"That was definitely my craziest weekend," she said, laughing.But things are starting to slow down. Dockendorf completed her gymnastics career last month as the Huskies' all-time leader with six perfect 10s to go with 48 event titles, the fifth most in school history. She was the team's MVP this season.
This weekend, Dockendorf will be competing at the Pacific-10 Conference championships in Los Angeles.
"I'm really excited about this weekend," she said. "Every week I'm improving - I'm not taking a step back, I'm moving forward."
Although Dockendorf has competed in only two outdoor meets this season, the two-time NCAA championships pole vaulter hit a personal-best 13 feet, 5 3/4 inches last weekend at the Ken Foreman Invitational at Husky Stadium.
It was the ninth-best mark in the nation this year, and the second best ever by a UW athlete. It was also the seventh-best height by a Canadian and is Canada's second-best vault in 2005.
"She is the most amazing athlete I've ever seen," said fellow vaulter Kate Soma, one of Dockendorf's roommates. "And she makes it all look so easy."
Especially considering Dockendorf took up pole vaulting only four years ago.
"I always wanted to pole vault in high school, but we didn't have the facilities," she said. "Basically, I just showed up at (track) practice (her freshman year). The coach said, 'If you want, just come out.' So I started coming out, and I loved it."
With borrowed shoes and pole, she competed in her first meet just two weeks after learning to vault. Competing unattached, Dockendorf finished third with a mark of 12-1 that would have ranked fourth all-time at Washington. The team decided to bring her on, and Dockendorf began competing during her sophomore year. She has one year of eligibility left and is expected to graduate next spring.
"It's not really a safe sport, and neither is gymnastics," she said. "You have to be fearless, and I like that."
That fearlessness helped her land at Washington. As a high school senior, Dockendorf took gymnastics recruiting trips to Florida, Michigan, Penn State and Arizona but didn't like any of them. Wanting to be closer to home, she called UW gymnastics coach Bob Levesque and asked if she could visit the campus.
"I loved it," Dockendorf said. "(Levesque) just happened to have one scholarship left. I don't think he receives a lot of calls from potential gymnasts. For the most part, I think he's happy I made the call."
She has certainly made the most of her time at Washington, although Dockendorf says that with so much going on, some things do suffer - sort of.
"I still get a 3.0 (GPA)," the English major said. "And I'm happy and content with that. It's sad to say, but school definitely suffers more than it should sometimes."
Not that being busy is anything new. Dockendorf began competing in gymnastics at age 3, and by 10 she was competing nationally. She also squeezed in wrestling, rugby, track (the 200 meters and hurdles) and soccer in high school.
So it's not too surprising that a burned-out Dockendorf quit gymnastics in 10th grade. A former teammate persuaded her to return to the sport, and it paid off with a college scholarship.
"Competing in college was the best way to end my gymnastics career," Dockendorf said. "But I'm done. I don't have the passion that I had when I was 14 or 15 to continue at the next level."
But she does have that passion for pole vaulting.
"Pole vaulting the last few years has been exciting because it's new" Dockendorf said. "There are different qualities about each that I love. Competing in front of a (gymnastics) crowd is amazing, and pole vaulting doesn't have that kind of energy. But in pole vaulting, I don't even really know what I'm capable of yet. With gymnastics, I knew where the end was."
And the end might be a ways off.
Through her boyfriend, Brad Walker, she has been able to see where the sport can take her. Walker - whom Dockendorf met after she started pole vaulting while both were at Washington - is the reigning U.S. indoor national champion and competes professionally for Nike.
"He's doing something hopefully one day I can do - traveling the world, doing what he loves," Dockendorf said. "That would be my ultimate goal - to be a professional athlete and pole vaulter."
No wonder she's always laughing.
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Wendy Carpenter: 253-597-8680
wendy.carpenter@thenewstribune.com
Pac-10 track
Saturday and Sunday, Drake Stadium, UCLA
Schedule
Saturday: 10 a.m.-6:45 p.m. Sunday: 10:30 a.m.-5:45 p.m.
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