At the beginning of the school year, Sophia Atchison wasn’t sure where her senior year was going to take her after she blew out her knee during a club volleyball match in the summer.
On Friday, she was crowned a state champion.
The Dakota Valley High School senior won the Class A pole vault by clearing the 11-foot mark on Friday at the SDHSAA state track meet at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls.
“I’m happy, just because of how much I improved from last season,” Atchison said. “I just know I can do better. I just have a lot of potential left in me. I had my surgery about 10 and a half months ago, and it’s just crazy to me that I was able to come back from that injury in that short amount of time.”
It’s her first state championship in her final performance for the Panthers. She placed third last season.
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She’ll vault for the University of Arizona starting next season.
There were two girls left in the finals. There was Atchison and Custer freshman Ciana Steifel. After Stiefel missed her last chance, Atchison was crowned the champion but she wanted to keep going.
She aimed for the 11-foot mark, and got it, and when she cleared the pole at 11 feet, that’s when the future Wildcat knew the title was finally hers.
“It kind of hit me today, when everyone was out there clapping for me,” Atchison said. “And, after that, it made me take off. That’s when it hit. I was not ready to be done. It was so awesome being out there knowing each vault could be my last.”
Madison's Kylie Krusemark placed third at 10-6, while Carlie Schlosser of St. Thomas More and Rylee Punt of Sioux Falls Christian each vaulted at nine feet. Both Punt and Schlosser tied for fourth.
The 11-foot mark isn’t Atchison’s season best, however. That came last month at the Panthers’ home meet in North Sioux City, as she vaulted 11-6.
About a week later, she committed and signed with Arizona.
“I have so much potential left, and I didn’t even realize it before,” the pole vault champion said. “My injury helped me realize I could do more with myself than I think I could do.”
Atchison also had a 4.0 GPA and she will study Neurobiology and Cognitive Science.