{"id":130444,"date":"2020-04-17T18:44:55","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T23:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=130444"},"modified":"2020-04-17T18:50:26","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T23:50:26","slug":"gemmer-signs-with-air-force-academy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2020\/04\/17\/gemmer-signs-with-air-force-academy\/","title":{"rendered":"Gemmer signs with Air Force Academy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jill Gemmer made it official on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Van Wert High School senior signed a letter of intent to continue her academic and track and field careers at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI looked at a lot of schools and I looked at Air Force ROTC at other schools but at the end of the day, the cadets are there to serve their country and participate in the sport they excel in, so it was just the best fit for me,\u201d Gemmer said. \u201cThey are one of the most prestigious schools in the country and it\u2019s just an honor to go there. With all of the opportunities that come with it, it was just too hard to pass up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Van Wert High School senior Jill Gemmer signed her letter of intent to continue her academic and athletic careers at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Her stepfather, David Weating and her mother, Jill Gemmer are also pictured. Scott Truxell\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Gemmer, the daughter of Jean Gemmer and David Weating and the late Thomas Gemmer, was the Division II OHSAA state runner-up in the shot put in 2019 and went to track camp at the Air Force Academy last summer. She\u2019ll start with the discus and shot put, but will also throw the javelin for the Falcons, who compete in the Division I Mountain West Conference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe coach (Dana Lyon) there was the No. 2 javelin thrower in the world in 2005 and she was the first one to ever coach me in the javelin, so that\u2019s pretty cool to have such amazing people coaching you there,\u201d Gemmer explained. \u201cShe was an Air Force Academy graduate herself and she just really understands the whole program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the classroom, Gemmer plans on tackling a challenging course of study \u2013 either behavioral analysis or military strategic studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know for sure yet but I want to do something with the Office of Special Investigations and do undercover operations,\u201d Gemmer said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like all other spring sports student-athletes, Gemmer is waiting to see if the season will get underway next month. If school is open on May 4, practices will resume that day and a shortened 2020 season will begin a few days later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have not let up on any training,\u201d Gemmer said. \u201cI\u2019m doing a lot of distance running \u2013 I\u2019m not a distance runner, I\u2019m a thrower and it\u2019s very strange for a thrower to just pick up and run three miles, but I\u2019m working on it and I\u2019m still working on my strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope that we get to compete this season, but at this point I have my doubts,\u201d Gemmer added. \u201cThere\u2019s so much more to my life and my ultimate goal is to serve my country, so I\u2019m really excited for that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor Jill Gemmer made it official on Friday. The Van Wert High School senior signed a letter of intent to continue her academic and track and field careers at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. \u201cI looked at a lot of schools and I looked at Air Force ROTC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-23 05:46:54","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130444\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}