(Natalie Moser, Dara Altman, Chelo Canino)

By Ricky Quintana
The Tampa Tribune
February 26, 2005

Gainesville, FL- In the seven years the women’s pole vault has been contested at the collegiate level, the University of Florida has had its fare share of success. Gator pole vaulters have earned one NCAA All-American honor and have claimed three SEC titles at the indoor and outdoor track and field championships. But this year, they may have their best group ever with three vaulters that hail from the Tampa area.

Last year, Dara Altman, the 2001 and 2002 4A state champion and Gaither alum, was the lone Tampa area athlete on the UF roster, but in somewhat of a strange occurrence, she is one of three this year.

It was almost certain that Natalie Moser, a Wharton alum and 2003 4A state champion, would be joining Altman in Gainesville. The two shared the same coach in high school, former Wharton head coach, Dave Watson, and had been friends since Moser’s freshman year. Altman even served as host on Moser’s recruiting visit and fielded all the questions Moser showered her with about the UF program. So when Moser decided on UF, it was not that big of a surprise.

But the third Tampa vaulter to land on the Gator roster last year was a truly a surprise. Highly recruited by UF her senior season at Bloomingdale, Chelo Canino, the 1999 6A and 2000 4A state champion, decided to attend Princeton for its academic prestige. But, late last spring, with a year of athletic eligibility remaining, Canino decided she would forego a promising career in the business world and apply to graduate school at the University of Florida. Canino also shared something in common with Moser and Altman. She too had been briefly coached by Dave Watson as a sophomore.

“A lot of those kids who are from the Tampa area worked with Dave Watson who was a vaulter here at Florida. A lot of kids just gravitated to him,” says long time UF Head Women’s track and field coach, Tom Jones who knows a little about the Tampa area after coaching at Chamberlin in ‘75-76. “We recruited Chelo really hard out of high school and we caught her on the rebound here out of graduate school here. This year’s group is very successful. A very talented group.”

Jones is quick to thank volunteer and Florida’s only women’s pole vault coach, Chris Leeuwenburgh for the success of Florida’s vault program over the years. Jones knew what he was getting when he asked his former athlete at UTEP and the 1986 NCAA runner-up to take on the fledgling NCAA event in 1999. The sport has since grown alarmingly in popularity.

“Chris Leewenburg does a great job with the women pole vaulters,” says Jones who took over the women’s program in 1993. “ He’s a professor on campus now in the department of aging. He’s a vault fanatic. His life revolves around the vault and his research.”

Leeuwenburgh’s pole vault career was flourishing at UTEP before the NCAA levied a probation on the program forcing him to make the decision to transfer to UF. But at UF, he was plagued by a chronic injury suffered the summer before enrolling at UF. His passion for the sport of pole vaulting landed him in the role of coach for two of Florida’s best ever male pole vaulters, Mike Holloway and Dave Watson. Yes, that’s right. Moser, Altman and Canino’s high school coach, Dave Watson, jumped a personal best of 18 feet 10.50 inches under Leeuwenburgh’s tutelage.

“ The coaching ended up being a big escape for me,” says Leeuwenburgh who at ‘over 40’ still is able to compete against athletes twenty years younger. He finished fourth in his native Dutch National Champs last year. “ I could still relay some of the information I had from the Europeans to the athletes.”

But coaching was not in the plans for Leeuwenburgh. And certainly not coaching women who had not yet gained any international or national recognition for the event. His research studies kept him busy and away from pole vaulting. It wasn’t until the second summer he had been back in Gainesville that he began to become interested in coaching once again. And it was a women pole vaulter who perked his interest though not for the reasons one may think.
Leeuwenburgh was approached by one of UF’s first women vaulters, Sarah Adams, about his research and possibly working in his laboratory after reading an article in the Alligator, the school newspaper. Leeuwenburgh took her on in his lab thinking that Adams wanted him to coach her. But Adams was indeed interested in his research, Leeuwenburgh came to learn years later. Leeuwenburgh began to train again working out with Adams. As fate would have it, the volunteer pole vaulting position became open and Leeuwenburgh decided to take on the job as a part timer fitting it in to his already busy schedule.

Leeuwenburgh also regained contact with his former pupil Dave Watson who had also become a successful pole vault coach for many of the vaulters in the Tampa area. The two would visit each other in Gainesville and in Tampa and discuss the pole vault. It was only a matter of time that Leeuwenburgh would begin to show interest in Watson’s athletes.
Right off the bat, Leeuwenburgh was able to land most of Florida’s top pole vault talent and make them into champions. In 2000, he coached unknown and unheralded Laura Hawkins to the SEC indoor championship. The following two years, he coached Megan Westfall to the 2001 SEC indoor championship and the 2002 SEC indoor and outdoor championship.

Canino was one who initially got away, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.

“ It was a tough decision to not go to Florida,” says Canino in retrospect. “ It was easy to stay in state. I would have my college paid for. Ivy league schools may not have the coaches on par with a UCLA, Nebraska and Florida, but I knew couldn’t pole vault forever. Going to Princeton was going to help me more academically.”

Leeuwenburgh had better luck in recruiting Altman to Gainesville and with her help, Moser followed. Now, he is looking at the trio from Tampa to make a big impact for the number four ranked Gators.

“As far as potential, this group is probably as good or better than the one I had in 2001-2002,” says Leeuwenburgh. “The reason I say that is because they jumped higher in high school than our past jumpers. They can go into the conference on February 25 and 26 and get 20-23 points. They just need to continue to be very disciplined.”

The camaraderie among all pole vaulters has always been well noted. Catapulting oneself more than ten feet into the air takes a certain type of person and breeds respect among the pole vaulters. It is not uncommon to see pole vaulters give pointers or advice to other pole vaulters from other teams. But these three seem to share a tighter bond than the others.

“ It’s a unique situation,” says Altman. “ We’re all two years apart and we all have vaulted together before at camps or with Coach Watson. It’s been fun. It’s good to know someone from home around sometimes and have that history that you share that you may not with other members of the team.”

“ She’s like my sister,” says Moser who remembers meeting Altman her first year at Wharton. A newcomer to the event, the athletic Moser shared the same gymnastic background with Altman and the two hit it off from the start. “ She pretty much looks out for me and takes care of me. She made sure I adjusted well when I got to UF. She’s my sister.”

The dynamics seem to work in practice too. Each has their own strength and sees a benefit from working together to reach higher heights.

“Chelo is a great vaulter so I was excited to see what I could learn from her,” says Altman. “ She’s a very good technical vaulter. She watches film all the time and I can just learn doing those things. She’s always willing to help you out and offer advice when asked. She is really good about seeing things that I may not see on my own. Of course, our pole vault coach obviously helps out with that. He does most of that, but Chelo is always there to add something and help out.”

Canino’s desire to improve lead the way to her decision to attend Florida. “I knew Florida had a really great support system and optimal training environment where I could potentially improve – I really feel I have some unfinished business in the vault that I need to take care of.” At Florida, she has a weight coach and a nutritionist to go along with her normal coaches. Though she has a better mark than most of the women on the team, she’s learning a lot.

“ Every day in gymnastics and in the weight room, I am outclassed,” says Canino who hopes the added training will improve her performance. “ These girls are just so much stronger than I am.”

The three have benefited from the strong group this year and gotten off to a good start this indoor season. They are showing the promise that Coach Leeuwenburgh hopes they can continue to fulfill.
Altman started off the season with a near personal best mark of 12-05.50 in December 13 at Clemson and has been consistently threatening her personal best of 12-07.50.

Moser got off to a slow start, but now has cleared 12-03.50, just 2.50 inches from her personal best set as a junior.
After missing most of last year’s indoor season with sickness, Canino has gotten off solidly jumping 12-07.50. Currently, those three plus sophomore Dana Van Wagner and senior Chandra Lacombe own six of the top ten performances in the SEC.

Head Coach Tom Jones sees even greater things from his pole vaulters. “The pole vault is one of the strengths of the team. It always has been,” says Jones who has led Florida to the 2002 and 2004 SEC indoor titles. " We have six vaulters and I can see three making it over 13 feet at conference. That would make a big impact. For NCAA’s we’re banking on Chelo to make it because she finished fifth last year at the outdoor championships. I can see Dara Altman and Chandra Lacombe having a shot at it too.”