Arrowhead's Payton Eicher wins the state long jump with the meet's longest leap
LA CROSSE — Payton Eicher saved her best for the brightest stage, and no one in any division jumped farther.
Payton Eicher of Arrowhead won the Division 1 girls' long jump on Friday with a leap of 19 feet, 9 inches at the WIAA State Championships. Neenah's Celia Gentile was second at 18-10½ — roughly ten inches back. Eicher's 19-9 was the longest girls' long jump anywhere at the meet, ahead of the Division 2 (19-1) and Division 3 (18-11¾) winners.
She arrived with the range to do it. Eicher reached 20 feet exactly at the Lancer Invitational on May 2, then strung together a 19-4½ to win the Classic 8 Conference meet and 19-2 at her sectional. At state she landed at 19-9 — her best jump of the postseason, when the title was up for grabs.
A year ago she was fourth. At the 2025 state meet Eicher placed fourth in the long jump at 18-2½; this season she added more than a foot and a half and turned it into a championship — the same fourth-to-first leap Neenah's Emma Severson made in the shot put.
Arrowhead's Payton Eicher leaves La Crosse a state champion, with the longest girls' jump of the weekend to her name.
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