By Rich Winter

605 Sports

At Monday’s Wall Invitational Eagle senior Rylan McDonnell broke out several monster long jumps. 

McDonnell reached 22-7.25 in the long jump. That effort broke his brother Allan McDonell’s Wall school record of 21-9 and is the longest jump in South Dakota this spring regardless of class. 

“I was just really excited about it,” Rylan McDonnell said. “I knew I had that jump in me but I also knew it was going to take some time to get it.”

Wall track coach David Ermish was watching the long jump competition and saw his senior pupil put on a big-time display of long jumping. 

“He actually had a bigger jump that was a toenail scratch,” Ermish said.

Meet officials were coerced into measuring the foul which was an estimated 23-5.

“That early miss gave him confidence and that propelled him to his record on Monday,” Ermesh said. 

If the name McDonnell jumps off the page, it should. Rylan has two older brothers, Braden and Allan that were both tremendous athletes at Wall. Allan attended Black Hills State University where he long jumped, triple jumped and high jumped for the Yellow Jackets. 

“Allan is the one who got me into jumping,” Rylan McDonnell said. “His main deal was the high jump, that’s where I started before trying the other jumping events.” 

In the summertime the brothers often sneak away from the family farm to the Wall track where the elder brother offers technique tips to his younger sibling. 

Ermish has been teaching and coaching at Wall for 14 years and said he could tell early on that Rylan was going to be a special athlete.

“He’s a quick twitch kid that has been around track his entire life,” he said. “Each of the brothers were a little different. Rylan is super springy, a natural fluid athlete. I could put him in just about any event and he would excel in that event.” 

During his high school career Rylan has dabbled in the jumps and run on just about every relay for the Eagles. This year McDonnell is down to four events, the long jump, triple jump, 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash. 

In addition to having the top long jump, McDonnell also has Class B’s leading triple jump (42-5). He currently has the eighth fastest 100 meter dash (:11.44) in Class B. 

So serious about his senior track and field season Wall’s Rylan McDonnell didn’t play basketball this winter, instead choosing to compete in indoor track and work on his speed and strength. 

The school record long jump is evidence of that newfound speed and McDonnel says he feels different on the long jump runway this year. 

“The speed has helped so much,” he said. “Being fast is the main reason I can jump as far as I can. I’ve been working with my track coaches to become the fastest I can become.” 

Ermesh says McDonnell checks all the boxes of a student/athlete.

“The kid is tremendously coachable,” he said. “He’s really become a leader. He’s not a loud kid, kind of quiet and polite and he’s a really good role model for and always takes the time to help the younger kids.” 

The Eagles have a busy stretch before getting ready for the Howard Wood Dakota Relays in early May. Field event athletes compete in open events and McDonnell says he’s excited to mix it up with the best athletes in Sioux Falls. 

“I am really excited about it,” he said. “I love how tough the competition is and that gets me fired up to compete with all the best athletes in the state.”