Mitchell senior Emily Gauvey exploded onto the scene as a sophomore while at Anclote High School in Holiday, when she high jumped 5-8 at the March, 2014 Berkeley Prep Tailgate Invite. It vaulted her into the local and regional spotlight and set the ground work for a superb high school career.
"I did high jump in middle school but I wasn't serious about it and I never realized I could clear 5-8," Gauvey said. "When I did it, everyone was saying how good that was for a sophomore; I was so happy at Anclote at the time, things were getting really good."
Except for Gauvey, things didn't get better. Things got much worse.
The cracks in the picturesque portrait of Gauvey's future were there but hiding under the surface, just like the cracked bone in her foot.
"When I jumped 5-8, I had a hairline fracture in my foot from the start of the season," Gauvey said. "I had no idea it was fractured at the time, I wrapped it, thought it wasn't that serious."
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t was serious and the severity would spike as Gauvey finished high jump and ran in the 300m hurdle event, later that same day.
"It was on the first hurdle of the turn and I kicked over with the wrong lead leg, when I came down, I rolled my right foot and heard it snap," Gauvey said. "I finished the race and won but that's when I knew something was wrong; the pain was unbelievable."
Gauvey, however, continued to compete and all the way up to states where she cleared 5-4 and took second place. A fine mark and respectable place but well shy of Gauvey's potential. One week after states, she went to get x-rays on her foot and that's when things really unraveled.
"The doctor said I needed to get off of my foot now, he wouldn't even let me walk out of the office, he made me use a wheelchair," Gauvey said. "It was shattering because I still wanted to compete at Golden South. The doctor said, "no" that we had to fix it (the foot) right away."
And so began Garvey's long journey to put back the pieces to her high school athletic career, although the story goes back further than that.
- In eighth grade, Gauvey was in a car accident that required three different surgeries over three years to repair damage to her nose and face.
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Mid May, 2014. Gauvey goes into surgery on her foot where surgeons drove a screw into the top of her foot to hold the bone together while it healed. Gauvey was in a walking boot for four months and on crutches for a month after that. She was out of action entirely for five months, no getting her heart rate up for fear of swelling, nothing.
- September 2014. Gauvey finally got free of all the braces and crutches. She first started taking walks in her neighborhood. She was able to do some light stretching. She wouldn't run again until January of 2015.
- Track season, 2015. Gauvey, now at Mitchell High School in New Port Richey, struggled. She made states but only cleared 5-4 for a third-place finish. It took well beyond the 2015 track season for her to find her form again.
"I was used to everything coming easy for me, I was used to training all year round; it was hard," Gauvey said.
- July 2015. Gauvey enters the USAT Junior Nationals in Jacksonville and clears 5-7.75, ever so close to that 5-8 she hit as a sophomore.
"I was finally getting back into it," Gauvey said.
- November, 2015. Gauvey undergoes another facial surgery stemming from the eighth-grade car accident. However, she is still able to train, to prepare for the 2016 season.
"I was more excited coming into this (2016) season, I knew I had the surgeries behind me and I had a whole season to train and compete," Gauvey said.
This season, Gauvey started off on a few concrete jump pads and had average marks but came into the Berkeley meet, the same meet she'd cracked her foot at three years ago, and cleared 5-6. A week later at the Early Bird Invitational at Clearwater High School, on another rubber jump pad, she cleared 5-6. Not even a week after that, Gauvey leapt into the national spotlight as she cleared 5-8 at the Calvary Christian Invite. At the time, that was the second-best high jump in the nation behind world champion and now turned professional high jumper Vashti Cunningham.
"It felt so good, it made it seem possible again to get better than I was," Gauvey said.
Gauvey wasn't finished, yet, either. Another week later, Gauvey lined up to jump at the 54th Ed Wells Invite, again at Clearwater High School and cleared 5-9. 5-9 is now a three-way tie for the third-best jump in the nation this year and tops in Florida.
"5-8 seemed hard but 5-9 felt natural," Gauvey said. "I feel like now I can see the higher heights, that I can see 5-10 or even 6-0 this year."
With the track season turning the corner into the run to the county meets and state series, Gauvey is poised to break through for a big performance at states and potentially, her first state title. Four surgeries and three years later, she's finally putting the last few pieces together.