Andrej Poljanec enters his 3rd year as an assistant coach at UW-Eau Claire in 2022-23. Together with Braden Cousineau, Coach Poljanec is in charge of the pole vault squad.

Under Coach Poljanec and Coach Cousineau the UWEC vault squad and decathlon vaulters have seen success at both the WIAC and Division III. In 2022, the men’s vaulters collected four individual All-American finishes (including a National Runner-Up) en route to their two team titles. They also had two different WIAC Champions along with capturing 3 of 8 and 4 of 8 podium spots in the Indoor and Outdoor WIAC Championships. In total since 2021, UWEC vaulters have accomplished the following:

-       1x National Runner-Up 

-       4x Individual All-Americans

-       5x School Records Broken

-       2x Men’s WIAC Conference Champions

-       14x Individual All-Conference Finishes

Poljanec earned his bachelor’s degree at University of Northern Iowa in 2007. In his collegiate career, he was a three-time Division I All-American, four-time Missouri Valley Conference champion, named an MVP at the 2007 Conference meet after clearing 5.55m (18’ 2½”), and a scholar athlete of the year graduating in theoretical mathematics. After his collegiate career, he continued as a professional pole vaulter representing his native country of Slovenia. He competed at the World Championships in Osaka in 2007, multiple European Championships and Cups, and other meets on the highest level all over the world. He is a ten-time national champion of Slovenia and holds a record of 5.60m (18’ 4½”).