University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Athletics

Melissa Mueller has never been an ordinary athlete. A multi-event competitor for UW-Oshkosh head coach Deb Vercauteren’s indoor and outdoor track & field teams from 1991 to 1994, Mueller showed extraordinary talent as a college track athlete. Despite not competing in the pole vault in college, she added this event to her long list of athletic competitions and soared her way to the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
 
As a UW-Oshkosh athlete, Mueller accumulated an impressive 11 NCAA Division III All-America awards ,while capturing first-place finishes. Her talent helped the 1994 UW-Oshkosh indoor track & field team and the 1991 and 1994 outdoor track & field teams to NCAA Division III titles.
 
Mueller, a McFarland High School graduate, began turning heads in the WWIAC her sophomore year at UW-Oshkosh. In 1992, she captured the WWIAC indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon and earned NCAA Division III All-America honors by placing sixth in the indoor high jump.
 
In 1993, Mueller continued to improve, becoming a force to be reckoned with in the WWIAC and the country. Mueller earned WWIAC indoor titles in the high jump and 55-meter hurdles and outdoor WWIAC titles in the high jump and 100-meter hurdles. Nationally, she placed second in the high jump and sixth in the 55-meter hurdles to gain All-America status in both events. Her indoor national success carried into the outdoor season as she won the WWIAC high jump and 100-meter hurdles and earned three NCAA Division III All-America honors by winning the high jump, placing seventh in the 100-meter hurdles and eighth in the 400-meter relay.
 
In 1994, Mueller leaped to a WWIAC title in the indoor high jump and ran to WWIAC titles in the indoor 55-meter hurdles and outdoor 100-meter hurdles. With experience and talent on her side, Mueller Captured national titles in the high jump and 55-meters and also had an All-America performance in the long jump. Mueller finished her outstanding UW-Oshkosh career by earning NCAA Division III All-America titles in the outdoor season, placing seventh in the high jump and fourth in the 100-meter hurdles.
 
Other honors received by Mueller in 1994 included her selection as the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) NCAA Division III Track & Field Athlete of the Year. She also was named that year as the winner of UW-Oshkosh’s John Taylor Senior Scholar-athlete Award and the WWIAC’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award.
 
Graduating from UW-Oshkosh in 1995 with a 3.60 grade point average, Mueller earned a degree in early childhood education. She then took the advice of former assistant coach Evan Perkins and began training in the pole vault. No one could have predicted that she would soon become one of the finest female pole vaulters in the world.
 
In 1996, Mueller assumed the title of professional athlete and tied for ninth in the pole vault at the U.S. Track & Field Championships with a leap of 11- 5 3/4. By 1997, Mueller was among the top three pole vaulters in the country, reaching heights of over 12 feet.
 
Mueller twice set the American indoor pole vault record in 1999, first with a vault of 14-8 3/4 at the Milrose Games, where she earned the meet’s Outstanding Performer Award, and then again in Boston reaching a height of 14-9. In 2000, Mueller placed third at the U.S. Olympic Trials to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team that competed in the inaugural women’s pole vault competition. After Sydney, she continued her career until 2003 when she earned a gold medal and set a meet record at the Pan American Games. Mueller’s top vault of 15-1 3/4 ranked her in the top ten in the world.
 
Mueller, who was inducted into the USTFCCCA NCAA Division III Hall of Fame in 2004, is now a full-time mom and lives in Chandler, Ariz., with her husband, Michael Clark, and two daughters, Olivia and Sophia.