Tenlee Stiefel soars to state title

By Jason Ferguson

One down...three to go?
Custer High School freshman pole vaulting sensation Tenlee Stiefel captured her first state championship in the event last weekend, clearing 13-3 to set a new school record (which she already held), a new Class A record and a new meet record all in one fell swoop.
“It definitely feels good,” Stiefel said of winning a state championship. “It’s kind of crazy doing it as a freshman. I’m really happy I could secure the win.”
“Tenlee just keeps getting higher every time she vaults,” Custer head coach Karen Karim said. “She had a pretty decent attempt at the all-time state record.”
That state record is 13-5 1/4, set by Leslie Brost of Watertown in 2008. It was on Stiefel’s checklist to break the record.
“I really wanted the state record, but I’m happy with 13-3,” she said. “I know I can definitely get it next year. They were really good attempts (at 13-6), so I’m happy.”
Stiefel won by over a foot over second place, which just so happened to be her sister, Kelsey Stiefel, who overcame a foot injury she battled most of the season to take second with a top height of 12-1.
Tenlee’s championship makes it four straight Stiefel state championships in the event, as older sister Ciana vaulted her way to three consecutive crowns.
Will it be seven family titles by the time all is said and done? Tenlee hopes so, saying she would like to win three more.
“That would be pretty cool. That’s the goal right now, along with the state record,” she said.
Her toughest competition figures to come from Kelsey, who undoubtedly hopes to return next spring for a full, injury-free season.
“Kelsey jumping in there after not vaulting in a month, that was the best-case scenario we could have had in the vault,” Karim said. “She was tough. She hadn’t done anything in quite a while and looked good.”
Tenlee said she will take a break for a bit to let her body rest now that the season is over before the family gets back into training, with a summer of camps and competitions.
The points scored by the Stiefel sisters made up half of the 36 points the Wildcat girls scored, which was good for fifth place at the meet.
Also placing second was Jessica Hite, who came on strong late in the season and threw the shot put a personal record (PR) distance of 36-4 3/4 to grab silver in the event.
“(Throws coach Russ) Bailey said she had looked awesome the last couple of weeks,” Karim said. “He said, ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if Jessica places pretty high.’”
Senior Karyn Ellerton placed in both throws, just as she had all year, placing third in the discus with a best toss of 124-0 and eighth in the shot put with a top throw of 34-11.
Those throws were somewhat down from her top throws during the regular season, but Karim said that does not diminish what Ellerton did all season and throughout her career.
“She had an awesome career,” she said. “You can’t have it all click on the right day sometimes. It doesn’t diminish everything she has accomplished up to this point.”
Rylan Lowe rounded out the girls scoring by placing sixth in the discus with a top throw of 118-2.
“Kudos to Bailey and (pole vault coach) Chris (Stiefel) for the kiddos placing and keeping us in there,” Karim said.
For the first time in years, the Wildcat girls didn’t score a single point at the state meet on the track side of track and field.
“Sometimes it’s track, and sometimes it’s field,” Karim said with a laugh.
On the boys side, the 3200 relay team of Zach Cooper, Carter Cooper, Zane Gunnell and Kian Rusch placed third in the 3200 relay, posting a time of 8:12.03. Rusch almost ran down a fellow anchor leg for second place, and the time the team posted was one second off the school record.
Zach Cooper also placed in the open 800, bringing home eighth place with a  PR time of 2:00.15.
Like the girls, the Wildcat boys had a pair of pole vaulters place, as Ezra Wollman cleared 13-3 to finish third and Ayden Dooley brought home eighth with a top height of 12-3.
“They both had awesome vault days,” Karim said.
Danny Immormino capped his career with a fourth-place finish in the long jump, hitting a best distance of 21-5 3/4.
“He popped a huge jump his third jump in prelims to get him in the finals and placed him fourth,” Karim said. “We were happy for him to be able to podium as a senior.”
He also stood on the podium as part of the fifth-place finishing medley relay team, as he was joined by Zach Cooper, Rusch and Marcus Merrill to post a time of 3:39.15.
The boys team finished in 12th place with 23 points as Sioux Falls Christian once again won both the boys and girls titles.
The Wildcats will return the vast majority of both its boys and girls teams next season, as most were underclassmen, and many of whom were getting their first taste of the Class A State Track Meet.
“Hopefully we got some good experience and we will look for bigger things,” Karim said. “They are hard workers and we will get better as we go on.”