MCDERMOTT VAULTS TO TOP OF HER CLASS

The Express Times
By Bruce Barratti
April 6th, 2008

If you ask Gary Mohylsky to touch on the topic of Kerry McDermott, the Bethlehem Catholic coach immediately becomes effusive in his praise of his star, almost to the point of getting emotional talking about her.

"Kerry and Nicole Chickey have pretty much built our girls program," said Mohylsky, who guided the Golden Hawks to the PIAA Class AA boys team championship in 2003. "Kerry is our leader. I get sick thinking about not having her here next year."

Where McDermott will be next year is Cornell University, one of several Ivy League schools that recruited her. Her twin brother, Mike, a hurdler and shot putter, has accepted an appointment to West Point where he'll play football.

Until this year, both McDermotts attended the same classes all through elementary school and high school. Separation anxiety, Kerry McDermott feels, is not going to be an issue.

"We push each other all the time," Kerry McDermott said. "Mike was actually the better athlete growing up; he won the (New Jersey) state youth title in the hurdles. But he's 6-foot-7 and about 260 (pounds) now. He's more focused on football."

Kerry McDermott's athletic skill set runs from the hurdles to the jumps to the pole vault, an event she picked up between her freshman and sophomore year at Mike Lawryk's Vertical Assault Club in East Allen Township. Without a gymnastics background, McDermott captured the PIAA Class AA state pole vault title last May, clearing 11 feet, 6 inches, which tied her personal best.

"Jackie Meissner (of Saucon Valley, who won the Class AA state title in 2006) and I started out at Vertical Assault together," McDermott said during an interview at Becahi on a damp Friday afternoon. "Mike told me I had a good swing (technique) and it really didn't take me long to learn how to vault."

Fifth in her class, McDermott uses her quick mind to visualize a particular event and almost immediately picks up the mechanics. A third-place pole vault medalist in the state meet as a sophomore, she qualified for four PIAA events last season-- the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, the long jump, the 1,600 relay and the pole vault.

She hopes to make it out to Shippensburg again in the same four events.

Bethlehem Catholic does not have a specific jumps or hurdles coach, so that leaves it up to McDermott to guide herself. Cheryl Meissner coaches the Becahi vaulters.

"We don't have any (track) facilities here at school, so we just do some conditioning here and we work on our technique at our meets," McDermott said.

Most of the Becahi workouts take place over at a cemetery across the street from the high school, and it's mostly just running from point to point to develop conditioning.

"Kerry works so well with the younger kids," Mohylsky said. "She's really a coach out there. You could put her in just about any event. Last year, she was coming back from a hamstring injury, so we put her in the 800 for conditioning. She ran 2:32 with absolutely no training. It was the first time she ever ran the event."

So far this season, McDermott is ranked second (16.0) behind Northampton's Ashley Hunter (15.8) in the 100-meter hurdles and shares the top time with Hunter in the 300 intermediate (48.5) hurdles. She's ranked third in the long jump (16-1) behind Jessica Van Natten of Whitehall (16-10¼) and Freedom sophomore Alyssa Cardillo (16-5) and is tied for third in the pole vault (10-9) behind defending PIAA Class AAA champ Abby Schaffer of Easton (12-6) and Whitehall sophomore Brooke Hamscher (11-6).

A resident of Stewartsville, McDermott said she was recruited by Cornell field events coach Rich Bowman but is projected mainly as a pole vaulter by the Big Red, not as a multi-event athlete like you might expect.

"They have people who are already in those events, but they need vaulters," said McDermott, who plans to major in applied economics and management. "I think doing other events works to your advantage but in college, it looks like I'll just be vaulting."

But until that time comes, McDermott will continue to enjoy her role as a jack of many trades, and a master of all of them.