Natalie Gengel Article (NJ) - 12-6

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PHS' Gengel raised bar in breakthrough season


Natalie Gengel's first sport has been gymnastics, and she still competes at a high level in gymnastics.
The Princeton High junior has also started to make a name for herself in track and field. Introduced to the pole vault in middle school while living in Minnesota, Gengel has been the best pole vaulter for PHS for the past three seasons but didn't make a true breakthrough until this season. Last year, she won the Mercer County Championship and finished with a best of 9-feet-9 inches to win the Central Jersey Group III meet.
Gengel came into this, her junior season, hoping to eclipse that mark but uncertain when or if it would happen. Injuries in the past had cost her progress. Mononucleosis ended her year early as a freshman; an ankle injury forced her out of most of the middle portion of last year. She came into this year without the benefit of offseason training.
"I couldn't have jumped in the winter," Gengel said. "I had to have surgery on my ankle. It never got better. They shortened my tendon. It was just stretched so it wasn't providing any stability. I could just fall down on my run. I was in cast for a month, a walking cast for another month and no activity for another month."
By January she was building her strength again, but it wasn't until the final weekend of April, well after the start of the track and field season, that she found a breakthrough in her primary event, the pole vault.
"I was kind of at the point where I was stuck," Gengel said. "Pole vault is one of those sports where it's very hard to get better. A lot of top jumpers go to outside places. Coach (John) Woodside did his best. By going to other places it helped me improve more."
At the Bernards Invitational, Gengel eclipsed her personal best and cleared 10-feet for the first time. It allowed her to fulfill her preseason goal.
"My hope was 10 feet," she said. "I'd been so close for so long. Ten-feet was like the magic number. Ten-feet happened at the Bernards Invitational. I got 10-6.
"It kind of changed everything. I was starting to get frustrated with myself. I wasn't getting any better. With that step, I was so happy. I wanted 10 feet for so long. I felt like I was finally out of the little rut I was stuck in."
She came out of it in a big way. The next weekend, she cleared 11-feet to win the Mercer County Championship for the second straight year. Two weeks later, it was a new personal best of 11-6 to win the Central Jersey Group III meet. She went on to finish fourth at the Group III state meet and finished her official high school season with a medal-winning seventh-place finish at the Meet of Champions.
It was quite a season for Gengel, who competed for the Little Tigers in pole vault, 200 meters, triple jump and even the shot put and the 100 meters in select meets. She was a part of the Little Tigers' county-record setting sprint medley team that won the Mercer County Relays championship.
One week after the end of the high school season, Gengel soared over 12-feet at Millersville University to qualify for the Nike Outdoor Nationals, where she placed eighth in pole vault with a clearance of 11-11¾.
Natalie Gengel is the Princeton Packet Girls' Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
"She's an athlete," said PHS girls' coach Jim Smirk. "Natalie was really able to say, I'm a pole vaulter, but I can also be a 200 runner and also be a triple jumper. One of our philosophies is we train athletes first and then allow them to excel in events. She fits right in. She's a role model for the new athletes. With the experienced athletes, they know she'll be there and can raise the level for all of them."
Gengel raised her own bar significantly. By the close of her season, she was nearly two and a half feet higher than what she finished her sophomore year.
"She had a much different training routine," Smirk said. "She went down to a camp and worked there on a regular basis. She also had an ankle injury fixed up. Those two things allowed her to put together the full package.
"She started to realize that a lot of her limits aren't physical," he added. "She still has another foot in her or 18 inches in her until she hits her physical limits. It's not often you blow away your previous year's record and still have a ways to go. It's great to know you still have room for a lot of success in your primary event."
Gengel credits her improvement to the weekend visits to a pole-vaulting specialist as well as switching poles for her ability to go higher than ever before. She also acknowledges that she's only starting to touch her limits.
"If I can improve almost three feet this year, then three feet is possible for next year," she said. "My form is still not great. I'm doing some of the stuff great so I can get 12. If I do more of it right, I can get higher."
Gengel was already a shoe-in at most dual meets, so much so that it allowed PHS some flexibility with her events. The Little Tigers relied on her athleticism to pick up points where necessary.
"It was great having her for a lock in the pole vault," Smirk said. "It opened up opportunities for us. When we knew she could win in one jump, it gave us the opportunity where we could put her in the 200 or triple jump and had she not been able to do that, we would not have had some of those points."
Said Gengel: "It was nice just knowing I can go and do an OK jump and can win it. It took pressure off me because it was something I knew I could clear. If they needed me to do something else, I could take one jump then go over and do something else."
Gengel was pleasantly surprised with her results in the other events she did, though nothing surprised her more than teaming up with Elesha Casimir, Libby Bliss and Olivia Johnston for a Mercer County sprint medley record.
"We all thought that we weren't going to do well," said Gengel, who ran the 200-meter leg of the race. "We went out just to run. Next thing we see, we're right there. Everyone put in what they could. We came out on top. It was very exciting."
Just as exciting was the progress she showed in her secondary events. Whether it was triple jump, shot put, 100 or 200, Gengel had a knack for picking up points for the Little Tigers.
"I don't get to practice everything," Gengel said. "And everything was pretty different. I surprised myself in the shot put. I beat Trenton. I remember last year I got completely blown out. This year I went and threw and beat them. My triple jump was about the same as last year, but it was hard to practice. I was around 31-feet all year or 32-feet. You can place in most dual meets with that. That would be nice to improve in next year."
Her athleticism will always be a bonus. She can contribute in a number of areas for the Little Tigers, but Natalie Gengel's tremendous improvement this year showed that she can be among the very best in the state â€â€

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PHS' Gengel sets record in state pole vault



By: Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor 02/21/2006



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Senior clears 12-feet-3 to set girls' indoor mark



Natalie Gengel missed the indoor track and field season with an injury last year, but the Princeton High senior made the most of her chance this year.
Gengel cleared a state record 12-feet-3 inches to win the girls' pole vault at the Meet of Champions at Princeton University's Jadwin Gym on Sunday. She was the lone area medalist though a number of locals also competed Sunday.
"I think just staying relaxed helped," said Gengel, who eclipsed the 1-year-old record of 12-feet set by Warren Hills' Kristen Hafford. "I knew I had the height in practice and just wanted to stay the same and let it come to me."
Gengel, who has cleared 12-6 outdoors, was competing for just the second time in the indoor New Jersey high school season that has a limited number of pole vaulting opportunities. She didn't show any rust. She was grateful that the meet was forced back one week due to a snowstorm.
"I feel like it helped me," said Gengel, a medalist at last year's outdoor MOC. "I had three meets in a row. It was nice to rest. I had a gymnastics meet, then a track meet, a gymnastic meets and then I was supposed to have the Meet of Champions. By the time I was getting there, I was a little tired. So I think it helped."
A fully rested and recovered Gengel had no competition as she was the lone jumper to clear 12-feet. Only two other girls, including the former record holder Hafford even cleared 11-6. Gengel just missed on two jumps at 12-6.
"I feel like I'm more consistent," she said. "My swing seems to be better than last year. I was watching video of one of the (12-6) misses and it's kind of sad. I couldn't figure out what I hit it with.
"It's great just to have the record. Hopefully my name will be there for a while."
Gengel is the first PHS athlete to win an indoor Meet of Champions gold since the late 1980s or early 1990s, according to Little Tiger coach John Woodside.
"Natalie, she jumped well and she won," he said. "She did a great job. She had good jumps. She came in at the right place. She didn't miss until 12 feet. She made it on her third jump at 12-3. She had two really good jumps at 12-6 and just missed it. It was a terrific day for her."

"Overall," Gengel said, "this is probably the best thing I've done. I was glad I didn't go down in heights. It's nice to get a few more inches and I was close to getting 12-6. Next meet."
Gengel will go for 12-6 at the Indoor Nationals near Washington, D.C., Mar. 12. She will certainly be pushed more than she was at the Meet of Champions. She was expecting tougher competition.
"I competed against them before," she said. "I knew what they could do. If everybody jumped their best, it would have been a good meet. They all put in great effort."
Gengel entered the competition at 10-6, half a foot higher than what she entered the Group III meet two weeks earlier. She progressed cleanly through the heights until she reached 12-feet. She cleared it on her third jump and was on to the record height.
"It definitely helps a lot for spring," she said. "I have my Penn Relays height in, which is nice. I'll go in (to spring) with a little confidence because you know you can do this after all this off-season. It's almost preseason for the spring. We can only go higher."
Gengel will start taking steps in that direction by investing in some longer poles. She'll look to soar higher in the spring as she looks to cap off a record-setting senior year. It got off to quite a start with one record and a gold medal at the Meet of Champions.

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Natalie Gengel Princeton
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Year: Senior

Highlights: Gengel was New Jersey's best pole vaulter this season and it will be exciting to see if she can continue to improve this spring. The senior established a meet record at the Meet of Champions with a vault of 12 feet, 3 inches, a mark three inches better than the old standard and nine inches better than her closest competitor. At the National Indoor Track Championships in Landover, Md., in March, Gengel gained All-American status with a best of 12-1 1/2, placing fourth.

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Gengel tops herself to lead Princeton win
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
PRINCETON BOROUGH -- Natalie Gengel bettered her Mercer County record by six inches when she cleared 12 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault, helping Princeton High get past West Windsor-Plainsboro North, 78-62, yesterday.

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Princeton Packet Girls' Track and Field Athlete of the Year



By: Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor 07/04/2006



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PHS' Gengel saved her best for last


Frequently at Princeton High School track meets, the best was saved for last.
That's when Natalie Gengel would take to the runway for the pole vault. It wouldn't take long for the PHS senior to win her specialty, sometimes one clearance of her opening height in the meet's final event.
"A lot of times I didn't even start until meets were over," Gengel said. "They usually try to mix in guys. Unless they do girls first, I wouldn't go. I don't come in until basically everyone is out."
Gengel successfully finished first in every meet she entered from the start of the season to the end. In between, she also became remarkably consistent as a sprinter. Competing in the 100 meters, she showed surprising speed.
"The last time I ran the 100 was in middle school," said Gengel, who moved from Minnesota before her freshman year at PHS. "I couldn't break the 13-second mark. This year my best was 12.5 and I broke 13 every meet."
Gengel scored consistently in dual meets in the shot put and the triple jump for the team. She placed third in the Mercer County Championships in the 100 meters and broke her own meet record with a clearance of 12-feet-1 to win gold in the pole vault. She set a school and county record in a win over West Windsor-Plainsboro North when she cleared 12-6. Gengel went on to win the sectional championship, Group III state meet and she became the first female athlete from PHS to win a Meet of Champions gold medal when she jumped 12-3 for a new state record.
Natalie Gengel is the Princeton Packet Girl's Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
"It was great," she said. "I did a lot more than I expected actually. I guess I wasn't expecting to be as successful as I was this year."
The Little Tigers had one of their best seasons in part because of athletes like Gengel, who raised the bar figuratively, as much as literally in her case.
"I thought she brought a positive winning attitude," said PHS head coach Jim Smirk. "She was focused on seeing what she could do there. She was very focused and very driven. A lot of times, athletes think they're putting forth the best effort they can and they need someone to show them a higher level. That's what Natalie did for us."
Gengel herself climbed to new heights this year in her best season of high school track and field. After an ankle injury slowed her preseason training last year, she stayed healthy throughout her entire senior year though she continued to do gymnastics on the side. She also started training with an outside pole vaulting coach earlier in the year, and she relied on her experience as she started and finished off her spring season with first-place finishes.
"This year," she said, "I wanted to have a better showing than I did last year. I was a little disappointed at the end of last year because I knew I had more in me. Maybe a lot of it has to do with getting older and you've been in these big meets before and you know how to keep your composure."
Smirk believes that Gengel's example of steady improvement could be the legacy she leaves at PHS. She was able to improve in everything she did, from her specialty event, to sprints, to triple jump and shot put. It will be the Little Tigers' task to try to replace their valuable points scorer.
"Her explosive talent, she can take an event and pick it up," Smirk said. "She was a versatile athlete. It'll take us several athletes to fill in those holes. But if we did our job right, one thing we tell our seniors is, your job is to leave a legacy. If you have to find a way to sum up your career in track and field, the medals are nice, but if you want to see what your impact is, come back in four years.
"Natalie set a high standard of work and focus on being excellent. If that's still around in two years, if that legacy still goes on, hopefully we won't miss her that much. Hopefully we'll have done what we need to do and she'll have done what she needed to do."
Gengel's legacy is secure in part in becoming the first from PHS to win gold at the MOC. She helped make PHS just the fourth Mercer County school with an individual gold medalist, following Hopewell Valley, Lawrence and Trenton.
"That's shocking," said Gengel when informed of her place in history. "It does make it bigger. I didn't realize so few people in the area had medalled and got gold medals. Hopefully there will more in years to come."
Gengel's next step is to compete at the collegiate level. She will be a freshman at Cornell University this fall. She will join a Big Red women's track and field team that has been at the top of the Heptagonals field. She can already clear a height that would earn points at Heps.
"I'm excited to see what Cornell has and learn about their program," Gengel said. "They're 10-time Heps champions."
She could help them add to that number. She helped make the Little Tigers a better team, and came to PHS in the perfect time for them and her. She brought a competitive spirit and the versatility to score in a number of events. She started high school at a time when pole vault was just becoming an official event in dual meets. It became not only recognized in New Jersey but something that she embraced with all her talents and work ethic.
"I remember jumping in seventh and eighth grade and thought it was so fun," said Gengel, who competed in pole vault first in Minnesota. "I would have been more into gymnastics (without pole vault). I'll probably do a little of that next year. I have a chance to compete for Cornell, mainly in vault. I know one of girls does basketball and track. I have to see how time is, how it works out with the meets.
"It's just amazing to start off as a little freshman and there was no pole vault so I ran," she added. "Sophomore year I jumped a little bit but I was hurt a lot. It just evolved."
It evolved to the point where she was the best in the state and a major recruit for Cornell in pole vault. Her development in her specialty allowed her to be more valuable to the Little Tigers in other areas.
"Because she had improved so much over the year in the pole vault," Smirk said, "it wasn't a question, was there someone in the county that could challenge her? She could take one or two jumps to win. That allowed us to broaden her horizons."
Natalie Gengel was able to respond with points in every area she competed in while still saving her best for last. She has the gold medal to prove it.