Placer track named in Dragila's honor

Stacy Dragila didn't take the fast track to her Olympic gold medal. But one of the tracks that helped the Placer High graduate become the first-ever female gold medallist in the pole vault will now bear her name.At a spirited Placer assembly Monday morning, former Placer track coach Ron Hyatt announced that the track at Le Febvre Stadium would be officially named Stacy Dragila Track, in honor of the 1990 graduate.A bright green and gold sign will be mounted just below the announcer's booth at Le Febvre Stadium, which will host the Sierra Foothill League Track & Field Championships on Wednesday and Friday.Hyatt had the idea for the track-naming project after Dragila's historic gold medal-winning performance in 2000. After a few scheduling challenges, the idea came to fruition."I think the time was right," Hyatt said. "It was good to do it while she's still vaulting. With Stacy and the achievements she's had, it's a once in a lifetime deal, not only for her, but for the community of Auburn and Placer High School."The students at Placer showed their appreciation for the school's most famous athletic alumnus with loud ovations for Dragila throughout the presentation.Dragila hoped to inspire the Placer student body with her inspirational story. A standout hurdler for the Hillgals, Dragila qualified for the CIF State Championships as a sophomore and as a senior, but it didn't go as well as she would have liked. "As a senior, I went there, I was way too nervous and just ran a crappy race," Dragila said. "I thought nobody's going to look at me to run track in college, I thought I'd never get a scholarship."Dragila wound up at Yuba Community College in Marysville, where she steadily improved and earned a scholarship to Idaho State University.She hadn't even attempted the pole vault until coach Dave Nielsen suggested she give it a shot at the age of 23, when she was about to wrap up her final year in Pocatello, Idaho."I tried it a couple of times and it was really hard, it was really frustrating," Dragila said of her first experience with pole vaulting. "But I wanted to continue to work on it because my coach (Nielsen) continued to encourage me."As Dragila said, "The rest is history."After toiling with the women's vault in virtual obscurity for several years, Dragila rose to prominence when it was announced that the women's pole vault would be included at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.She won the first-ever gold medal in the event. She's also won eight U.S. Outdoor Championships, eight U.S. Indoor Championships and three World Championships in the pole vault. Dragila also still has her place among the all-time Placer track greats as she holds the record in the girls' 300-meter hurdles."She wasn't the best pure athlete, but she was one of the most competitive people I've ever seen," said Hyatt.Before Dragila was introduced Monday, Placer Union High School District Superintendent Bart O' Brien read a letter from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in recognition of Dragila's contribution to the school and community.Dragila has had a slow start to the 2005 season. She was scheduled to compete at the Modesto Relays over the weekend, but was forced to withdraw after suffering a slight tear of her Achilles tendon recently.Now she's aiming at the U.S. Outdoor Championships in Carson in late June to make what she hopes will be a triumphant return. She's ultimately hoping to get back to the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland in August, where she'd have a chance at redemption after a disappointing performance at last summer's Olympics in Athens, Greece.After changing shoes for the Olympics, sore Achilles tendons in both legs nagged Dragila and she was unable to make the finals in Athens.At 34 years old, Dragila may be past the prime of her career. But don't be surprised if she makes another run at the world championship and even another Olympic medal. After all, she knows all about the hard work, patience and dedication it takes to get there.