Coach Sets Bar High (NY)

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Coach sets bar high
Cauthers vaulting guru without peer

By Ken McMillan
Times Herald-Record
kmcmillan@th-record.com

Warwick – It's surprising to know that the man who has coached 15 state champions in the pole vault has never vaulted himself.
Apparently what Hugh Cauthers knows is more important than what he's done in the field of play.
"I personally never did it," Cauthers says of the pole vault, "but I became a student of it. I got to know people that really know the event well and I learned from everybody."
Cauthers is well-regarded among pole-vault coaches. He teaches a host of vaulters from Orange, Ulster and Rockland counties and even some athletes who travel from as far away as the Albany area and New Haven, Conn.
"When you get to a point at the national level," Cauthers said, "people have seen what you have done and there is some recognition."
No one track or field event has promoted local athletes to colleges and universities more than the pole vault in recent years. Six of Cauthers' pole vaulters are competing in college: Mandy Jenkins at Mount Saint Mary's (Md.); Lindsay Rosales at East Carolina; Meredith Mante at Princeton; Lisa Kachmarsky at Connecticut; Megan Apers at Springfield; and Dave Mante at Bucknell. Four more vaulters from Section 9 are headed for Division I programs next fall: Lynn St. Lawrence to South Florida; Dana Waschitz to Florida (walk-on); Thea Kennerknecht to Towson State; and Carly Gross is still making her choice.
"It gives me a lot of satisfaction and that's why I keep doing it," Cauthers said. "I found a way to really make a contribution to kids, and the time that I am able to put in, to see them grow as people and to see them develop as vaulters is a very satisfying thing."
Cauthers started as an assistant coach at Monroe-Woodbury under coach Dick Wilson back in the 1970s. These days he still works in the Monroe-Woodbury School District but does most of his coaching in Warwick.
Former Washingtonville coach Art Jessup was the first outside coach to ask Cauthers if he could work with vaulters other than the ones he was coaching at Monroe-Woodbury. Before long, other coaches were sending their kids to Cauthers for instruction.
"It's always been a fraternal thing," Cauthers said.
It is typical to see vaulters from Monroe-Woodbury, Washingtonville, Valley Central, Onteora and other schools at the end of Warwick practices. Cauthers calculates he is coaching vaulters from as many as 15 schools.
"Some people feel doing a lot of different teams becomes an issue," Cauthers said, "but I see it as trying to get the kids from this area to as high a level as we can. I see the rewards that it reaps for kids who are able to get to that level."
It gets really interesting at big meets. Cauthers had three collegiate women from different schools competing at the Penn Relays. He coached Rosales and Jenkins to a 1-2 finish at one state meet and had a finish of third, fourth, fifth and seventh at another recent state meet.
"It's weird," Cauthers said, "but it's nice."
Warwick's retiring boys' coach, Tim St. Lawrence, and Cauthers formed an indoor pole-vaulting program, appropriately named the Hudson Valley Flying Circus. The Vault Barn can be found on the grounds of the Warwick Conference Center. It has carpet, a runway and a pole-vaulting box installed in the floor. Five nights a week during the winter, nearly 50 kids participate in the four-hour workouts, for a fee of $150 for the season. Friday is the day for the younger vaulters, with nearly 40 middle schoolers being trained.
Cauthers is never at a shortage for willing vaulters.
"Once you become hooked, then it's a matter of being here to have practice with them because they want to do it, they love it," he said.
Cauthers knows a good hook when he sees it.