Wasilla athlete makes state track and field history

WASILLA — Ceil Dunleavy has made history.

The Wasilla High School junior hit 5 feet, 6 ½ inches in the 4A girls’ high jump Friday during the first day of the ASAA/First National Bank State Track and Field Championships at Dimond High School in Anchorage. With her jump, Dunleavy broke the oldest mark in the Alaska girls’ track and field record book. She also became the first athlete in state history to win a state title in the girls’ high jump three times.

Former Soldotna High standout Renae Pickarsky had held the record for more than three decades, setting the old mark with a jump of 5-6 in 1983. Dunleavy had already tied Pickarsky’s record mark three times in her career, but state records in Alaska can only be set at the state championships meet.

A day after making state history, Dunleavy said, “she wasn’t really focused,” on setting a state record so much as a personal best in this year’s meet. She said she amped up her training with more weight lifting and extra coaching from Grace Christian School’s Stacey Nieder in Anchorage about once a week.

“She taught me a lot,” Dunleavy said at the meet on Saturday. “I don't think I'd be able to do as well if I didn’t have her as a second coach.”

Dunleavy also spoke well of her Wasilla coach, John Paramo, who she said has supported all her efforts to improve, including her time with Nieder.

“Anything that can help me, he’s cool with,” Dunleavy said.

Paramo said Dunleavy seems to have benefited from the different styles of coaching.

“I consider myself more of a motivator than a tactician,” Paramo said. “(Nieder’s) more technical.”

Dunleavy said she’s got a third coach, too — her dad.

“My dad does a lot of research on high jumping,” she said.

That research led both to Dunleavy’s relationship with Nieder as well as her participation in two out-of-state meets earlier this year in Washington and Idaho. Dunleavy said she took fourth at the Washington meet with a jump of 5-5, and though she didn’t qualify for anything at the Idaho meet, “it was a good experience,” she said.

As for her Friday performance, Dunleavy said she was confident but a slightly nervous near the end of the competition.

“I was starting to get a little shaky in the legs,” she said.

With the state record now behind her and one year ahead, Paramo said Dunleavy can just focus on gradually chipping away at her personal best. He said a 5-8 jump could definitely be in her future.

“It’s way doable,” Paramo said. “I don’t have any doubt she can do it.”

Dunleavy also added a Wasilla High School record to her list of accomplishments Friday. Dunleavy had shared a spot in the school records books with Libby Welch, who originally set the school mark with a jump of 5-6 in 1980. Dunleavy is also one of only to Wasilla athletes to win the girls’ high jump at the state meet. Former Wasilla standout Christine Lentz won the state high jump with a mark of 5-4 in 1984.

Dunleavy’s best Friday was more than four inches better than the next pack of jumpers. Chugiak’s Emma Nelson, Service’s Ann Gebauer and South Anchorage’s Zoey Keene each hit 5-2. Colony’s Madeline Ko, Wasilla’s Chatal LeBon and Colony’s Chase Stephens each finished with a jump of 5-1.

Dunleavy is one of three Valley athletes to earn an individual state title during the first day of the meet, and one of two to break a longstanding state record.

Colony junior Brandon Nicholson also jumped his way into the record books breaking the state record in the triple jump with a mark of 46-2 — almost a foot further than his preliminary jump.

The old record, set by Joel Mahaffey of Soldotna in 1993, stood at 45-10.25 — behind the mark Nicholson set at the 2016 region meet, which would be unofficial unless he set it at the state meet.

And he did.

“We came in expecting that he could very well break it,” said Colony jumps coach Dan Miles.

The feat also gave Nicholson his second straight state title in the triple jump.

Miles said Nicholson has made a lot of improvements this year. Last season, Nicholson won the state triple jump with a mark of 43-9.25, a leap nearly two feet shy of what he accomplished Friday. Nicholson’s junior season also included the personal best of 46-4.25 he landed in the Region III Championships earlier this month.

Colony junior Kristina Tennesen earned her first career state title with a distance of 116-9 in the 4A girls’ discus. Tennesen’s throw was about seven feet farther than the mark of the runner-up, Emily Pieh of Soldotna.

“She’s really maturing as a competitor,” Colony throwing coach Todd Baronak said of Tennesen.

Tennesen finished first in the discus in every regular season meet she competed in this year, but finished second in the Region III Championships last week. But Tennesen bounced back to earn her state title.

“The throw she won with (Friday) was three feet farther than her region throw,” Baronak said.

The success is a product of the work Tennesen has put in, Baronak said.

“She’s really good at studying what she needs to do,” Baronak said.

Baronak said Tennesen now has her sights set on Colony’s school record, a distance he said that’s about 137 feet.

“She’s got the work ethic to pull that off,” Baronok said.

In the 123A championships, a pair of Valley athletes posted top-3 finishes in the girls’ discus. Houston senior Kimberly Quincy was second with a throw of 93-7. Redington freshman Hailey Holland was third with a toss of 90-10.

Numerous Valley athletes also competed for spots on the podium Saturday, the final day of the meet. Final results were not available prior to the Frontiersman’s print deadline. For complete coverage of the final day of the meet, see the Tuesday edition of the Frontiersman.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.