By: Joe Cicchino – Sports Information Assistant

FORT WASHINGTON – Quartnei Brown '21 never really knew much about pole vaulting before her freshman year at Germantown Academy. Prior to high school, she was focused on and succeeding in a different sport.

Brown started gymnastics when she was six years old. She stayed with the sport until recently when she decided to focus solely on pole vaulting. Along with gymnastics, Brown also used to be a diver.

“I was a Level 8 Junior Olympic gymnast when I stopped,” Brown said. “I was able to make states at every level of my gymnastics career. I also made regionals in my last season of doing gymnastics. I did diving for one season, but I was able to score several wins at various meets and make Junior Olympics there as well.”

It was not until Assistant Track & Field Coach Tom Taft recommended working with fellow assistant coach Lawrence Johnson, who won the silver medal in the pole vault at the 2000 Summer Olympics, after seeing a video of Brown’s bar routine, that she pursued vaulting. Brown said that she fell in love with the sport after training with Johnson.

Under the guidance of the former Olympian, Brown has progressed at a rapid pace. In less than a year, the freshman went from never picking up a pole to clearing 10 feet with ease.

“She’s been having a great season,” Johnson said. “She’s been one of the most consistent vaulters this season. She’s jumped pretty much 10 feet in every competition. She’s getting close to 10’6” which would be the outdoor school record and I’m expecting her to get it pretty soon.”

That consistency has helped Brown not only establish herself at Germantown Academy, but also nationally. Johnson said that at one point during the season, Brown was ranked as one of the top-10 freshmen in the country.

Her performances at meets this year have backed up that ranking. She finished third in the event at the 11th Annual Viking Invitational, eighth at the Henderson Invitational, and first at the Inter-Ac League Championship. On May 21, Brown took first and set a personal record when she cleared 10’3” at the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association Championships. However, her goals are much higher than that.

“I want to go higher and I know that I can,” Brown said. “I want to break some more records, and I am confident that practicing hard and staying focused will help me get there.” 

The freshman sees her time as a gymnast as an advantage. She said that the sport helped by making her unafraid of trying difficult techniques and going upside-down. While Johnson agrees with some of those ideas, he also has some of his own.

“In my opinion, there is a disadvantage that comes with gymnastics,” Johnson said. “Gymnastics in different than the pole vault in that to get inverted you have to bend the arms and pull from an upside-down position. That’s something that gymnasts find challenging.”

However, having someone go from a gymnast to a pole vaulter is something Johnson has dealt with before. He says that after about two or three months, they are able to “reprogram” the technique.

That “reprogramming” is one of the reasons that the season has been “challenging, but also very exciting” for Brown. She said that she is learning a lot about the sport, and that having Johnson as a coach always helps. While she’s still early in her vaulting career, Brown has an idea of where she wants to end up.

“I would love to go to college for pole vaulting, and take a path similar to LoJo.” Brown said. “Women vaulters don’t get much publicity. Also, there are not many African-American female vaulters that I’ve seen, so I would like to make my mark that way.”