Photo courtesy of Rachel Gehret was a first-team All-American at the University of Louisville.
Editor's note: This is the first article in a series about the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame's Class of 2024.
Written by Josh Langenbacher
for the mirror
Growing up in the Gehret household, anything could spark competition, whether it was betting to be the first to get in the car or picking up a basketball game in the driveway.
“We just competed for hours,” said Rachel Gehret, one of the main participants. “We were never good enough.”
Among Rachel's competitors were her sister Lauren and two brothers, Matthew and Brady. The event was hosted by two former Division I athletes and their parents, Lisa and Corey.
“Brady, he's four years younger,” Rachel lamented recently. And it was very frustrating. For a long time, I felt like I was losing to him, but he went into ninth grade when I was a senior, and this kid was fast, he could jump, he was fast. ”
The family's competitive nature, along with her pedigree, laid the foundation for Rachel to jump into a career in sports that culminated in her being inducted into the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame.
Rachel, who excelled in track and field at Altoona Regional High School and was an All-American at the University of Louisville, will join her mother as the only mother-daughter duo in the hall. Lisa played basketball at Altoona and the University of Pittsburgh. In recognition of her accomplishments on the court, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998.
Meanwhile, Corey was playing football at the University of Connecticut.
“I kept a diary for my kids, and when she was two or three years old, I would read it back and it would say, 'Rachel is very competitive,'” Lisa says. said. “Or, 'Rachel seems to be very athletic. She's very balanced and fast.'” She could catch, throw, and run a ball from an early age. In our family, we thought this was normal. ”
The flames of competition burned brightly. Lisa remembered Rachel. Rachel was loved by her coaches and teammates at AAHS and Louisville for her outgoing and curious nature, but when she didn't meet her goals during a competition, she became so disappointed that she didn't speak for the rest of the night. It is said that there was not.
“It’s going to be terrible,” Lisa said. “But she was mean. She had that meanness about her, and her meanness gave her an edge.”
Gehret's dominance helped leave a legacy in both Altoona and Louisville. At Altoona, her four individual records (high jump, long jump, triple jump, 200 meter dash) and one of her team records (4×400 meter relay) still top the school record board at Mansion Park. It is enshrined in. The 2006 graduate won 10 gold medals at District 6, and one of her eight medals won at PIAA was a gold medal her sophomore year.
Gehret also won the high jump for the Penn Relays during his junior year at Altoona University.
“We always created a track yearbook for the kids,” recalls AAHS head coach Steve Rose. “The more I dug out my scrapbook from May 2004 to 2006 and read it, it was amazing what she accomplished in those three years and how dominant she was. It just kept going. .”
Her success continued at Louisville. Gehret finished fifth in the 6-foot jump at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Louisville, where she earned first-team All-America honors in 2011, which remains the second-best performance in Louisville history.
The All-American honor, which Gehret says is his proudest athletic accomplishment, came after a severe self-doubt that he overcame through faith and the support of Louisville track coach Ron Mann. Told.
“I was at a point where I didn't believe in myself,” Gehret said. “I remember talking to Coach Mann and saying, 'If you let me redshirt, I can be an All-American next year.'” I swear up and down. All I'm trying to do is focus on my mental game. 'So I did that, and it worked. I got stuck, but it wasn't because of my talent. It was a mental game. ”
Gehret won six Big East individual titles in the high jump, long jump and triple jump, and was the meet's outstanding women's field athlete at the 2010 Indoor Championships, placing first in the long jump and triple jump and second in the high jump. Jump.
“She has been integral to the success of our program and the success of every program at Louisville,” Mann said. She took Gehret as one of her first recruiting classes and won the Big East Outdoor Team Championship in each of her four seasons. “It was the heyday of athletics at the University of Louisville. We were playing for the Big East title in soccer and track and field. Women's basketball was on the rise. Men's basketball was a powerhouse. Everything was on fire, but she was essential.”
He respected not only his athletic accomplishments, but also his teammates and coaches. “Her personality became very contagious to the entire team,” Mann said.
Her jump coach, Jake Jacoby, was equally enthusiastic.
“Oh, sure, she came from the Louisville track and field track,” Jacoby said. “I mean, it was her senior year team. Everybody looked up to her, respected her and did the best they could. When she got to Louisville, some of the athletes there weren't that talented. There were some who didn't, but they loved it, coming to practice every day and watching her strive to get better. They followed suit. They did.”
Gehret said he chose Louisville over Georgia Tech, North Carolina State, Virginia and Connecticut because the Cardinals offered him a full scholarship and the chance to go south, but he calls Louisville his second home. He said he was thinking about it.
But it was her first home where her success began.
Ms. Gehret credits AAHS volleyball coach Callan Price and basketball coach Craig Long, as well as Mr. Rose and the late track and field assistant coach Bill Reimer, for providing support and encouragement that facilitated her success. I praised him for doing so.
“I felt like our coaches always saw potential and believed in it,” she said. “They knew how to support us and trust you.”
Gehret is currently a physical education teacher at Myers Elementary School in the Bellwood-Antis School District and lives in Hollidaysburg with her partner, Sergio Ceballos, and their three children, Ximena, Sergio and Penelope.
For Gehret, the culmination of his athletic accomplishments by being inducted into the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame was a poignant moment that brought back memories.
“I cried my eyes out,” she said of her reaction. “I get emotional talking about it. I called my mom and she immediately started crying. I feel like when you become a parent, you forget everything that happened before. …But when you look back, And I was never satisfied with my accomplishments because I always wanted something more, but that was good. I always felt like this wasn't enough because I wanted to move on to the next goal. But when I looked back at my accomplishments, I thought, “This is pretty good.''
Blair County Sports Hall of Fame
Date: Saturday, April 13th
What: Blair County Sports Hall of Fame's 20th induction into the Hall of Fame.
Hall of Fame Inductees: Artie Fink Jr., Rachel Gehret, Mark Moschella, Tom Turcetta, Ali Williams
Hall of Fame Team: 2022 Hollidaysburg Little League Team
Community Service Award Winner: Jim Fee
Guest Speaker: Bill Walton
Host: Bob Pompiani
Tickets: $100 each or $1,000 for a table of 10. Call Kathy Millward at 814-312-4753 or email kmillward@beardlegalgroup.com. Ticket forms are available at blaircountysportshof.com.
