Whether holding a pole or a baseball bat, Chays Mansfield is having a stellar spring.

The junior at Warner, is among the state leaders in the pole vault in Class B, and is a key reason why the Warner-Ipswich-Northwestern baseball team is still undefeated. And, by the way, he’s picked up another spring sport.

“Now he’s golfing, too, so it’s hard to keep track of him,” said Jeff Larson, Warner track and field coach.

Mansfield doesn’t just participate in those sports, he is determined to give his best effort and it shows.

“He’s very motivated to go out and just give it his all,” Larson said. “He’s spread so thin, but he’s so talented.”

Mansfield said a big key is eating right and getting enough sleep, something not easy to do with his schedule.

After school he heads to track practice, takes a small break to eat something, then he’s off to baseball practice and when that’s done, he goes to a golf simulator to work on that game.

“A lot of it’s the coaches, really. They’re great to work with,” Mansfield said. “They really understand the sport that they’re coaching.”

This past weekend Mansfield had five hits, including two doubles and a triple, and knocked in four runs in a baseball victory.

“He’s hitting over .500. His on-base percentage is .679,” said W-I-N coach Jeremiah Maxfield. “The big thing we worked on this offseason was staying through the baseball and essentially trying to hit that right-center gap.”

That doesn’t even take into account his catching skills behind the plate.

“He can play college baseball. If you watch him behind the plate, there’s not much that gets past him. He’s a great defensive catcher,” Maxfield said. “You don’t see many people that play against him on a regular basis that will try to run on him.”

Larson said they had to order a special pole for Mansfield, who weighs nearly 200 pounds, not typical size for a vaulter. He said once he figures out to how use the pole, the sky is the limit.

“I think he can get a ton better once he figures out how to bend that pole more,” Larson said.

Mansfield said he has a goal to break the school record in the event before the end of the season. The Warner record was set by Ben Fischbach in 2019 at 12-feet 9-inches. Mansfield’s best so far in 11-6.

He also has a lofty baseball goal.

“I’d like to stay undefeated for regular season and then make it into state undefeated,” Mansfield said. “We have a good shot at placing. That would be a great goal to get.”

He said his favorite sport is baseball and has a main reason for that.

“A lot of the guys I play with I grew up playing with since I was a little kid,” Mansfield said.

The next few days shows the kind of schedule that Mansfield keeps. Today he will compete in the Lake Region Conference golf tournament in Aberdeen, then try to compete in a pole vault competition that was postponed from Tuesday’s Groton meet. Friday he leaves at 5:30 a.m. to head to the O’Gorman meet in Sioux Falls. Saturday is a rare ‘day off’ where he work at his part-time job, and Sunday there is baseball in Madison.

“I think it just comes down to time management and dedication to do everything,” Maxfield said.

And a commitment to work to be the best he can be at everything that he does.

“It takes that special kid that’s willing to work hard at something,” Maxfield said. “Yes, he’s naturally talented, but he also has the work ethic to go along with it.”

LEADING THE WAY

There are four athletes who lead three open events in this week’s leaders.

Kenya Harris of Sioux Falls Lincoln leads the Class AA girls in the 100-meter hurdles, 300-meter intermediate hurdles, and the triple jump. Tate Grabow of Hill City leads the Class A boys in 800-meter run, 1,600-meter run and 3,200-meter run. Elliot Maddox of Sioux Falls Christian leads the Class A girls in the 800-meter run, 1,600-meter run, and 3,200-meter run. Peyson O’Neill of Bennett County leads the Class B girls in the 100-meter hurdles, the 300-meter hurdles, and the high jump.

There are a dozen other athletes who lead two open events, including Oliver Fieber of Deuel in the Class A 100-meter and 200-meter dashes, and Kyle Hettich of Ipswich who tops the Class B 100 and 200.

BY THE NUMBERS

Sioux Falls Christian continues to set the pace among the team leaders, topping eight events in Class A girls. Bennett County leads seven events in Class B girls.

Other team leaders include Rapid City Stevens in Class AA boys (five events), Sioux Falls Lincoln in Class AA girls (five events), Hill City, Deuel, Custer, and Sioux Falls Christian in Class A boys (three events each), and Ipswich, Colman-Egan, and Gregory in Class B boys (three events each).