Posted 4/292/08
UW-Platteville's Ashleigh Waltz is a junior pole vaulter from Fennimore who will actually graduate in three and one-half years. Besides competing in the pole vault last week, she presented genetic research on the Britle star (like a starfish) with Dr. Wayne Weber at a symposium in River Falls.
You won the pole vault competition at the Augustana Meet of Champions April 25. How did that feel?
"It was exciting because I had never won a meet before. It was also challenging, because we've had to be inside a lot of the times (because of the weather), so I have only vaulted outside twice this season."
How long have you been vaulting and how did you get interested in it?
"This is my seventh season. I'm built like a pole vaulter. I'm not really built for distance. Our track coach in high school, Vince Lease, who is in our Hall of Fame, said, 'you're a vaulter through and through.' I have a lot of body awareness, so that helps with the technical aspects of pole vaulting."
What's the hardest thing about the event?
"Not getting frustrated. It's kind of like the multi events in that you can't let one vault destroy you for the day. You have to get up, do a vault and then sit back down and wait for a while. Being able to warm up properly is important because you vault and sit down, vault and sit down. Then you have to be able to think all the way through your vault, which is challenging. Every part of it is important; if you don't have a good plant, then you won't have a good top of the vault."
What has been your career highlight?
"I just really like being with the team, making friends and being able to use that in my academics. I really enjoy having a set schedule, because that's the type of person I am. I love the structure, and that makes my life outside of track structured. My highlight is to be successful at track and then to see results outside of track because of the work ethic we train for here."
You have obviously seen the results in the classroom, graduating in three and one-half years. What is your major and how do you manage?
"It's a long one. My major is biology with a genetic molecular emphasis, and then I have a biotechnology minor and a chemistry minor. I took 18-credit course loads and made sure that was always first. And then I came to practice. Last week, I didn't get to practice at all because of things I had to do in the classroom and going to River Falls to present a paper to a symposium. The main reason I wanted to graduate was because I wanted my mother to come to my graduation, but she ended up passing away in my sophomore year. Even though she doesn't get to do that, I was still on the track to graduate, and I decided to continue. School was always important for her, and for me to walk at graduation, a college graduation, is very important. Track is essentially a fun game, but it is so much a part of who I am that I couldn't stop doing that and just do school. It was something that was comfortable, keeping that routine coming out of high school. It was a good way to keep the structure I had and bring in the college elements. I could still keep a sense of who I was."
Is that why you stayed close to home?
"We didn't know about the situation with my mother until the week before I came to college, so I had chosen to come here long before my mother was diagnosed. My brother was already coming to school here, and it worked out that we could live together and save some money. There's just so much of a program here. I knew Coach (Jim) Nickasch and that everybody is so close and the professors here are people you can speak one-on-one with and they know your name and what you're like. At other schools, you don't have that luxury."
What would you like to do after graduation?
"I'm applying to graduate schools, like Iowa and Oklahoma. Oklahoma's program is a neurobiology program, and Iowa's program is a radiation oncology program. Either way, I want to take a neurobiology standpoint, but I also want to take a look at how cancer affects the body. Personal experience has directed me towards that field. I'm looking to do genetic-type research in those fields, and I wonder if I can morph that together. I may not be able to, but it will essentially be in the area I want to be. I'm a researcher, and I want to be in the lab."
Interview by Sports Information Director Paul Erickson