Natalie Gengel Article (NJ) - 12-6
Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2005 3:18 am
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?news ... 5696&rfi=6
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€
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€