Jared O'Connor Class: Senior Hometown: Clifton Park, N.Y. High School: Shenendehowa Last College: North Carolina Event: Pole Vault Experience: 1V

Ended last season with a huge breakthrough, winning the West Region pole vault title and finishing second at the NCAA Championships to earn All-America honors ... raised his PR by nearly a foot over the season's final two meets.

2008: Realized great potential with huge improvements at the NCAA Regionals and NCAA Championships, which resulted in a West Regional title and a second-place finish at nationals ... in first NCAA appearance, tied for second with a clearance of 17-2 ¾ in difficult winds, and earned first career All-America honor ... entered West Regionals with a season-best of 16-6 ¾, the minimum qualifying mark, then proceeded to clear new personal-bests on three straight vaults to win the title with a mark of 17-5 as he improved his PR by nearly a foot in one day ... also impressive was his newfound consistency, as O'Connor went from missing his first Regional attempt at 16-1 ¾, to clearing the next three heights on his first try, something he did equally well at NCAA's ... prior to Regionals, struggled to 14th-place finish at Pac-10's with a mark of 16-0 ¾, showing how remarkable his sudden success really was ... cleared 16-6 ¾ at the Sun Angel Classic and Mt. SAC Relays to qualify for Regionals ... indoors, top vault was 16-7 ½ at the UW Invitational.

2007: UW's No. 4 pole vaulter outdoors, cleared 16-0 ¾ at the Pepsi Invite for a second-place finish ... cleared the same height in unattached competition at the Mt. SAC Relays ... competed three times unattached during indoor season.

2006 (UNC/UW): Competed indoors at North Carolina before transferring to Washington in the spring ... was the No. 7 overall finisher at the ACC Indoor Championships, clearing 15-7 ... topped personal-best 16-7 1/4 at the Virginia Tech Last Chance Meet indoors ... redshirted the outdoor campaign at UW.

2005 (North Carolina): Competed indoors and outdoors for the Tar Heels ... topped season-best 15-1 indoors.

High School and Personal: Parents are Gale and Brian ... has an older brother, Aaron ... won back-to-back state indoor titles in 2003 and 2004 ... set the New York state prep record with a clearance of 15-10 in his victory at state indoors in 2004, held in the Syracuse Carrier Dome ... matched the performance at the 2004 Nike Indoor Nationals at the New York City Armory ... earned All-America honors with finishes at the Nike Indoor Nationals in both 2003 and 2004 ... a three-time state qualifier and four-time Nike Nationals competitor ... majoring in environmental studies.

Major Meets
2005 ACC TF-I - NH, PV
2006 ACC TF-I - 7th, PV
2008 Pac-10 TF - 14th, PV
2008 Regional TF - 1st, PV
2008 NCAA-O - 2nd (tie), PV*

* Indicates All-America honor

Collegiate Best Marks
Pole Vault.......17-1i / 17-5