-7.25 effort by someone with a HS PR of 9-6 does DESERVE some recognition. And this mark was made in a little all comers meet where her only competition was from her teammates and where she got very little support from the crowd. She certainly sent a message to the Big 12 that she’s the favorite to win the Conference meet next week in Lincoln. Anyway, she gets a round of applause from me!
“Jennifer Bennett’s face lit up with joy when she realized she cleared the bar. Then, after she landed on the padding, she lay on her back and covered her face with her hands. Bennett had just broken the Missouri women’s indoor pole vault record at 13 feet, 7¼ inches in yesterday’s All-Comers Meet at the Hearnes Center Fieldhouse.
The mark probably will get her into the NCAA Indoor Championships. Bennett barely missed the automatic qualifying mark of 13-9¼.
"I know I have it in me," Bennett said. "You have your days - your good days, your bad days. It’s a really good day."
Bennett’s mark is the best in the Big 12 this season and is the Hearnes record. She said she was aware of but not obsessed with the record. "I don’t aim for records, I just go," she said. "I don’t like thinking about stuff like that. I just like to do my thing."