Coaching Duo Helps Dexter Athletes Fly High

For Geoff and Janell Gerstner, Dexter’s husband-and-wife pole-vaulting coaching tandem, it was, oddly enough, an interest in hurdles that first drew them to the Dreadnaught track and field program.

“We got started coaching after watching our daughter at track meets,” Janell Gerstner said. “She hurdled. The vaulters didn’t have an event coach at the time and as we watched our daughter, Geoff thought he might be able to help the vaulters. So he volunteered. Young women were just beginning to vault, so it was an exciting time for pole vaulting.”

Eight years later Geoff, along with Janell, who now co-coaches with her husband, have turned Dexter’s pole-vaulting unit into arguably the state’s best group. Behind the Dreadnaught coaching twosome, Dexter will be sending eight pole vaulters (six girls and two boys) to Saturday’s Division 1 state meet in Rockford. The number of Dreadnaught vaulters participating in this season’s state meet is double the next-nearest competitor.

Qualifying for Dexter’s girls’ team at Saturday’s state finals is junior Claire Tewksbury, junior Micaela Conter, junior Nicole Ferguson, junior Michelle Klein, freshman Kamie Powell and junior Katie Callaghan. Tewksbury qualified second heading into the state meet with a vault of 11 feet, 6 inches, while Conter qualified 11^th with a 10-2, Ferguson 23^rd with a 9-8, Klein 24^th with a 9-8, Powell 25^th with a 9-8 and Callaghan 26^th, also with a 9-8. On the boys’ side, senior Andrew Herring qualified third with a mark of 14-4, while senior Jeremy Horner qualified 21^st with a 12-10 height.

The top qualifying mark for the girls’ pole vault entering Saturday’s final is 11-8 by East Kentwood junior Katie Rancourt, while senior Nick Alaniva of Canton and Battle Creek Lakeview junior Dan Emery have the best qualifying vault for the boys, each recording a 14-7.

Under the Gerstners' tutelage, Dexter has annually sent multiple vaulters to the state meet, but this season has been special.

“We’ve had between six and seven (vaulters) go in four of the previous five years, but eight is, for us as coaches, a Dexter record,” Geoff said. “Incidentally, all nine of our girl vaulters qualified for regionals at the first meet of the season, and not one of them is a senior. All of our girls will be returning next year, along with a new group of talented young boys, so stay tuned.”

Janell said she is proud of Dexter’s pole vaulters.

“In the last eight years, 21 different Dexter vaulters have competed at the state meet 43 individual times,” she said. “There is not another school in the state that comes close to that number. This (year) is our largest group of Dexter vaulters to compete in a state meet. They have worked very hard as a group and as individuals for this accomplishment.”

Since 2005, six Dreadnaught girl pole vaulters have finished in the state’s top 11, including 2008 state champion Becca Pilkerton. For the boys, three Dexter vaulters have placed in the top 15 since 2005, including Steve Ferguson, who was state runner-up last season. Already this year, four Dreadnaught vaulters competed in the indoor national meet (Conter, Tewksbury, Herring and Horner), while three have qualified for the outdoor national meet later this summer (Conter, Tewksbury and Horner), with Herring possibly qualifying at Saturday’s state final.

Geoff said he’s pleased not only with this year’s athletes’ effort in pole vaulting, but also their actions in the classroom and community.

“I’m proud of how they work,” he said. “They work well together. In the off-season, they did a lot of weight, speed and gymnastics training. They rarely vaulted. For a vaulter, that’s a delayed gratification that signifies real dedication. They’re also easy to coach. They listen well and trust us. They behave maturely in public. They pick up after themselves at meets, thank meet volunteers, cheer on other vaulters and maintain dignity in the face of victory and defeat. I really couldn’t be prouder of them.”

The feeling is mutual.

Tewksbury said she has become a better pole vaulter because of Geoff and Janell’s attention to detail.

“They help me become better by caring about me personally,” she said. “They coach me as an individual, not how past vaulters have learned, but how I learn. Even when we don’t vault they care about school and other things we have going on in our lives. They make it (pole vaulting) a personal relationship, not just a sport. They are great coaches because they make every practice fun, and when you have fun you always perform better.”

Conter agreed, saying it’s the husband-and-wife coaching pair’s enthusiasm for life and for pole vaulting that sets them apart.

“Their excitement and determination is electric,” she said. “They are able to get us to have a great attitude and keep the stress level low regardless if it’s a regional, state or national meet. The practices are fun. You want to do well just to see the coaches’ reactions. Sometimes he (Geoff) is jumping up and down and sometimes he is kicking his feet in every direction. They are both very animated, and that’s always funny.”

Herring said the Gerstners are the most dedicated coaches he’s ever seen.

“Their enthusiasm for the sport is incredibly contagious and you can’t help but like them,” he said. “They never expect too much of a vaulter. Instead, they go step by step from little drills to national level vaults. Coach Geoff has recently been on a learning crusade, trying to gain as much knowledge about the specifics of how a vault works, as he is trying to keep up with the ever-increasing talent that comes through the program. This yearning that he shows to be a better coach pushes us to become better vaulters.”

Geoff, a record-setting pole vaulter during his prep days at Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, CA, said he doesn’t have any secrets to his success as a coach, but that several things seem to work in his favor.

“I’m obsessed,” he said. “I read everything I can get a hold of. I’ve seen the videotapes, regularly go to coaching seminars and email or phone national and international coaches. I suppose it doesn’t hurt that I have a doctorate degree in neuroscience with special emphasis on motor control, which makes understanding the sport a bit easier for me, too. I also think about each kid often. What can we do to get him off the ground? How do we help her beat those mental demons?"

Geoff, who also coaches Dexter’s vaulters, said he attempts to loosen up when he’s around the Dreadnaught pole vaulters.

“I try becoming a kid during practices and competitions,” he said. “We have great fun as a result, but this also helps me get into their minds, to be aware of their emotional pulse and to coach without sounding nagging. I try having fun all the time."

Janell said she offers support for Geoff, while also helping with the Dexter vaulters.

“I am the assistant to the assistant coach,” she said. “I help with the logistics and organization. I enjoy working with the athletes. Coaching is time-consuming. I think we do it as a way to give back to the community, for the love of the sport and because it is fun to work with high school and middle school athletes and their families.”

Geoff said there are several reasons for Dexter’s rise to prominence at the state level.

“We’ve had great support from the Joan C. Banfield Foundation, the Athletic Booster Club of Dexter and individual parents who have bought or donated a lot of poles and other equipment for us,” he said. “Then there’s tradition. The program has been built over the years through a tradition of kid-driven, accumulated success. Surrounded by that atmosphere (of success), kids believe they can go that high (vaulting), too, and they rise to the challenge. But what works, the distinctive 'Dexter formula,' is that as the hard work increases, we increase the fun, silliness and joking by the same amount. I worry that other athletes will see our joking as either overconfidence or lack of dedication, but really it’s our 'spoonful of sugar' or 'barometer' for how hard everyone’s working.”

Tewksbury said she has learned much from the Gerstners outside of pole vaulting.

“For me, pole vaulting is a mind game, and coach battles my demons with me,” she said. “He takes it upon himself to help me reach my goals and does what needs to be done. At the beginning of my pole-vaulting career in seventh grade, I didn’t handle disappointment well. I had an attitude and I wasn’t afraid to show it. Now, after five years of vaulting, I am still working on it, but I can handle disappointment and pressure.”

Herring said he’s learned through vaulting and the Gerstners' example to enjoy the little things in life.

“Even on a bad day, they encourage and support us and show that the simple joys in life are easy to see if you just relax,” he said.

Conter said the Gerstners have taught her many lessons.

“They love for us to do well at pole vaulting, but they make it perfectly clear that our schoolwork is most important,” she said. “They have also taught us humility and encouraged us to be extra nice to competitors, because our team can be intimidating when we show up since there are so many of us. The one thing that continually amazes me is how smart our coaches are. They have an answer for everything, and that is a good thing.”

More than anything, Geoff said pole vaulting is about conquering fears.

“Pole vaulting can be quite scary,” he said. “There are a thousand red lights in each vaulter’s mind that are saying, ‘Are you insane running full speed holding this 12- to 16-foot-long bendy object and then jumping backwards into a handstand on the end of it while it is not securely fastened anywhere? You’re really not good enough, secure enough, fast enough, consistent enough or strong enough to be doing this.’ It’s my job to turn those red lights into green lights.”

So far, mission accomplished.