DANIELLE WENZ: REACHING FOR NEW HEIGHTS.

Byline: Scott Magoloff Daily News Staff Writer

While it would be somewhat of a stretch to call Danielle Wenz a pioneer, she did forge her own path toward excellence in a sport that was only sanctioned by the CIF for girls in 1995.

And in 1995, when the current Canyon High senior was a freshman, she took hold of a pole for the first time ever, sprinted down the runway and vaulted six feet. It was her first day of high school track practice and she had found something that quickly became a passion.

``(Coach Dave DeLong) handed me a pole the first day of practice and it was really scary,'' said Wenz, who set the school record in the event when she vaulted 10-6 last year. ``But once I did it, it was such an indescribable feeling. I didn't go very high, but my coach was really happy.''

The form that Wenz displayed on that fateful first vault suggested her potential. Assistant coach Paul Broneer said a 6-foot vault on any athlete's first attempt meant they would ``have to be kind of a natural.''

``We've got three or four freshmen who just started the event for the first time last week,'' he said. ``And they're still not to the point where we feel we should even put a bar up.''

Most athletes who try pole vaulting for the first time in high school do not actually attempt to vault over a bar until the comfort level allows. But Wenz was an exception to the rule.

With a background in gymnastics, Wenz was already accustomed to being airborne upside-down. Confidence and control in flight is a key in the pole vault. She also had an inclination to learn the sport from the time she was 10.

She had always been around track and field because of her brother, Mike, who also left his mark at Canyon, literally. Mike's school record for the 800 meters (1:53.00, set in 1994) still stands. Together, Danielle and Mike are the only brother-sister tandem to ever hold school records at Canyon.

``It was so incredibly exciting,'' she said. ``It makes me feel like, there's so many students at Canyon, but I actually did something there - not just another face.''

As a youth, hers was one of many faces in the crowds at the top high school track meets like Arcadia and Mt. SAC. She always went to watch Mike compete but wound up loving the whole scene. It is with this same youthful fervor that she has approached every meet she has competed in. And, because the upcoming Mt. SAC Invitational will be her last in the high school division, the exuberance will be overflowing.

``It's my favorite meet; I love it,'' she said. ``It's my last prep Mt. SAC meet, so I hope to make it memorable.''

And what would it take for Mt. SAC to be memorable for Wenz? ``Eleven feet would probably do it,'' she said.

And should she clear the 11-foot barrier, at least by the end of the season, Broneer speculated that she would be on the cusp of potential Division I college scholarships. But he would prefer that she leave no questions unanswered.

And the way Wenz's training program is arranged, there will be no answers at least until the Southern Section prelims start the postseason. She peaked last year at the section finals, where she set her school-record 10-6.

Wenz has not made that height in competition since then. But for a girl who ``watched my brother (at Mt.SAC) so many times, I wanted to go myself so bad,'' it seems that fate should serve her up one of those 11-foot vaults.