Jennifer VanderMeer article (Hope)

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http://www.mlive.com/sports/grpress/ind ... xml&coll=6

Hope pole vaulter aims for 13 feet
Friday, April 14, 2006
By Steve Fox
The Grand Rapids Press
In Jennifer VanderMeer's numbers game, 13 is more important than 1.

"I would love to be a 13-footer," said the Hope College junior record holder in the pole vault. "It's nine inches away, so I don't know if it will happen this year or not. Some time before I'm done with college, I'd like to go 13 feet."

That's less than two inches shy of the Big Ten record. And if she gets there, VanderMeer almost surely will be No. 1 in the country. She has twice finished runner-up in the NCAA Division III national championship meet, and has also set - over and over - the school record.

Already the top female vaulter among all area colleges, her last two school records have come in the opening meet of the 2005 season and again this season -- both times at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C., near Myrtle Beach. That's not a bad place to start any season.

Soaring in Carolina

As a sophomore, VanderMeer soared 12-2 1/2 in South Carolina and never went higher. Last month, she barely eclipsed that by clearing 12-2 3/4 to beat out the field of 28 vaulters and qualify for the Division III championship meet again.

"She's already jumped better than last year and she's had some near misses at 12-6," said Hope vault coach Walt Kooyer, who was a long-time track coach at Holland High. "She's well ahead of last year."

Kooyer has coached VanderMeer since she was in middle school. He also has coached her sisters -- Emily, a freshman at Hope, and Sarah, a senior at Holland High. All three are likely to be at Hope next year.

Kooyer said Jennifer has a gymnastics background that is helpful as well as intangibles that are hard to match.

"I think it's how much she loves the event. She has loved pole vaulting ever since early in high school," he said. "From a physical standpoint, she has some skills. She has good speed, but not great. She's short, which doesn't help, but she's is very athletic. She is making the most of the athletic skills she has."

Hope head track and field coach Kevin Cole agrees.

"She is certainly one of the best athletes that we've had here and definitely the best pole vaulter," Cole said. "Obviously, she's strong and flexible and athletic. But comparing her to other pole vaulters, I don't think that's what's doing it. She works really hard at it and puts a lot of time into it. She's great with her technique and really has a desire to succeed."

Putting in that extra time can also be her greatest detriment, VanderMeer said. She has struggled during her college career with nagging back, shoulder and shin injuries.

"My strength is probably the same as my weakness, in that I don't know when to quit," she said. "I'm most of the time the last one on the runway. I get frustrated when I'm not doing the things I need to do. I put a lot of work in it because I love it."

VanderMeer said going the final nine inches to clear 13 feet will require a stretch of good health. She said other than that it will depend on her ability to move up to bigger poles and listening to coach Kooyer.

VanderMeer finished her career at Holland High by winning the Division 1 state championship and establishing a state record by clearing 11-6. She had a disappointing junior year in high school, failing to place at state.

"That was really, really exciting for me," VanderMeer said of the state title. "Especially since the year before I had been ranked so high and did so poorly. It was nice to get some revenge on the state meet."

VanderMeer has plenty of accolades, but she is oh-so-close to a few more big ones. The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association record is 12-4. And while she has been a two-time All-American, VanderMeer has yet to win an MIAA individual title.

Plus, there's that NCAA championship.

"I always have a lot to shoot for, because even in the MIAA there are girls going as high or higher than I do," VanderMeer said. "On my own team, there are girls who push me. Winning the meet is always there, but my goal is to be an All-American all four years of college. I don't have to be No. 1 or No. 2 to do that."

But winning would be nice. No Hope woman has ever won an individual track and field national title.