Photo by: Red Box Pictures
Tori Franzen In Focus
April 12, 2018 | Track & Field
Fifth-year senior Tori Franzen is still looking to raise the bar in her final spring as a Dawg. The native of Bellingham, Wash. upped her career best in the pole vault to 12-11 ½ back at the Stanford Invitational and last week took second-place at the Pepsi Team Invitational. Having just finished up a double degree in Political Science and Communications, Frazen talked about getting a start on a career and what she'll miss most about college athletics.
GoHuskies: Since this is your fifth year, where are you in terms of finishing your studies?
Tori Franzen: I actually just finished last quarter. This quarter I'm working and competing and trying to balance adult life and college life. It's a real estate job, I'm an assistant to a couple brokers, and hopefully I'll eventually be a broker myself.
GH: What got you interested in real estate?
TF: I just thought it would be an interesting career path, where you do something a little different every day which appeals to me. I decided to branch out and try to find someone who knew someone who knew someone who knew something about real estate, and I found it.
GH: What did you earn your degree in?
TF: I double majored in political science and communications. Snuck the political science major in kind of last minute, but it was good.
GH: What academic moments are you most proud of?
TF: I don't know if I've had a very specific moment, but there have been classes where I looked back and thought wow, I learned so much in that class and I'm really grateful that I took that. Taking political science a little later, I think I had a lot more of those moments, so it was a really good decision adding that in. I feel like I learned a lot and gained a better understanding of what is going on around me.
GH: How pleased were you with your PR at Stanford?
TF: You're always grateful for a PR but anyone you ask I think you always want more. I'm really excited about my new PR and it's a good benchmark, 13-feet for girls, it's good to get there and now I'm just excited to see what the season has to come. Get some bigger bars and hopefully qualify for Regionals.
GH: What specific parts of your vault are you still trying to improve?
TF: Everyone no matter where you are you're always working on your plant. Technique-wise, keeping my arms straight and above my head constantly, and keeping with my pole a lot is a big problem for me.
GH: When you say keeping with your pole, can you explain that a little more?
TF: When you're coming off the top of the vault, you ideally would like to be completely vertical and in-line with your pole, but a lot of people tend to flag off and go off to the side and come off the pole earlier than you should so you don't get as much out of the pole, so ideally getting everything out of the pole that I could and being straight up and down is the goal.
GH: What competitive memories have you cherished the most?
TF: Everyone always likes the moments where they do really well, but I think also I've spent some really great moments with teams, like Pac-12s last year, we just had a really awesome group of girls. That stands out to me, just thinking about competing with all my friends, and you're in a cool place getting to compete, so things like that stand out to me a little more.
GH: In high school you were a standout diver, and you competed in gymnastics, so did you consider going to college for one of those sports?
TF: I was thinking about diving in college, and reached out to a couple places, and was told I could probably have a walk-on spot, but I think pole vault was there for me and I really enjoyed it and just decided that's what I wanted to pursue and stay closer to home.
GH: How did you get into pole vaulting?
TF: I started pole vaulting my freshman year of high school. My sister had tried it before me, and she, like me, had done gymnastics. She's funny, she said, 'I wasn't very good at it, but you'd be really good, you should do it!' And another one of my friends I did gym with tried pole vaulting with me. We did it, and I wasn't very good my freshman year, but I thought it was kind of fun, and then I got better the next year and said okay, I really like this! But it really translated well from my other sports, because gymnastics you have to have a lot of upper-body strength and body awareness and the same with diving. A lot of pole vaulters are ex-gymnasts.
GH: There was a welcome-back department meeting where you wowed everyone with how long you could hold a handstand along with the gymnasts. What's the longest you've ever held a handstand?
TF: Oh gosh, I have no idea. It was funny, that was the one time that I swear the whole athletic department was like 'Oh, hi Tori!" I was like wow this is great, I felt like a football player for about a week.
GH: What do you love most about the vault?
TF: I think I just love the sport itself but I love the community that it brings honestly so much. I'll miss the sport and miss competing and I'm sure I'll find some other athletic thing, but just the camaraderie between you and your teammates that become your friends, and that's your life for a while. That will be the thing I miss the most. I'll also really miss challenging myself, setting those goals and getting a PR like I did at Stanford. Those kinds of achievements will be harder to see.
GH: What other moments stand out to you apart from the vaulters?
TF: The one that instantly came to mind was our Wazzu dual last year, the end of the 4x4 where everyone's whooping and hollering and it was just a cool track experience that you don't usually get with track. That was fun to be a part of while watching. I'm not on the 4x4 team but it's still us and we did it, and that's cool.
GH: Any other Husky sports memories in general?
TF: My freshman year we were at the football game, everyone was really excited to go even though it was pouring rain. It was just dumping, like the hardest rain I've seen in the five years I've been here. We were all just soaking wet. It was completely sideways rain, and there was a point where you just took your hood off because you were so soaked, but it was a weird experience where it became so fun, because we were all drenched and enjoying the game and we didn't even care, it was like this is Washington football, this is what it's going to be about.
GH: What's your favorite place to eat around UW?
TF: I love Portage Bay and I love Mama Melina's
GH: What movie have you watched the most?
TF: The Parent Trap, the Lindsay Lohan version
GH: Favorite TV show?
TF: I'm a big Gilmore Girls fan so I always rewatch those. I'm excited to see the new Westworld too.
GH: Hardest workout Coach Licari puts you through?
TF: I don't know if it's the hardest, but Pat is the most creative coach you'll ever have. He's always coming up with the most ridiculous drills. Sometimes I'm like wow this is really great! But sometimes you're like what is this doing? But we always have really intricate and interesting drills that are fun and a new challenge.
GH: Dream vacation spot?
TF: I really want to go to Paris.
GH: What's your go-to caffeinated beverage?
TF: I love chai tea lattes
GH: Any pre-meet rituals or superstions?
TF: I feel like every pole vaulter is very superstitious. One thing I really like to do is just blast one particular song really loud before a meet, and just go ham. It has to be really loud, it's usually a song called "Savage".
GoHuskies: Since this is your fifth year, where are you in terms of finishing your studies?
Tori Franzen: I actually just finished last quarter. This quarter I'm working and competing and trying to balance adult life and college life. It's a real estate job, I'm an assistant to a couple brokers, and hopefully I'll eventually be a broker myself.
GH: What got you interested in real estate?
TF: I just thought it would be an interesting career path, where you do something a little different every day which appeals to me. I decided to branch out and try to find someone who knew someone who knew someone who knew something about real estate, and I found it.
GH: What did you earn your degree in?
TF: I double majored in political science and communications. Snuck the political science major in kind of last minute, but it was good.
GH: What academic moments are you most proud of?
TF: I don't know if I've had a very specific moment, but there have been classes where I looked back and thought wow, I learned so much in that class and I'm really grateful that I took that. Taking political science a little later, I think I had a lot more of those moments, so it was a really good decision adding that in. I feel like I learned a lot and gained a better understanding of what is going on around me.
GH: How pleased were you with your PR at Stanford?
TF: You're always grateful for a PR but anyone you ask I think you always want more. I'm really excited about my new PR and it's a good benchmark, 13-feet for girls, it's good to get there and now I'm just excited to see what the season has to come. Get some bigger bars and hopefully qualify for Regionals.
GH: What specific parts of your vault are you still trying to improve?
TF: Everyone no matter where you are you're always working on your plant. Technique-wise, keeping my arms straight and above my head constantly, and keeping with my pole a lot is a big problem for me.
GH: When you say keeping with your pole, can you explain that a little more?
TF: When you're coming off the top of the vault, you ideally would like to be completely vertical and in-line with your pole, but a lot of people tend to flag off and go off to the side and come off the pole earlier than you should so you don't get as much out of the pole, so ideally getting everything out of the pole that I could and being straight up and down is the goal.
GH: What competitive memories have you cherished the most?
TF: Everyone always likes the moments where they do really well, but I think also I've spent some really great moments with teams, like Pac-12s last year, we just had a really awesome group of girls. That stands out to me, just thinking about competing with all my friends, and you're in a cool place getting to compete, so things like that stand out to me a little more.
GH: In high school you were a standout diver, and you competed in gymnastics, so did you consider going to college for one of those sports?
TF: I was thinking about diving in college, and reached out to a couple places, and was told I could probably have a walk-on spot, but I think pole vault was there for me and I really enjoyed it and just decided that's what I wanted to pursue and stay closer to home.
GH: How did you get into pole vaulting?
TF: I started pole vaulting my freshman year of high school. My sister had tried it before me, and she, like me, had done gymnastics. She's funny, she said, 'I wasn't very good at it, but you'd be really good, you should do it!' And another one of my friends I did gym with tried pole vaulting with me. We did it, and I wasn't very good my freshman year, but I thought it was kind of fun, and then I got better the next year and said okay, I really like this! But it really translated well from my other sports, because gymnastics you have to have a lot of upper-body strength and body awareness and the same with diving. A lot of pole vaulters are ex-gymnasts.
GH: There was a welcome-back department meeting where you wowed everyone with how long you could hold a handstand along with the gymnasts. What's the longest you've ever held a handstand?
TF: Oh gosh, I have no idea. It was funny, that was the one time that I swear the whole athletic department was like 'Oh, hi Tori!" I was like wow this is great, I felt like a football player for about a week.
GH: What do you love most about the vault?
TF: I think I just love the sport itself but I love the community that it brings honestly so much. I'll miss the sport and miss competing and I'm sure I'll find some other athletic thing, but just the camaraderie between you and your teammates that become your friends, and that's your life for a while. That will be the thing I miss the most. I'll also really miss challenging myself, setting those goals and getting a PR like I did at Stanford. Those kinds of achievements will be harder to see.
GH: What other moments stand out to you apart from the vaulters?
TF: The one that instantly came to mind was our Wazzu dual last year, the end of the 4x4 where everyone's whooping and hollering and it was just a cool track experience that you don't usually get with track. That was fun to be a part of while watching. I'm not on the 4x4 team but it's still us and we did it, and that's cool.
GH: Any other Husky sports memories in general?
TF: My freshman year we were at the football game, everyone was really excited to go even though it was pouring rain. It was just dumping, like the hardest rain I've seen in the five years I've been here. We were all just soaking wet. It was completely sideways rain, and there was a point where you just took your hood off because you were so soaked, but it was a weird experience where it became so fun, because we were all drenched and enjoying the game and we didn't even care, it was like this is Washington football, this is what it's going to be about.
GH: What's your favorite place to eat around UW?
TF: I love Portage Bay and I love Mama Melina's
GH: What movie have you watched the most?
TF: The Parent Trap, the Lindsay Lohan version
GH: Favorite TV show?
TF: I'm a big Gilmore Girls fan so I always rewatch those. I'm excited to see the new Westworld too.
GH: Hardest workout Coach Licari puts you through?
TF: I don't know if it's the hardest, but Pat is the most creative coach you'll ever have. He's always coming up with the most ridiculous drills. Sometimes I'm like wow this is really great! But sometimes you're like what is this doing? But we always have really intricate and interesting drills that are fun and a new challenge.
GH: Dream vacation spot?
TF: I really want to go to Paris.
GH: What's your go-to caffeinated beverage?
TF: I love chai tea lattes
GH: Any pre-meet rituals or superstions?
TF: I feel like every pole vaulter is very superstitious. One thing I really like to do is just blast one particular song really loud before a meet, and just go ham. It has to be really loud, it's usually a song called "Savage".
Players Mentioned
PV
/ Track & FieldRaising the Bar | Hana & Amanda Moll
Monday, August 04
Women's 1500m final - 2025 NCAA outdoor track and field championship
Sunday, June 15
Nathan Green | 2025 NCAA 1500m Champion
Saturday, June 14
Track & Field NCAA Championships | Huskies Highlights
Friday, June 13
