By Robert Wilson
Madison-Ridgeland Academy senior Annie Toler and Simpson Academy freshman Elle McNulty – two of the top high jumpers not only in Mississippi, but also in the country – competed against each other for the first time in the MAIS Class 4A, District 3 track and field meet at MRA in Madison.
McNulty won the rare competition with a school record jump of 5 feet, 9 inches, one inch more than Toler’s 5-8. The 5-9 leap is tied for 21st in the country this season according to Mile Split and the best in the country for a freshman. Toler’s 5-8 leap tied her personal best, which is a school record and is tied for 27th in the country. Toler had not lost a meet in the high jump since she was in the eighth grade.
The highest jump in the country is 6 feet by junior Emma Smith from Delcambre, La.
The talented duo cleared jumps of 5 feet, 5-2, 5-4, 5-6, and 5-8, but both scratched three times at 5-10. The bar was lower to 5-9 and McNulty cleared it while Toler scratched giving first place to McNulty.
McNulty’s previous high was 5-7.
The jumps by McNulty and Toler qualified them for the Nike National Event June 20 in Eugene, Oregon.
McNulty and Toler won’t be competing against each other in the MAIS state meet because MRA will be in Division I and Simpson will be in Division II.
The top MHSAA jumps this season is 5-6 by Clinton’s Taylor Finley, Hattiesburg’s Nyla Flowers and D’Iberville’s Kaelyn McKenzie.
McNulty set the MAIS record for highest leap for a Class 5A or smaller with a jump of 5-6 last season. It was the highest jump by an eighth grader in the country last season.
The MAIS Overall meet record is 5-6 1/4, set by Centreville Academy’s Anna Goudeau in 2002. That record can only be broken at the state meet.
The MHSAA Overall meet record is 6 feet, set by Sumrall High’s Heidi Hudson in 2023.
McNulty and Toler are also standouts in basketball. The 5-foot-9 McNulty averaged 16.8 points and helped Simpson to a 31-6 record, the MAIS Class 4A, Division I state championship and an Overall runner-up finish. McNulty scored a career-high and school record 42 points, including an MAIS record 12 3-pointers, in the first round of the Overall. The 5-11 Toler averaged 10 points and helped MRA to a 36-5 record and the MAIS Overall Tournament championship. MRA defeated Simpson three times in four meetings this season.
“I’ve been following Annie for the last two track seasons because she has been the best high jumper in the state and I’ve been right behind her,” McNulty said. “We had some great battles in basketball this year and today was no different. This is our first and only time competing against each other and I wanted to do everything I could to get my PR because I knew that’s what it would take to have a chance to beat her. Thankfully, I was able to clear 5-9 and win.”
“After playing so many tough games in basketball this year against Elle, I knew what kind of athlete she was,” said Toler, who has won three high jump and two triple jump state championships in her career. “It has been fun getting to know her from jumping in track this year. She is a sweet girl but a really tough competitor. What she did today was pretty incredible. After we both cleared 5-8 I really thought I could go 5-9 or 5-10 but it just wasn’t meant to be today. Elle was jumping so good that I knew she had a good chance to clear it too. She is fun to watch because she is so bouncy and can really jump. She has a great future ahead of her in track and basketball. It will be fun trying to out do her at the state meet in two weeks. I wish her nothing but the best.”
Both Toler and McNulty come from talented sports families.
Toler’s father, Stanton, won an Overall basketball title, two time state champion in baseball and state high jump champion at Jackson Prep and her mother, Kelly, played basketball and jumped for Indianola Academy. Toler’s uncle, Ken, played wide receiver for Ole Miss and in the NFL. Her grandfather, Ken Toler Sr., is a member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame for tennis.
McNulty’s father, Josh, won two state baseball championships and also played basketball at Simpson in the 1990s before playing basketball and baseball at Copiah-Lincoln Community College and played minor league baseball in the Seattle Mariners organization. Elle’s mother, Keely, played basketball at Bay High in Bay St. Louis and William Carey University.
Toler and McNulty weren’t the only impressive jumpers in the district meet Wednesday.
MRA sophomore Mary Catherine Smith finished third with a leap of 5-6, which would have won most meets.
“The competition in the high jump today has to be the greatest group of girls high jumpers ever assembled in Mississippi in one competition,” said MRA girls track coach Melanie Black, who has won seven state championships at MRA, five at George County High and one at McLaurin High and has been coaching for 50 years. ”Who would have ever dreamed that you could go 5-6 and get third place? A competition with a 5-9, 5-8 and a 5-6 high jumper is unheard of.”
“Elle is an unbelievable athlete,” said Simpson girls track coach Angel Overstreet, who has been coaching at Simpson since 2018. “She’s not only a great high jumper but a phenomenal 400 meter runner and anchor on the relays. She’s already well known for what she does on the basketball court. Elle started high jumping in the seventh grade and was a little intimidated by the older girls but turned it around to win district, north state and overall state as an eighth grader. She hit a PR of 5-7 last week at the JV district at MRA. Today was a big matchup going against Annie who had already cleared 5-8. Elle didn’t let the pressure get to her though. She remained calm and just did what she knew she could do and hit and another big PR of 5-9. It is going to be fun to see what she can do with three years left in high school.”
“Annie is an outstanding multi-sport athlete at MRA and is a natural jumper,” Black said. “She came right off the basketball court in March and jumped 5-7 the next week at our first track meet, breaking her own school record. She has had an outstanding senior year, jumping 5-6 or better at every meet, which is remarkable. She comes from a family of great athletes so it’s in her genes. I am really really going to miss her next year-not only for her jumping but because of what a great kid she is- very special.”
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