Brad Walker and Jennifer Stuczynski, the new faces of American pole vaulting, picked up where they left off in 2005 at the 16th annual National Pole Vault Summit at the Reno Hilton on Friday.

Walker, the Helsinki World Championship silver medalist, defended his title at 5.60m/18-4.50 over 2004 Olympic silver medalist Toby Stevenson. Stuczynski, the 2005 USA Track & Field Indoor champion, won the women's competition at 4.55m/14-11 over Jillian Schwartz.

Amid blaring rock music at the event held on a hotel theatre stage with the men's and women's competition taking place on intersecting runways, Walker needed only five jumps to win over Stevenson at 5.60m/18-4.50 on fewer misses, in what was a low key competition in comparison to previous years.

Walker, who is currently the IAAF World Ranked number one for the event, cleared 5.50m/18-0.50 and 5.60m/18-4.50 on his first attempts with Stevenson scaling both heights on his second attempt. Both then missed three times at 5.80m/19-0.25. American record holder Jeff Hartwig and 2000 Olympic champion Nick Hysong tied for third at 5.50m/18-0.50.

Walker, 24, won last year's Pole Vault Summit in a then personal-best 5.83m/19-1.50 to kick off his first full professional season after completing his collegiate eligibility at the University of Washington, where he was a two-time NCAA indoor champion.

Walker won the 2005 USATF indoor and outdoor titles and posted wins in Paris, Sheffield and Rieti last summer. In Rieti, Walker moved into sixth place on the all-time U.S. list with a 5.96m clearance.

"It was an incredible year and a breakthrough year and I am excited to be where I am at as quickly as I have been," said Walker, who continues to live and train in Seattle, Wash., with his college coach Pat Lacari. "It was one of those things where I was striving to make my first (U.S. national) team and things went my way and I capitalized on it.''

Walker plans to compete in the Millrose Games (Feb. 3) in New York City,the Tyson Invitational (Feb.11) and the USATF Indoor Championships in Boston (Feb. 24-26 Feb) in an attempt to qualify for the 2006 World Indoor Championships in Moscow in March (10 - 12).

Jennifer Stuczynski, who currently owns the second best women's indoor mark in the world this year with her career-best 4.68m15-4.25 clearance two weeks ago in Michigan, had her own source of motivation in her first appearance at the Pole Vault Summit.

The 23-year-old had hoped to challenge the American indoor record of 4.81m/15-9.25 held by Stacy Dragila. An eight-time Reno winner, Dragila was present at the meet but did not compete.

"I wanted to go after the record. I didn't get it but we're going to make it another meet," said Stuczynski. "It would have been nice to jump against her, but it didn't matter who vaulted. I was doing what I needed to do."

Still a relative newcomer to the event, Stuczynski, a former basketball, volleyball and softball player, who took up vaulting a year and a half ago, said she has made great strides over the last season. She had five consecutive personal bests this season, leading up to her 4.68m/15- 4.25 vault on January 14 to move into second place on the all-time U.S. indoor list.

Competing with a singlet with the name SUHR in honor of her coach Rick Suhr, Stucyzinski passed the opening three heights at Reno before first-attempt clearances at 4.35m/14-3.25 and 4.45m/14-7.25. She cleared 4.55m/14-11.25 on her second attempt to win the competition over Jillian Schwartz, who made the height on her third attempt. Tracy O'Hara was third at 4.45m/14-7.25.

Pole Vault Summit facts and figures: Mike Tully, the 1984 Olympic silver medalist and Summit meet director and founder Bob Fraley were inducted into the USATF Pole Vault Hall of Fame ceremony held in conjunction with the Summit.

The two-day meet that ran through Saturday featured more than 1200 competitors ranging from high school, college and open vaulters including 2004 Mexican Olympian Giovanni Lanaro. There were 68 vault competitions contested over 15 hours with competitions taking place simultaneously on 11 runways in hotel ballrooms.