LC’s ‘Ellie’ Siler excels at running
Maybe American homespun philosopher Will Rogers never met Lewis and Clark High School track athlete Eleanor “Ellie” Siler, but the two may have more in common than they knew.
While Rogers never met a man he didn’t like, Siler certainly never met a running event she didn’t like.
“She can do anything from the 100 to the 3,200 and be successful,” said acting head coach Stephanie Pfeifer. “She just loves to run. She’s very tough. Not only is she tough, but she also seems to just love running more than most athletes I’ve been around in track. She seems to love to get out there. She just loves track and field. She’s the top cross country runner here at Lewis and Clark as well. She’s just talented all the way across with the running.”
Pfeifer is coaching full time for her father Pat this spring after he became stricken with pancreatic cancer last fall. After two surgeries, the prognosis for Pat is a positive one, but the loss of the over 30-year veteran coach has been tough for Siler and her teammates.
“It’s been kind of hard to have our head coach sick,” said Siler. “He still comes to practices and does everything he can and is behind the scenes working on everything.”
“It’s been tough, especially for the girls who had the past season or two seasons,” said Stephanie, who acknowledges her father’s sickness has taken its toll on her as well. “He establishes such a positive atmosphere. He’s got a wealth of knowledge and experience that no other head track coach has right now. I think the girls have been disappointed, but also pretty excited that in the last three meets he’s been there to give them the pre-meet talk. It’s been difficult for them, but when we’ve started to turn the corner on the season on the track, he’s been there to really help us out.”
Siler has been at the forefront of rallying the Tigers on the track this spring. In the team’s final dual meet of the regular season last week against Mt. Spokane and North Central, Siler led the LC 800-relay team to a win, finished fourth in the 800 meters, anchored the 1,600-relay team and won her favorite event, the 400 meters in 58.9 seconds.
“I’ve been running the 400 since about fifth grade,” said the junior, who finished sixth in the state meet last year. “I can hardly even remember what attracted me to it. It’s been part of my life forever. The 400 is the race that I really love and also the race that I kind of hate, but that’s my main event. What I really like about it is that you can be fast and you can have the training, but to run the 400 you really need to have guts and you really need to be able to accept the pain and still do it. It takes a tough person to run the 400. That’s what I like about it. I know I race against people who are special. You get a huge endorphin rush when you finish.”
“I think getting into the 58s in April was a big step for her,” said Stephanie Pfiefer. “With warmer weather and higher competition, she’s definitely a contender in the state 4A in the 400. She wants it. It’s been her goal from day one to be a state champion and she’s definitely put in the work for it.”
Siler also runs the 200 meters for the Tigers, an event she’s improved upon considerably since her freshman season.
“This year has been the year she’s really come on in the 200,” said Pat Pfeifer, who has coached Siler her entire high school career. “The 200 right now is her best race. She’s always had the endurance, but she’s just much quicker.”
Siler may also have a secret weapon when it comes to the 200 meters, as she performs an interesting dance ritual before every race.
“It is called the 200-meter jig,” Siler laughed. “Since I always run the 400, the 200 always seems really short, so it’s just a lot of fun for me. At one race, they had the marching bands playing at the same time, so I just started dancing. It’s really fun. I’m a horrible dancer, but at least I can run. It’s kind of a made up dance. It’s half jumping and half goofing off. It really intimidates the other people. At districts last year, one of the girls asked the official, ‘Can you make that girl stop dancing?’ I just thought it was really funny.”
While the Tiger junior is a threat to finish highly in both the 200 and 400 this postseason, her best chance for a state title may lie in the 800 relay, where she runs the lead-off leg for a squad that’s been rated at the top of the 4A rankings all year.
“We’re looking good to do well at state again,” said Siler, who hopes the Tigers improve on their sixth-place finish at last year’s state meet. “We try and put the people in the positions they would do best at. I start because I can do a block start. Everyone knows what they have to do and everyone runs as fast as they can. We work on the handoffs so we can do them right, and then we do it. What I want to accomplish is to actually improve over last year. I haven’t actually done it yet, but I think I can. I also really want to have fun and just be with the girls on my team. There’s just a lot of really great people on our team and it just makes it fun to come to practice everyday.”