2010 Gazette Female AOY: JESSICA GEHRKE (video)

IOWA CITY -- Jessica Gehrke loves the sand.

She treasures the beaches around Miami, her new home.

And before she departed for a two-sport career at Florida International University, a journey that begins when the FIU volleyball season opens later this month, she routinely found gold in the sand of long-jump pits in Iowa, winning two state championships and two Drake Relays titles in that event.

It was a run of glory that wasn't supposed to happen for Gehrke, the 2010 Gazette Female Athlete of the Year. It happened when her high-jumping leveled off, late in her freshman season at Iowa City West.

“She just wasn't progressing in the high jump. She was stuck at 4-10 and 5 feet," recalled Mike Parker, girls' track and field coach at West.

"The day before the conference championships, I told her to meet me at the sand. We got down there, and I told her to jump as far as she could. She jumped, and nobody could believe it.

"I went to my assistant coach and told her that Jess would not be high-jumping the next day.”

The next day was the Mississippi Valley Conference divisional meet. Gehrke won the long jump, in her first competition, with a school-record leap of 17 feet, 2 inches.

In her second competition, at the regional meet, she won at 17-6. In her third competition, at the state meet, she was the runner-up at 17-10.

She didn't win that day, but she took her first step toward stardom.

By the time she was done, she won six outdoor state titles -- in the long jump and the 100 as a junior, then repeated in those two events and also claimed the 200 and the 400 relay as a senior -- as the Women of Troy captured three Class 4A state titles during the Gehrke Era.

In volleyball, she as a two-time Elite all-stater at outside hitter. West reached the 4A state semifinals when Gehrke was a junior, then advanced to the championship match last fall before bowing to Ankeny.

“It's been an absolute delight to watch Jess grow and mature,” said West volleyball coach Kathy Bresnahan. “She's one of the best athletes ever to come out of Iowa City, male or female."

"Just imagine if she was 6 feet tall."

Gehrke stands 5-foot-9. Her vertical jump was measured at 30 1/2 inches when she was a junior.

Some of that athleticism came from quality genes -- her mother, Michelle Gehrke, was a volleyball player and javelin thrower at Idaho State University; her father, Derrius Loveless, played football at the University of Iowa.

But most of it came from time in the weight room or the gym.

“I love lifting, and I love time in the gym," Gehrke said. "Someday after college, I want to own my own gym and work with younger athletes – help them work on their technique."

Gehrke works hard to improve her body, harder to enhance her mind.

Much harder.

Academics do not come easily for Gehrke, who battles attention deficit disorder. Spend time with Gehrke, and you'd never know her struggles. She is well-spoken, giving "one of the best speeches I've ever witnessed" at the track postseason banquet in May, according to Parker.

“It takes me a lot to memorize something. I'm not good at math," Gehrke said. "I spend every night working on subjects – more time than the average student has to, let's just say.

"Some nights, when I had track meets, I'd be up until 2 or 3 in the morning. There was just a lot of stuff I had to do.”

Still, Gehrke maintained a grade point average around 3.0 and elevated her ACT score high enough to qualify for FIU.

“It was a struggle, but she got through it," said Gehrke's mother. "She has tried so hard. She has to work twice as hard as most kids to remember the information she reads.”

It will be a challenge juggling academics and two sports at the Division-I level. Gehrke embraces it.

"I don't think it's going to be too bad,” she said. “It's exciting to be part of two teams in totally different sports.”

And they are totally different. In volleyball, you're expected to lustfully celebrate each point. In high school, Gehrke would be hoarse after a lengthy Saturday-afternoon tournament.

On the track, however, Parker nearly had to drag emotion out of her.

“At the state meet, I begged her to celebrate, to be a little arrogant," he said.

"After she won the 100, I wanted her to turn to the West High crowd and at least wave. She didn't. After the 200, I said, ‘Please do something so I'll be able to tell that you won.'

"I have a picture of her with her fist clenched at her stomach, with a smile on her face. I'll keep that forever, because that's the full-fledged celebration of Jessica Gehrke.”

Gehrke said, "(The emotion) is there, but I keep it inside. I've heard people talk about famous athletes, about how they're arrogant or cocky. That's not how I am. I'll smile, but that's about it."

Now the smile is in Miami. With the sand.

Gehrke talks to her mother -- "the closest person to me" -- twice a day. She hasn't acclimated herself yet to the humidity of South Florida. She knows the athletic and academic demands that lie ahead.

But this is the life she chose. This is her dream.

"I want to win championships here," she said. "But my No. 1 goal is to graduate, to get a quality education."

Two Division-I sports. Long road trips. Late nights. Tutors.

“It's a pretty rare person that can pull it off," Bresnahan said. "It's going to be difficult, but if anybody can do it, Jess can.”

JESSICA GEHRKE, AT A GLANCE

Full name: Jessica Leigh Gehrke

Date of birth: Sept. 28, 1991

High school highlights: Won six individual/relay outdoor state championships in track and field, leading the Women of Troy to Class 4A team titles in 2007, 2008 and 2010. Also captured six indoor state titles. She won three Drake Relays titles and holds West records in four events -- the 100, 200, long jump and 400 relay. She anchored the 400-meter relay that owns an all-time Iowa best. An Elite all-stater in volleyball in 2008 and 2009, leading West to a 4A runner-up finish last fall. Averaged 4.2 kills per game and posted a .417 kill efficiency as a senior.

Future plans: Will compete in volleyball and track at Florida International University.