Posted June 4, 2011 at 11:02 pm
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Setting the bar high was common for DeRidder?s Ashley Pfantz and Hamilton Christian?s Cameron Meyer this year as the pair of pole vaulters each won a state championship.
The duo also produced high marks in the classroom and earned the American Press Scholar Athlete of the Year awards.
Pfantz maintained a 4.0 grade point average while starring in cross country and track and field. Meyer earned a 3.7 GPA while excelling in football, baseball and track and field.
For Pfantz, the juggling act between academics and athletics began in elementary school.
?I was in gymnastics and we had to drive down to Sulphur every day,? she said. ?So I had to do my homework in the car.?
Pfantz?s athletic career began in tee ball before moving into gymnastics.
?I have loved sports since I first played T-ball and have always played since,? she said. ?I loved the tumbling in gymnastics, that was a big thrill. I liked playing softball growing up, then I started track in sixth grade and liked that because it was just me.?
Upon entering high school, Pfantz?s athletic endeavors took a different path.
?I did not think I would be able to compete so much as a freshman,? she said. ?Coach (Mike) Greene talked me into trying cross country. I finished 11th in my first race but ended up being the district champion and finishing third in state. That gave me a lot of confidence in the other sports.?
In softball and track and field, Ashley played alongside older sister Brittany for two years.
?It was fun, it was real competitive between us,? she said.
Ashley?s track and field career began as a hurdler and jumper. Her pole vaulting career began as a sophomore when she tagged along with Brittany, who jumps at Southeastern Louisiana, for a practice session with coach Shane Leleux of New Iberia.
?I did not want to jump at first because I was scared, but he made me try it and I fell in love after one jump,? she said. ?(Track) was all I thought about.?
Pfantz progressed enough to earn all-state honors as a junior, then won the Class 4A state championship this season with a jump of 12 feet, 1 inch, a personal best and school record.
She wrapped up her career with three district championships and three all-state honors in cross country, two all-district and one All-Southwest Louisiana honor in softball, an appearance at the state regional tournament in golf and three all-state honors and a state championship in track and field.
?The performances at state cross country and the state championship are the best memories,? Pfantz said. ?At school, being in all of the clubs were fun, particularly Fellowship of Christian Athletes. That was really neat.?
Ashley will join Brittany at Southeastern and said she is considering a career in sports medicine.
Meyer was also a late to the pole vault. Football was his first love.
?I always liked hitting people,? he said. ?Even though I was the smallest one as a kid, that was my favorite thing, being able to hit people and not get in trouble. I played everything and liked going from one sport to the next.?
However, hitting the books always came first.
?My parents always stressed academics, and I had to do my homework before I could go out and play,? he said. ?I always hurried and got that done so I could go out and play.?
When not hitting people on the gridiron, Meyer was calling the shots as quarterback, a position he held since third grade. This season, he became the first Southwest Louisiana quarterback to run for 1,000 yards and throw for 1,000 in the same season. He was also an all-district selection as a sophomore.
?It was something we set as a goal when we saw the yards adding up, and it was sweet to accomplish,? he said. ?It was even better when I found out I was the first person to do it.?
Meyer capped his high school career by helping the Warriors to the Class 1A state championship in track and field. He broke his own class record in the pole vault with a jump of 16 feet, then ran legs on the 4?100 and 4?200 state championship teams. He had a personal best jump of 16-6 this year.
He was talked into the pole vault by Mike Maggio, head coach of the football and track teams.
?Coach made me do it as an eighth-grader,? Meyer said. ?Then, when I was a freshman, I made it to state and saw that I could compete and win in it, and that drove me to work at it more.
?I went to work with Coach Leleux when I was a sophomore and he saw the talent in me. I had been playing baseball but did not play as a junior so I could focus on the pole vault. But, this year the team needed some seniors so I told Coach (James Blake) that if he would let me, I would play when it did not conflict with track and help out as much as I could. I could not play full-time but I would go full-out when I was there. He let me on the team and I played on Thursdays and weekend tournaments.?
Meyer was used to serving as a leader.
?When I was a sophomore I was starting as free safety and we did not have many seniors,? he said. ?Coach Maggio and Coach (Tim) Sensley came to me and said there would be times where I would have to lead the team even though I was just a sophomore. I loved having the pressure on me, I saw it as an opportunity to shine.?
Meyer continued to shine in the classroom, relishing challenges there just as he did on the gridiron.
?I liked taking calculus and physics classes because of the challenges they presented,? he said. ?The level of those classes were so high that I had to bring my A game.?
Meyer?s days of competing in different events may not be over just yet. He has signed to attend the University of Georgia, where he said the coaches are debating whether to make him a decathlete.
?Right now that is what the list me as, but they are still discussing it,? he said. ?That would be exciting to me because I used to do the shot put and javelin some and I would be able to mix it up instead of doing just one event.?
Meyer had no problems balancing academics and athletics.
?My parents made sure I kept my grades up,? he said. ?That came first and I gave up a lot of my social life to be in the sports. But the best part about sports were the friendships and social part. We had strong bonds as teammates and will always have that.?
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Source: http://www.americanpress.com/lc/blogs/wpnewssum/?p=21203
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