By Rich Winter 

605 Sports

In the sixth grade Rapid City Central’s Mataya Yellow Mule was introduced to the high jump by a coach, Jenna Stephens. That coach heard Yellow Mule was pretty good at gymnastics and encouraged the young athlete to ‘give it a try’.

Yellow Mule gave it a try and seven years later she’s still working with Stephens and is now one of the top jumpers in South Dakota. 

“I was good at the high jump in middle school,” Yellow Mule said. “It wasn’t until my freshman season that I tried the triple jump and it wasn’t until my junior year that I tried long jump.” 

At the 2021 South Dakota state track meet Yellow Mule won the Class AA triple jump (38-10.50) while finishing second in the AA long jump (17-04.5). She contested the high jump immediately following the 200-meter dash and failed to make the opening height because of the fatigue in her legs. 

“We’ve already looked at the schedule and I won’t do that same race right before the high-jump,” she said. 

Last week the South Dakota High School Activities Association released an updated list of top-10 athletes in each event. 

Matayah Yellow Mule’s name was all over those lists. 

100 meter dash: 7th fastest in Class AA, :12.85

200 meter dash: 5th fastest in Class AA, :26.78

High jump: 3rd highest in Class AA, (5-02, personal best is 5-04)

Long jump: 3rd farthest in Class AA, (17-03, personal best is 18-11.75)

Triple jump: Farthest in Class AA, (37-9.25, personal best is 

One of the top AA sprinters Mataya Yellow Mule uses that speed to go far in the long jump and triple jump

Along her athletic journey Yellow Mule has dabbled in several other sports. 

The daughter of Diane Two Bulls and Conrad Yellow Eagle, and a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s first love was gymnastics. 

“I think I first started at about age 10,” she said. “I did that for a year, did regular tumbling classes and once I got to high school I did gymnastics for a few seasons.”

Yellow Mule notes the balance beam was her favorite event, aside from being ‘scary and nerve racking’. 

Entering her junior year of high school, the 5-foot-10 Yellow Mule decided to give volleyball a try.

“My mom (Pine Ridge graduate) has a strong love for volleyball,” she said. “It was kind of a last minute thing where I said I’ll just try it out. Kinda sad I didn’t do it before my junior and senior year.”

Yellow Mule was a starter this year for Central’s volleyball team. 

Late in her senior year Yellow Mule is dialed in on finishing her track career in fine fashion. An outstanding triple jumper, Yellow Mule breaks down where she thinks she can improve.” 

“During the second phase I’m really trying to get up and float. That’s hard to do if you don’t have speed,” Yellow Mule said. “After that I’m working on really hitting the ground and attacking each jump. 

Yellow Mule doesn’t always think of herself as a competitor…until she steps on a track.

“When someone asks me if I’m competitive I tell them not really,” she said. “My coach talks to me between jumps and lets me know who is ahead of me. That gets me hyped up and that energy is what drives me during competition.”

She says she is eagerly anticipating the Howard Wood Dakota Relays where she’ll see elite competition from multiple states.

"Together, her and I have done a really great job of teaching Mataya to 'self-coach' too," Rapid City Central jumps coach Janna Stephens said. "Instead of coaching her directly, I’ll often ask her what she thinks she should work on and she really drives her own practices and competitions. The trust she has in me and in herself has helped her become very independent as an athlete and that skill will be extremely helpful at the next level." 

That relationship formed with coach Stephens is strong and something Yellow Mule attributes her success to. 

“I’ve never had a coach like Jenna and she’s been very valuable to me,” she said. “If I get a 37-foot (triple jump) she tells me to go get 38 feet. She sets high standards and she definitely knows what I can and can’t do under pressure.”

Yellow Mule anticipates competing in the high jump, long jump and triple jump at the state meet in May. She says she’ll likely run in one of the Cobblers sprint relays as well.

Next fall Yellow Mule will take her talents to the University of South Dakota.