Pittsburg State article

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Vaulting to nationals
By PETER EULER
Morning Sun Staff Writer
If you asked Kristie Julian five years ago if she would be in her current position, she'd say no.

"No, my goal at PHS was to jump 7-6," she said. "I thought if I could jump 7-6, I'd be a stud."

But now Julian, a Pittsburg High School product, is one of three PSU vaulters headed to the NCAA Division II Indoor National Track and Field Championships this weekend at Boston's Reggie Lewis Center - she and fellow senior Lisa Douglass will represent the Gorilla women while sophomore Vinnie Wuertz will represent the PSU men. Douglass and Julian finished 1-2 at the MIAA Championships Feb. 24 - Douglass has a season-best of 12-5.50 while Julian has cleared 12-1.50. Wuertz finished fourth at the MIAA championships with a best of 16-2.75.

Douglass and Julian both made last year's outdoor championships, but this time are looking for something a little better - an All-American finish.

"To be an All-American and jump a lifetime best," Julian said.

Douglass and Julian continue a strong tradition in the event, which has only been part of collegiate athletics since 1999. In just eight years, five Gorilla women have qualified for at least one national competition. Past national qualifiers were Sarah Scheckel, Jennie Terflinger and Jenny Cantu.

"I think it can be self-perpetuating to some degree," PSU head coach Russ Jewett said. "Take this year for example; I hope it's a good example, where these two senior girls have some influence over some younger kids, a sophomore and a freshman. I anticipate that sophomore and that freshman next year will continue to get better and then someone else comes in.

"This string, or program of vaulters; It's not an accident. We recruit kids, we want to have them, and then they've helped the process just by being good leaders when they get to be juniors and seniors."

Douglass and Julian have been more than willing to help out their younger teammates, as they remember their former teammates that helped them out. And of course, they are quite competitive with each other.

"I think its our teammates," Douglass said. "Last year, we had Jennie (Terflinger). We're so competitive with each other, that makes us good athletes. Kristie's probably my biggest competitor most of the time."

Jewett said experience will help the duo at nationals, but also said there are some differences between competing indoors and outdoors.

"It's a little different environment, indoors versus outdoors, different surface," he said. "I think the competition is even tougher than outdoor nationals was last year, which is unusual. But yet, the nationals experience will be a beneficial factor for them."

But while there is a difference in the competition venues, Douglass and Julian said experience will help them.

"I think I'll know how to handle the pressure of being there," Douglass said. "I think I'll feel a little more focused and know a little bit more what to expect."

Added Julian: "It helps you know what to expect when you get there and compete. It's a different kind of environment; your coach isn't right there by your side like at regular meets. You kind of have to depend more on yourself and less on your coach sometimes.

"I know that I need to be more mentally prepared this time than I was the time before."

Jewett said that in many cases, recruits have far exceeded his expectations, stating that Julian and Douglass both fit that example.

"When you recruit kids to come into your program, you never really know for sure whether any one young man or woman is going to blossom; you just never know," he said. "You can try to predict all you want. These two came in as above-average high school athletes, but certainly not blue-chip prospects for anybody.

"But they both had one thing in common at least and that was a strong desire to succeed. They have been willing over the years to do all the little things and do all the big things well and that makes a big difference. They do have enough talent to be 12-foot, 12-6, even 13-foot vaulters, but there are lots of other people that have that that aren't."

Jewett added that having local products like Julian succeed makes his job even more enjoyable.

"We like to get all the local kids," he said. "And when they are local and they come and they develop into All-Americans, that's awesome. That's the dream. ... Anybody that is around here in our back yard that has any chance at being a collegiate athlete, we certainly want them to come to Pittsburg State."

Wuertz, while competing at his first meet, isn't shying away from the competition.

"Well, Vinnie is not a guy who gets rattled," Jewett said. "He's young, he's only a sophomore. But he's been a state champion in high school. He's really just now blossoming ... as a collegiate pole vaulter. Never been one to get rattled, keeps a calm head, and focuses pretty well. So as long as he can just go there and just understand that this is still just pole vaulting like he's done for years now ... he'll do fine."

He popped a career-best of 16-2.75 at the MIAA championships, and enters nationals with the sixth-best mark.

"I knew I had it in me for quite a while, but I like to come and compete at the big meets," Wuertz said. "Usually, the adrenaline's running, so I usually come out and perform pretty well."

"Not much," he added, as far as what it will take to do well at the meet. "There's going to be good competition there. Just got to focus and compete and the heights will come."

So what will it take for the trio of pole vaulters to achieve their goals of earning All-American status, which goes to the top eight finishers in each event.

"Do everything they've done to get here," PSU vaults coach David Lemen said. "If they go into the meet and compete the exact same way that they competed to get into nationals, they are going to be All-Americans and potentially national champions."

HEAD:Marriage helps PSU tracksters

Two weddings have helped strengthen the PSU programs, both in the coaching ranks as well as adding members to their team.

When Jewett hired Ermelinda Spies as an assistant coach last year, he knew a little about her husband, former Fort Hays State runner Robert Spies. What he didn't know was he still had eligibility left.

But after looking into it, he discovered that Spies still had a year of eligibility left and had maintained great fitness, and quickly invited him to join the team.

"Robert just fell in our lap," he said. "We hired his wife to be our assistant coach. During the hiring process, we learned that he didn't use all of his eligibility nor all of his 10 semesters while he was at Fort Hays State. We looked into it seriously and found out that he did have eligibility for an indoor and outdoor season and were ecstatic about that and took advantage of it."

It paid off. Spies, who ran a 60-meter best of 6.83 seconds, is headed to the national meet for the third time, his first in a Gorilla uniform. He competed twice at nationals for FHSU. His time is the tied for the 15th-fastest in the field.

David Lemen, a volunteer assistant coach, came to PSU when his wife, former Girard High School and Kansas State University standout Morgan (High), daughter of PSU women's basketball coach Steve High, enrolled in the nursing program at PSU. They met at KSU when David was competing post-collegiately after a standout career at the University of Georgia, and Morgan, who was still competing for the Wildcats at the time.

"We were both up training at Kansas State," he said. "She was in school and I was training post-collegiately. She got into nursing down here and I came down and asked Coach Jewett if I could help out; I wanted to get into coaching. That's kind of how it started out and here we are."

And in just one year, it is paying off. Lemen, has a career-best of 17-10 in the pole vault with a top finish of 5th at the indoor championships, and had a pair of third-place finishes in the decathlon with a career-best of 7,972 points.