Melissa Price (born 20 September 1977) is a retired

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

er from the

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. She competed at the 1997 World Indoor Championships and the 1999 World Championships. Her personal best jump was metres, achieved in May 1998 in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. In 1995, while at

Kingsburg High School Kingsburg High School (KHS) is a public high school in Kingsburg, California, United States. The school is part of the Kingsburg Joint Union High School District. Its mascot is the Viking and its school colors are green and gold. As of 2018, th ...

in Kingsburg, California, Price set the first NFHS national high school record in the

at 12' 6". National High School Record Book Women were so new to pole vaulting that Price won the

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and

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National Championships while still in high school. Her 1995 victory set a new American record at , beating another upstart pole vaulter from

Idaho State University , mottoeng = "The truth will set you free" , established = , former_names = Academy of Idaho(1901–1915)Idaho Technical Institute(1915–1927)University of Idaho—Southern Branch(1927–1947)Idaho State ...

Stacy Dragila Stacy Renée Dragila (née Mikaelson; born March 25, 1971) is an American former pole vaulter. She is an Olympic gold medalist and a multiple world champion. Early life Dragila was born and raised in Auburn, California, northeast of Sacramen ...

. Price, then competing for Fresno State University finished second to Dragila the next two years and finished third in 1999. But 2000, the first Olympic year for women's pole vault, the competition had increased. Price would have needed to jump almost her personal best at the

Olympic Trials Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

just to get to Sydney, while Dragila raised the world record up to in that same meet. In Sydney, Dragila won the first gold medal.

References

External links

* 1977 births Living people American female pole vaulters People from Kingsburg, California Sportspeople from Fresno County, California NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winners Fresno State Bulldogs women's track and field athletes {{US-polevault-athletics-bio-stub