Kankakee Valley’s Emily Nannenga hasn’t needed much help in the high jump with Taylor Schoonveld around.

“She started a little bit after me, but I still didn’t know what I was doing,” Nannenga said. “When she started jumping, too, it helped me realize that I could get better.”

As for Schoonveld, an Indiana commit, she didn’t require much coaching either because she has had Nannenga.

“It was pretty easy to work together,” Schoonveld said. “We had the same goals, so it was easy just knowing that we were working toward the same thing.”

That thing they were working toward was achieved Friday, when the Kankakee Valley teammates stood atop the podium at the state meet in Bloomington.

Nannenga, a junior, won the state title with a career-best jump of 5 feet, 10 inches. Schoonveld, a senior, finished third at 5-7.

The other state title won by Northwest Indiana athletes on Friday was a group effort. The Valparaiso quartet of sophomore Brooke Byvoets, junior Cheyanne Stock, senior Lillian Maldia and senior Kaylie Politza won the 3,200-meter relay in 9 minutes, 3.91 seconds.

Nannenga and Schoonveld found their success by turning that individual discipline into a team event. They were so committed to their craft that coach Lane Lewallen said he mostly left them alone.

“At most of our meets, I didn’t say anything to them,” Lewallen said. “They were very self-sufficient. They helped each other, coached each other and were each other’s biggest fans. To have two elite athletes doing that is phenomenal.”

They also shared the same practice focus this season: improving their form on jumps.

“I didn’t really have the greatest form until this year,” said Nannenga, who finished ninth with a jump of 5-5 at the 2021 state meet. “And it’s still not that good. But it definitely got better.”

Schoonveld, who also finished third at the 2021 state meet with a jump of 5-8, feels the same way.

“I never really had good high jump form,” she said. “I could just jump. It’s something that I’ve tried to work on, but it still needs improvement.”

Nannenga and Schoonveld had diverse athletic backgrounds to draw from, however. Nannenga’s sports career includes time in gymnastics, diving and cheerleading. Schoonveld also played soccer and basketball at Kankakee Valley, and she added a sixth-place finish in the 300 hurdles at the 2021 state meet.

Their talent was on display March 26, when they took the top two spots at the Hoosier State Relays at the end of the indoor season. Nannenga was first at 5-8, and Schoonveld was second at 5-7.

That meet provided a boost of confidence that carried them into practices, where another similarity between them emerged — a determined, businesslike approach to every drill.

“They’re not the ‘rah-rah’ type at all,” Lewallen said. “They just take care of their business, do their jobs and cheer each other on.”

Schoonveld said it wasn’t 100% serious all the time but agreed there was a professional-like environment around Kankakee Valley’s high jump pit.

“We still had fun, but we were definitely working on whatever we needed to while we were there,” she said. “Lewallen pretty much left us alone because he knew that we’d be working.”

Because Nannenga and Schoonveld are so familiar with each other’s techniques, they were able to share immediate feedback when heights weren’t cleared.

“It definitely helped to have another teammate there, especially at meets,” Schoonveld said. “We always had someone right there to watch the other and tell us what we hit the bar on or what we needed to fix for our next jump.”

As the younger of the two, Nannenga said she looked up to Schoonveld, calling her “the strongest athlete I know.” Nannenga said all their time spent together meant she never felt like one of Schoonveld’s competitors despite being in the same event at virtually every meet.

“I don’t think we ever saw it as trying to beat each other,” Nannenga said. “We were always rooting for each other.”

Schoonveld sounded like a proud older sister when she talked about Nannenga’s state championship performance.

“It was definitely cool to see all of her work get rewarded,” Schoonveld said.

Next season will bring changes, however. Schoonveld will go back to Bloomington to begin her college career while Nannenga remains at Kankakee Valley to defend her state title.

Nannenga said she has an early target of 6 feet for next season, a height that would match the state record set by Norwell’s Angela Bradburn in 1985.

Nannenga will worry about how to do that next year.

“Honestly, I have no idea,” she said with a laugh.

Dave Melton is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.