CHILI — Before taking off to Paris for the Summer Olympics, pole vaulter Brynn King received a gift from a young Chili boy name Jett Tortora.
Tortora handed the Roberts Wesleyan national champion a miniature cardboard vault and a homemade card that read, "Good luck Brynn. I hope you win a (medal). Love Jett." Tortora even made a mini cardboard version of King jumping. When King asked how high was the bar, Tortora said 15 feet, 5 inches.
"That's pretty good. I love it," King said to Tortora.
King, 23, overcame a plethora of injuries to soar into the Olympic Games. A large crowd showed up to Roberts Wesleyan's Voller Athletic Center Thursday to celebrate King with an Olympic send-off. King qualified for the three-person US Olympic women's pole vaulting team at the US Olympic Track and Field Trials on June 30 in Eugene, Oregon.
King, who was a fifth-year senior at Roberts, is fresh off of NCAA Division II championships in both indoor and outdoor track and field. The All-American Texas native transferred to Roberts from Duke specifically to be guided by coaches Jenn Suhr — who struck gold as a pole vaulter in the 2012 London Olympics — and husband Rick, who arrived to Roberts in 2023 after mulling over coaching at Power Five Division I schools.
King has never been to Paris.
"I'm extremely excited. This has kind of been a dream come true. ... I'm excited to get there and show what I've been working on in this short amount of time," King said.
Brynn King: overcame a broken body, broken spirit
When King arrived to Roberts Wesleyan in the spring of 2023, coach Rick Suhr said she was "broken up physically".
King endured four major surgeries between high school and her four-year career at Duke. She tore her ACL a month after being introduced to pole vaulting as a junior at Concordia Lutheran High School in Tombell, Texas. King suffered a second ACL tear less than two years later. She also had hip and ankle surgery.
"Those were probably some of the most challenging times of my life. ... All the time in the back of my mind was, 'I want to get back to jumping. I want to see how high I can jump.' That was the motivating factor for me to just push through the times," King said.
King first met the Suhrs at a clinic years ago. Jenn and Rick monitored King's volume to keep her healthy. They thought the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles was possible "with a lot of luck". Paris was not even a thought until a month before trials.
"Our goal when she got here was, 'Hey, is there anyway we can have an All-American our first year here with the program? ... She started getting better so quickly, it's like, 'OK, we have a shot at maybe having a national champ.' Then it's like, 'We have a shot at maybe a national record,'" Rick said.
In March, King became Roberts Wesleyan's first individual national champion when she won the NCAA indoor pole vault title. She then won the NCAA outdoor championship in May. At the US Olympic trials in June, King missed a jump at 15 feet, 2.25 inches, then passed at 15-4.25 to gain two more attempts, clearing the Olympic standard 15-6.25 on her first try.
King's career best jump at Duke was 13-11.25. She never qualified for an NCAA Division I championship or the USATF outdoor nationals. Now she's on the US Olympic women's pole vaulting team with Bridget Williams and Katie Moon.
King plans to fly to Paris Friday, July 26 and will miss the Olympics' opening ceremony that day. The women's pole vault qualifications begin Monday, Aug. 5. King plans to attend the closing ceremony Aug. 11.
Brynn King went from cheerleading to pole vault
King grew up cheerleading for 11 years before joining her high school's track and field team as a junior. The track coach saw her run and suggested she try the pole vault. King then won the Texas Association of Private and Parochial School outdoor championship her senior season.
King began her college career as a Division I athlete at Duke. Her parents, Michael and Cara, were athletes there. King entered the transfer portal in 2023 and joined the Suhrs at Roberts. Jenn Suhr is an Olympic gold and silver medalist who was a basketball star at Roberts. She grew up in Fredonia and currently lives in Riga.
King, Jenn and Rick Suhrs cut a congratulatory cake together to commemorate King's Olympic send-off.
"The most proud I've been is how everyone's taken Brynn in. She has a family here. I was worried about what it would be like not being in your hometown being an Olympian. That hasn't been a worry anymore," Jenn Suhr said.
— Marquel Slaughter is a journalist for the Democrat and Chronicle, specializing in high school sports. He has been a reporter for 15 years. Follow him @MarquelSports and X or on Instagram. You can contact him at mslaughter1@gannett.com.
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