Gordon raised the bar throughout Hall of Fame career

Tonya (Kneifl) Gordon jumped to new heights as a member of the South Dakota women’s track and field team.

The next height for Gordon comes Friday when she takes her place among the all-time Coyote greats and is inducted into the Henry Heider Coyote Sports Hall of Fame.

Gordon’s reaction to getting the phone call from South Dakota Director of Athletics David Herbster was genuine.

“I was speechless,” Gordon said. “I honestly thought he was calling for some other reason. I did not expect that to be the reason for him to be calling me. I didn't realize that he was calling to tell me I had been selected for the Hall of Fame.”

Gordon is familiar with the Coyote Sports Hall of Fame ceremonies as her husband, Steve, was inducted in 2009 and Gordon, a nine-time NCAA Division II All-American, all in individual events, will become the 21st women’s track and field athlete to be inducted.

“I always joke with my husband that I married the superstar, that I was never the superstar,” Gordon said.

Gordon, though, was a very strong athlete in her own right, competing on teams coached by Lucky Huber that captured three North Central Conference titles and placed in the top 10 nationally at the NCAA Outdoor National Championships all four seasons she competed.

She won six NCC individual titles, combined indoor and outdoor, winning three high jump titles, a long jump, pentathlon and javelin title. 

“I seriously can’t say where I placed in the NCC every single competition, but those team championships there is something really special about that,” Gordon said. “Being able to not only accomplish my best but to have team success, too.”

Gordon was a freshman on that 1998 team that was the national runner-up in the NCAA Division II Indoor national championships, the highest placing by a USD team ever. That team also swept indoor and outdoor NCC titles.

South Dakota won the indoor North Central Conference title at the Bison Sports Arena with a then meet record 175 points, scoring in 19 of the 20 events.

“I have some moments that really stand out to me personally, but I was always focused on the team and doing what I could to help the team be as successful as we could be,” said Gordon. “Probably one of my biggest memories for me was Drake Relays in some not so great weather, ended up with a runner-up finish. It stood out to me because we started at a height I wasn’t used to starting at.”

The ‘98 team produced 11 Indoor All-Americans and provisionally qualified in every event for the indoor national championships.

Gordon captured the pentathlon title during the NCC Indoor Championships and later placed fifth in the high jump, clearing 5-7, at the NCAA Championships to earn her first All-America honor. 

The Coyotes scored 43 points at the national championships in Indianapolis, Indiana, as Elena Swan, became the first athlete from the North Central Conference to win two national titles in the same season.

“As a freshman I had two-time national champ Elena Swan as a training partner in the multi events, and she’s my roommate at nationals,” said Gordon. “I had a great role model there to have a first year with."

Gordon was a consistent presence in the high jump among the national elite during her four-year Coyote career, as seven of her nine All-America honors came in that event. 

She was the NCAA national runner-up in the high jump three times, earning the honor twice as a senior clearing 5-7.75 indoors and her career best of 5-9.25 outdoors. She earned All-America honors indoors all four seasons and outdoors her final three years in the high jump.

Gordon arrived at South Dakota after a strong prep career at Newcastle High School, a small school in northeast Nebraska. 

She was a 12-time state champion, winning three titles in each of her four years at Newcastle, in track and field. She won the state high jump title all four seasons and graduated in 1997 as the state record holder in the high jump, long jump and triple jump as well as a scoring a record 148 points. 

She was inducted into the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2016 and was a multi-sport star at Newcastle. She scored 1,987 career points in basketball, helping her school win the 1994 state title. 

“I remember sitting down with Lucky at my home and having a nice conversation,” Gordon said. “I knew from there that USD was going to be a good fit for me.”

Gordon held South Dakota's school record in the high jump for 14 years after graduation. She remains ranked in the top 10 in six different events. She placed eighth in the heptathlon at the NCAA championship meet as a junior in 2000.

She’s the only athlete in Sioux City Relays history to be named the MVP while in high school and in college. She was honored as prep senior in 1997 at Newcastle and later earned the award for South Dakota, winning the triple jump, high jump and long jump during the 2000 Sioux City Relays. She was inducted into the Sioux City Relays Hall of Fame in 2007. 

“Coming from a Class D High School in Nebraska, it was a big shock going to a university,” Gordon said. 

“I joked, my whole town could fit in the lecture halls there on campus.

“I wanted to be somewhere where I could make an impact, where I could still grow as an athlete and be a contributing member on the team. I wanted to have a great college career and felt USD could get me there and it did. I had a wonderful career there.”

Gordon resides in Omaha, Nebraska, and has served as an elementary teacher for 20 years. Steve was a two-time NCAA champion in the triple jump and together they have a daughter, Ad'astra.