LEWISBURG, Pa. — Melanie Buczko is a smart young woman.

She has a 3.63 grade point average as a junior civil engineering student at Bucknell University. She also knows her stuff when it comes to the track and pole vault pit.

To prove the point, Buczko is a two-time winner of the Patriot League Women's Indoor Track and Field Scholar Athlete of the Year award.

That's why Buczko, a Butler Highgraduate, isn't panicking, despite her inconsistency in the pole vault this season.

Buczko had hoped to clear 13 feet in the pole vault on a consistent basis after tearing up the PatriotLeague in the indoor and outdoor seasons during her freshman and sophomore campaigns.

But that hasn't exactly worked out.

"The pole vault — it didn't start out all that great at the beginning of the season," Buczko said. "But I've started to improve again."

She cleared 13 feet at the Penn Relays last month and nearly hit that mark last week at the ECAC meet at Princeton University, vaulting 12 feet, 9 inches.

But it's a far cry from the 13-6 she feels she might need at the NCAA EastRegionalChampionships at the end of the month to punch her ticket to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June.

"I don't know if I necessarily have a height goal," Buczko said. "I guess I just want to improve on my previous personal best, which is 13-5. I want to consistently go over 13 feet, but I really haven't been that consistent. All I want to do is get to nationals."

Buczko said she believes she has it in her to get there. History is on her side.

Last year she became just the second athlete in Bucknell women's track and field history to compete at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships and finished tied for 14th.

She shattered the school indoor record in the pole vault last season with a 13-5½ effort and ended the season ranked 75th in the world.

In the outdoor season, she finished seventh at regionals and just missed qualifying for the NCAA championships.

"I would really like to hit 14 feet before I graduate," Buczko said. "I definitely think it's possible. I just have to get things together."

Things certainly fell into place for Buczko in the pole vault during her senior year at Butler.

She came out of nowhere to become a serious state championship contender during the season and ended up second in the state in the event.

That experience hasBuczko believing she has one more spurt left in her.

"I improved three feet from my best during my junior year," Buczko said of her high school experience. "I didn't quite expect that. That's a big jump — a lot more than normal people. Everything clicked."

While the pole vault has held the bulk of her attention in college, Melanie Buczko the hurdler has also been a success.

She's been running the hurdles much longer than she has been competing on the pole vault — since the eighth grade. Buczko has been delighted in her progress in the event.

She set a school record in the 60-meter hurdles during the indoor season as a freshman with a time of 8.94 seconds, which was good enough for a PatriotLeague title. She broke her record in that event again last indoor season at the conference championships with a time of 8.89.

"I've improved a lot more than I thought I would be able to," she said. "I've gotten a lot faster and a lot stronger."

The hurdles event also provides Buczko with a valuable diversion from the pole vault, and vice versa.

"I think the hurdles help me out, especially with my speed for the pole vault, because I get to work on my speed all the time running the hurdles," she said. "Plus, it takes my mind off things."