Earned varsity letters in track and field and basketball
Holds Sterling High School's pole vault (11-3) and triple jump records (36-2)
Awarded NCIC All-Conference Honorable Mention basketball honors
She made 71% of her free throws and was the team's leading rebounder
Advanced to the state track and field meet in three events her junior year
At state, placed 2nd in pole vault and 7th place in triple jump
Roscoe Eades Award winner and Sauk Valley News Female Athlete of the Year
Set the ISU pole-vaulting record (12 feet)
Tori Gaumer is a 2001 graduate of Sterling High School. She earned four varsity letters in track and field and two in basketball. Gaumer was a four-year cheerleader and included volleyball in her senior-year sports. Gaumer still holds Sterling High School's all-time pole vault (11-3) and triple jump records (36-2).
During her years on the SHS varsity basketball team, Gaumer helped the 2000 team to an 8-3 NCIC record, an overall record of 22-8, and the team's first regional championship title since 1987. She was awarded NCIC All-Conference Honorable Mention honors, as well as the teamÕs Hustle Award. In 2001, she made 71% of her free throws and was the team's leading rebounder. Gaumer earned the Warrior Hustle Award, a place on the All-Area Honorable Mention Team, and the NCIC Honorable Mention Team.
In track and field, Gaumer set record after record, and during her junior season, Gaumer advanced to the IHSA State Track & Field Meet in three events. She was seeded second with a triple jump of 35- 9, third in the high jump with a height of 5-4, third in the 300-meter low hurdles with a season low of 48.1 and fifth in the 100 high hurdles with a season low of 16.3. Gaumer was also a NCIC champion in the high jump and was the team's MVP.
Gaumer's senior season was nothing less than stellar, and as a team captain, she qualified for the state finals in the first-ever girls pole vault competition, the triple jump, and the 300 hurdles. She vaulted 11-3 to take home a second-place medal and set the all-time SHS record that still stands. In the triple jump, Gaumer earned a seventh-place medal at the IHSA State Meet with a leap of 35-10.75. She became the first Sterling girl since 1990 to win medals at the IHSA State Track Meet in two events. She was once again named the team MVP. To top off her successful athletic career at Sterling High School, Gaumer was awarded the Roscoe Eades Award and the Sauk Valley News Female Athlete of the Year. Gaumer competed in the Senior All-Star Meet and won the pole vault event.
Gaumer continued her track career at Illinois State University where she was a four-year pole-vaulter and heptathlete. There, Gaumer set the ISU pole-vaulting record at 12 feet and finished as high as second place in the heptathlon at the Missouri Valley Conference Meet, scoring just under 5,000 points. She was named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference Team six times, as well as the All-Missouri Conference Academic Team eight times. She graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education. Gaumer went on to use her education and athletic experience to coach student athletes in Costa Rica while teaching fifth graders at a school for missionaries' children. She coached track & field, basketball, and cheerleading.
Gaumer continued her studies at Olivet Nazarene University as a graduate assistant and coach of the womens cross country and track teams. She was the hurdles, jumps, and multi-event coach, and completed her Master's degree in professional and school counseling. At Olivet, Gaumer met her future husband, Bobby Ladner, assistant coach of the Olivet football team. As a coach, her 2010 and 2011 track teams were back-to-back Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Champions.