Jenn Suhr remembers seeing a member of the Roberts Wesleyan College men’s track and field team practice pole vaulting in the Voller Athletic Center about 20 years ago and shaking her head in awe.
“He was clearing about 12 feet and I asked him if he was going to the Olympics because that just seemed amazing to me,” she said.
That vaulter never qualified for the Olympics, but Suhr did. Three times.
The 2004 Roberts graduate, who was a basketball player named Jenn Stuczynski when she reluctantly first picked up a pole at age 22, embarked on an incredible 18-year career that saw her become the greatest women’s pole vaulter in American history.
Suhr, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist, 17-time U.S. national champion and current world record holder in the indoor pole vault, officially announced her retirement from competitive track and field on June 23 at age 40.
Her announcement came on the eve of the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Suhr said she knew it was time because the focus of her conversations with her husband and coach, Rick Suhr, had shifted from heights and meets to things that would be happening after pole vault.
“It just kind of just clicked and I have no regrets,” Suhr said. “I think that this is a great place to end. I am not ending with an injury, and I am not ending in a place where I can’t vault.”
“The Roberts community celebrates the outstanding achievements and athletic career accomplishments of alumna Jenn Suhr ‘04,” Roberts Wesleyan College President Dr. Deana L. Porterfield said. “She has been a role model to our community as she earned accolades on the international stage, holding the highest records in the world, with persistence and humility.
“As Jenn retires from active participation in the sport of pole vaulting while continuing to hold her ranking with international records, it is remarkable that she has devoted herself to helping up-and-coming athletes. Well done and thank you, Jenn, for staying true to who you are and modeling excellence and character in every aspect of your life.”
Suhr, a native of Fredonia, averaged 24.3 points while leading the Roberts women’s basketball team to the National Christian College Athletic Association championship game in 2004. She graduated as the all-time leading scorer in Roberts women’s basketball history with 1,819 points and was named the NCCAA National Player of the Year as a senior.
Roberts Director of Athletics Bob Segave recalls the first time he met Suhr in person. Suhr was training in Voller Athletic Center as was the women’s basketball team, which Segave coached at the time. After her workout, she made her way over and talked with the star-struck team.
“She was so humble and gracious,” Segave said. “She spoke about her time at Roberts on the basketball court, which some of the players were not familiar with. We continued what became many wonderful conversations. We are so proud of her determination, grit and perseverance. I always tell her that her ‘heart of a champion’ and ‘mental toughness’ is at its best when the stage is the biggest.
“I feel that it is appropriate that Jenn, a woman who has reached record-breaking heights, announced her decision to retire from competition on the 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX. I have no doubt in my mind that she will continue to inspire and influence female athletes long into the future.”
Suhr also won NCCAA titles in the javelin, 100 hurdles and pole vault during her time at Roberts. She started pole vaulting after meeting Rick Suhr on the Roberts campus and won the 2005 U.S. championship just 10 months after picking up the sport.
She went on to win an unprecedented 16 more national championships and is the only vaulter (man or woman) in U.S. track and field history to win three Olympic trials. Suhr retires as the world record holder in the indoor vault (5.03 meters, 16 feet, 6 inches) and has held the women’s indoor world record since March 2, 2013.
She won a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and finished seventh while battling a severe virus at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janiero.
As she looks back on her career, Suhr appreciates competing on the world’s biggest stages but takes the most pride in the way she went about her business every day.
“I think that if I look at my career as a whole, it’s the resilience that I am most proud of,” Suhr said. “There were times 10 years ago when people thought I should retire and there could have been shortcuts, but Rick and I never took them. When things got tough, we just settled in and went back to work.”
She is also grateful for all of the support that she has received during her career, especially from her fellow Western New Yorkers.
“I just want to thank all of the people that were there for it,” she said. “I never would have made it alone and I needed all of the people that I had to support me along the way. I was very blessed to have the people that I had behind me.”
Those people include the Roberts community. Suhr has returned to her alma mater several times over the years, including pole vaulting exhibitions after the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, and has always felt at home. Her gold medal tour visited Roberts for Homecoming Weekend on September 28, 2012.
“It’s amazing to have gone to a college that wouldn’t have been known to have a pole vaulter or track and field athlete come from there,” Suhr said. “When I go back to Roberts, I see professors and administrators from years ago and it’s like I haven’t missed a beat. I can walk into Bob (Segave’s) office, sit down and grab a piece of candy and catch up. Those are things that you don’t get at other colleges.”
The Suhrs have moved back to the area and Jenn is looking forward to the “freedom” that retirement offers, including camping with family and taking part in activities that she couldn’t enjoy as a competitive athlete. She has a pair of water skis that she hopes to break in this summer and is looking forward to hitting the slopes for the first time this winter.
“I’m free to break bones and tear ligaments now,” she said with a laugh.
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