The Right Foot

Groenewold’s perseverance rewarded with PR at state-qualifying meet

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Ella Groenewold’s left foot took her to the state track & field meet last year. 

Despite a stress fracture that caused her to miss most of the season, Groenewold’s left leg launched her over the bar at 5-foot-2, to the state meet where she finished 12th. 

But this year, that left leg was still giving her problems. 

This time, a herniated disc and pinched nerve in her back were causing the pain and preventing proper flexion in her foot and ankle. 

She still wanted to jump, but the solution wasn’t easy. 

“My orthopedist said that if I wanted to try to jump, it would have to be on the other leg,” Groenewold explained. “So I started practicing about halfway through the season. It was a little stressful because I only had a few competitions to kind of get into it again.”

On Thursday, Groenewold lined up on the opposite side and jumped off of the opposite foot, but the result was the same. She finished second, and was through to state. 

“It just felt so good,” she said. “I kind of felt a little bit of pressure on me just because I made it last year. And I just really had a goal for myself to make it again this year.

“Going into it, I was ranked third. So that made me a little nervous. But I had all my teammates  over here and my family over there. After every jump, I could hear them screaming for me.”

Groenewold may have made it look easy on Thursday, but the process of learning to jump off of her right foot was daunting at times. 

“There were moments of frustration because Ella is such a great competitor and holds herself to a high standard,” Mid-Prairie coach Chris Tyler said.

When Groenewold was discouraged after topping out at 5-foot-1 earlier in the season, Tyler offered her some perspective. 

 “I told her to go home and try any routine daily activity with her opposite side,” he said. “Brush your teeth with your left hand and feel how awkward that is. You are being asked to do a highly technical whole body movement on the ‘wrong side’ and are only one inch from your lifetime best.”

Groenewold was cleared to begin jumping six weeks ago, but still had to limit the stress on her leg. She watched film and spent time visualizing the proper form and technique when she wasn’t able to jump. The first attempts were rough. 

“I got frustrated at myself many times in practice, but Tyler is such a great coach and he was able to talk me through it,” she said.

She was focused on having a positive mindset heading into Thursday’s competition. 

“Tonight I just came out saying, you know what, you’re going to do the best you can,” she said. “Because I always had this thought in my head that everyone’s going to be disappointed in me, and it’s not true. But it’s the pressure I put on myself, so I just have to keep reminding myself of that.”

She cleared five feet easily to qualify for state, but continued to battle E-B-F freshman Molly Shafer for first. 

Groenewold set a PR of 5-2 in the first meet of her sophomore season, before her stress fracture was discovered. She matched it in the state-qualifying meet last season, but had not gone higher since. After securing a top-2 finish on Thursday, she had a good feeling. 

“On my five foot jump — when I saw the video played back and realized how far I was even over five foot… I was like, ‘wait, maybe I can do this,’” she said. “Maybe it’s going to be OK.”

It would be OK. 

Jumping off of her right foot, Groenewold matched her left foot PR and then blew it away, matching Shafer at 5-3 and 5-4, before Shafer went up to 5-5 to take first. 

“She is a role model of what a great student athlete does,” Tyler said. “I know there are teammates watching what she is accomplishing and seeing how they can apply her path to success to their own skills. We are very fortunate to have Ella as a member of this team.”

Groenewold will be be back at Drake Stadium to compete for the 2A state championship on Friday, May 20 at 4:30 p.m.