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Vanessa Gauthier couldn't have fallen much further.
She had worked so hard, progressed so far to qualify for the USAPL Women's National Powerlifting Championship in Baton Rouge, La. Then suddenly she fell on her face on the biggest stage of all.
Three times Vanessa did the squat lift. All three times, red lights flashed on. Each time she had failed to squat the required depth, in the eyes of the judges. Each time, they disqualified her lift.
In the blink of an eye, her national competition efforts were over. Failure to complete a squat lift disqualified her from scoring in the other events.
She was heartbroken, embarrassed, mad and frustrated.
"I just bawled when I saw all those red lights come on," she said. "I didn't know what to do."
That was in 2007. Fast forward to 2008.
Again, Vanessa is competing in the national powerlifting championship in Killeen, Texas.
Once again, she is on the national stage. Once again, she is doing the squat lift.
This time, though, is much different. No red lights; no disqualifications.
Vanessa does nine lifts all nine are clean. No red lights are seen for miles.
"That just doesn't happen," she says.
Vanessa not only has clean lifts, they are winning lifts.
Vanessa wins the teen division to become a national champion. And in just as remarkable of an achievement, she finishes third among all women lifters, even among those much older.
As a result, Vanessa will be competing this summer for Team USA in the Regional Tournament of Americas in Aruba, where she will be competing against other teen power lifters from North, South and Central America.
Those who know Vanessa, a senior at Grand Island Senior High, weren't the least surprised by the turnaround in her performance at nationals.
Vanessa, they said, is known for keeping a positive attitude.
"When she scratched in all three lifts last year, she told me she just held on to her necklace and prayed," said Jodi Stauffer, director of children's ministries at St. Leo's Catholic Church, where Vanessa attends.
"The grace that came from last year, she used this year. She said, 'My time will come,'" Stauffer said, "and it did. There's no give up in her."
John Swanson, the strength and conditioning coach at Senior High, remembered how distraught Vanessa was at first after the 2007 nationals.
"She was crushed. She had high hopes, and her training had gone so well," he said. "And then in the first event she was out of it."
But he also remembers her outstanding attitude when she got home.
"She said, 'OK, I saw what it was like.' And she set a new goal of returning there and off she went," Swanson said. "She took it as a learning experience. Not every athlete does that.
"She fell on her face, but she got back up and now she is a national champion."
Vanessa said she was determined after her disappointment at the 2007 nationals to turn what had happened into something positive.
"It never crossed my mind to walk away from the meet. It made me more determined," she said. "I failed once, but it wasn't going to happen again."
And it didn't.
All of Vanessa's hard work on technique and training paid off this year.
"It finally clicked," she said. "Everything came together."
Vanessa said she began lifting weights her freshman year as part of her workouts for track. From there, it just grew.
"I love to work out, but I'm not a big fan of running," she said. "I really enjoy lifting weights. When I first squat lifted over 300 pounds, it was an awesome feeling. I felt great."
Swanson said that enjoyment shows. "She never misses a workout, and she never complains about it being too hard," he said. "She shows up no matter what."
He said Vanessa will work out on weights an hour to an hour and a half four days a week. She'll work out six days a week when it gets closer to a meet.
She's now preparing for the high school national meet this weekend.
While Vanessa, 18, has been receiving attention for her powerlifting, she is involved in many other activities.
She is president of the Senior High student council; a student trainer during the fall and winter sports season; she throws the shot put and discus on the girls track team; and is involved in youth work at church, including having gone on three mission trips, helping with the middle school class and participating in MAD (Make a Difference) Camp.
She is the daughter of Tony and Norma Gauthier.
Although she has many talents, Vanessa hopes to continue in powerlifting. She plans on being a strength and conditioning specialist after attending the University of Nebraska at Kearney and majoring in physical education.
Senior High stresses three qualities in its athletics, Swanson said. Those are honor, commitment and loyalty. Vanessa is a great example of all three of those, according to her teacher.
"She is not only a great athlete but a great person," he said.
Vanessa has proven to be a great mentor for children at St. Leo's, Stauffer said.
"My daughters look up to her as a teen and say, 'That's what I want to be like,'" she said.
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