DHS senior a 'Born' natural (OH)

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http://www.crescent-news.com/news/article/1944572

DHS senior a 'Born' natural

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21 hours ago
By JASON STEIN

cnsports@crescent-news.com

Have you ever done something and gotten enjoyment out of the fact that you were doing it just to be different?

That's exactly what Defiance's Katy Born is doing every time she pole vaults, but she's also found a great deal of success in the process and has helped to pave the way for the future as well.

The senior pole vaulter entered her senior year having already won a Western Buckeye League title, competed at the state meet and put her name in the DHS record books.

Her success leads one to believe that Born has been working at this all her life, when in fact, it has only been since she came in as a freshman.

"I did a camp when I was in sixth grade and pole vaulted then," said Born who currently holds the girls' record at 11-01/4. "It was really nerve-wracking because there were all these high school guys and I was a sixth-grade girl, so it was kind of creepy being around all those guys. I wasn't really quite interested in it then, so I never would have imagined I would ever be vaulting nine feet let alone 11."

Having never pole vaulted in junior high, Born's interest in what is now her favorite event began to unfold when pole vaulting coach, Fred Gruber approached her as a freshman.

"When I got to high school coach Gruber was like: 'Hey, you tried it when you were little, do you want to try it again?' And I said: 'Sure,'" recalled Born. "Everything just came together after that. The first time I vaulted in high school, I knew this is what I wanted to do.

"I did gymnastics for eight years, so I've always liked to do upside-down kind of stuff," she continued. "I've always been into weird things like that so I thought it would be kind of fun to try something new."

Born's willingness to try new things is something that DHS head coach Steve Wahl has had an appreciation for.

"In order to be a good vaulter, boy or girl, you have to have a certain level of fearlessness," said Wahl. "I don't think Katy is afraid of anything. When you watch her perform in her plays and things like that, she does the roles that other people really enjoy watching but would never do themselves. A big part of pole vaulting is being able to overcome some of those fears. Just watching it, it's not a natural thing, for her to be able to do that, I have all the respect in the world for her."

Her continued enthusiasm for the sport is drawn from a great deal more than the success she has already seen.

"The winning has kind of helped keep me enthused about pole vaulting," laughed Born. "But the fact that it's so different and nobody expects people to pole vault is even better. People always ask me about it and what it's like and things like that. I enjoy explaining it to them, that keeps me going, that and just trying to get higher ... everything just keeps adding together."

Born's ability goes beyond just pole vaulting. Her personality and willingness to help the team have also been a tremendous asset.

"Unique," Wahl was quick to say when asked how he would describe Born. "Katy is one of the most enjoyable girls to be around on the team, she's full of personality and you can tell that when you talk to her. She's very active in the plays, in the choir, and stuff like that, and she's one of the most outgoing students that I've been around and she brings all of that to the track as well. There's never a dull moment when Katy is around, she does a good job of keeping the team loose and a lot of times keeping their mind off of maybe the task at hand, if that's a good thing, she's good at that."

For Katy, the most memorable thing about her track experience is the bond that she has developed with her pole vaulting coach. To her, this bond means even more than her WBL title and her trip to states.

"Coach Gruber and I have become so much closer since I started vaulting," said Born. "He's a coach but he's also a really good friend, he's helped me through a lot. Parental situations have happened and he's always been there. Going to state with him was awesome, that feeling of getting to the top point, states, and placing the best out of our school that year was awesome. He is amazing, there's nobody like him."

Stepping up as a leader is also been another area where Born has taken the challenge and run with it, an attribute which has also put her in the position of doing more than just vaulting.

"Katy is a good leader who has been in the program for four years and that's first and foremost what her role is on the team," said Wahl. "She's been one of our most valuable field event performers here and has been in the battles, she's kind of a calming force for the younger kids.

"This year it's really been a pleasure to coach her because we've needed her to fill-in in some other events that she hasn't had to in the past as she's pretty much strictly been a pole vaulter. To help the team, she is willing to take on a bigger role and I'm really grateful for that because we need that."

Born has been participating in the 100 meter hurdles and has run the lead-off leg in the 4x100 relay.

While she is working in these other events, there are still a few things she'd like to accomplish in the pole vault before finishing her high school career.

"I'd like to get higher than I did last year and have a record so high that it keeps my name on the wall for a long time," laughed Born. "I also would like to get back to states and finish higher than I did last year (sixth place)."

And while Born knows her personal goals won't be easy and will require a great deal of focus and effort, her ultimate goal is to have the team succeed and get more people to states.

"It would feel so good to have the team win the WBL and see more people advance," exclaimed Born. "We won the Wapak relays and for the seniors especially, we were so excited to be number one instead of second or third, it was amazing. The feeling of having an overall good team just feels great."

Wahl would certainly enjoy seeing Born accomplish her goals and he too knows that she will have to work hard and vault like never before, but he is also looking forward to seeing one of his athletes at the next level, an opportunity that he will have when Born graduates from DHS and continues her vaulting career as a Rocket at the University of Toledo.

"Any high school coach that can have an athlete move on to the next level, that's special because that doesn't happen every day," concluded Wahl. "We've had a lot of good girls in our track program the last few years, but they were also good at other sports, and so maybe they would choose to play volleyball or something like that. But for someone to move on in track, that's going to be special and I'm looking forward to seeing her progress at Toledo and even seeing her a couple times in person."