“Who are those guys?”
Like the heroes of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” the movie with that famous line, Oregon high jumpers Jenny Brogdon and Rachael Kriz are markedly different in personality and approach to their craft.
And they’re women.
One is quiet, the other outspoken. One is technically sound, the other confident enough to almost will herself over the bar. One is a freshman, whose form was broken down when she came to Oregon, then built back up. The other is a sophomore, who is just breaking through a barrier that has been over her head since high school.
Who are these women?
That is the question that baffles those associated with Oregon track and field. They wonder how two athletes can be so different, yet so similar when it comes time to jump.
You see, despite their differences, Brogdon and Kriz seem to feed off each other at track meets. They have matched each other’s jumps at their past three meets and have progressed at the same rate since the beginning of the year. If they experience major success this season, they will most likely experience it together.
“They’ve both progressed this season,” said sprints and jumps coach Mark Stream of his high-jumping pair. “They’ve been consistent, but they don’t have the same approach to jumping.”
Brogdon, the sophomore, has been “stuck in a rut,” as she put it, since her sophomore year in high school. Although she made the Pac-10 meet last year and won the Oregon 4A State title the year before that, Brogdon managed to accomplish those feats jumping 5 feet, 6 1/2 inches or below. This year, though, the Pac-10 qualifying standard was raised to 5-7.
“I’ve been jumping 5-6 since my sophomore year in high school. I’ve never gotten 5-7, and it was just this big mental block,” Brogdon said. “So this year I just got 5-7, and it was a really big breakthrough.”
Brogdon hit the Pac-10 qualifying mark of 5-7 at the Washington Dual along with Kriz, and now Brogdon is aiming higher, figuratively and literally. The LaGrande native says she wants to hit 5-8, 5-10 and then 5-10 1/2, which would land her on the NCAA Provisional list.
But those predictions mask Brogdon’s shy, retiring manner that often works against her in meets.
“For Jenny, we’ve been working more on her mental consistency,” Stream said. “She’s technically sound, though.”
Janette Davis, a middle distance runner and friend of both high jumpers, says that Brogdon sometimes gets nervous at meets.
“Jenny’s a little more quiet and to herself [than Kriz],” Davis said.
As that statement indicates, Kriz is almost 180 degrees away from Brogdon in personality. The freshman has no problem getting fired up for meets and even takes her team with her at times.
“Rachael’s more like, ‘Let’s go,’” Davis said. “She’s really enthusiastic.”
Kriz also hit 5-7 at the Washington Dual and beat out Brogdon for first place on fewer misses.

The freshman says she is simply excited to be playing for the Ducks.
“Hayward Field is the most beautiful track I’ve ever been at in my entire life,” Kriz said. “It’s a dream to even be jumping for the Ducks.”
Kriz needs to turn that dream into a reality quickly, because soon she’s going to be jumping into the NCAA Championships, Stream said. The coach said that Kriz’s one weakness coming into this season was her form, so he taught her to jump Oregon-style.
“They’re changing my run-up and stuff like that, so I feel like I’m finally getting the hang of that,” Kriz said. “Hopefully my marks will start going up.”
Kriz said that Brogdon and Stream push her, and that she looks to them for encouragement first. But at meets where the men and women compete together, Kriz has her brother, sophomore hammer thrower Adam, to support and push her.
In fact, the high-jumping duo of Brogdon and Kriz agrees that family is important when competing. Both sets of parents will watch their daughters compete Saturday at the Oregon Invitational at Hayward, and both Oregon natives say that will help them.
But that’s not the only thing Brogdon and Kriz agree on. Both jumpers gushed over Catherine Tenedios, a freshman high jumper who pushes both athletes in the weight room and on the track.
“Catherine’s awesome, put that in there,” Kriz said. “She’s really supportive.”
There is one more thing that Brogdon and Kriz agree on, and it may be the most important. Both jumpers agree that Duck pride is more important than they are as individuals, except, of course, when it comes time to jump.
“They add a lot of enthusiasm and excitement,” Davis said. “They’re both a kick, just high energy and fun to be around.”
While they may be apples and oranges, pears and radishes or the tortoise and the hare, Brogdon and Kriz will always jump together. It doesn’t matter whose parents are where, who is more confident or who had bad Cheerios for breakfast, if one goes over the bar, chances are good that the other will go over right after.
“If one does something, the other believes she can do it, too,” Stream said.
So, now do you know who they are?