Spokane-area coaches Steve Kiesel, Annette Helling selected for cross country, track coaches association Hall of Fame

The Washington State track and field and cross country coaches associations combined Hall of Fame induction ceremony is Friday and two longtime Greater Spokane League coaches will be inducted.

Steve Kiesel, who coached cross country at Rogers and Mead for more than 20 years, and Annette Helling, the only girls track and field coach in Mt. Spokane history, will be among seven coaches to receive honors during the ceremony at the Hotel Murano in Tacoma.

“I don’t think it’s any coach’s goal to be inducted into any kind of hall of fame,” Kiesel said on Wednesday. “I think for me it’s always been about the kids. That was one of the things that I learned from my first college coach, Max Jensen, at Spokane Community College. He deflected everything back to us. … These kids are doing the work and they are putting in the time and the effort and the sacrifice. And I’m just here to support them.”

“What makes me super happy … is when I get invited to their baby showers or to their weddings,” Helling said of the athletes she has coached through the years. “You know, that just means the world to me because it means that it was about relationships. It wasn’t just about the Xs and Os and the winning and all that.”

Kiesel replaced legendary coach Pat Tyson as cross country coach at Mead in 2006 and for 10 years he continued his predecessor’s success with the program, winning State 4A titles in 2007 and ’08. He was a two-time GSL coach of the year and was named the 2007 state boys cross country coach of the year.

While at Mead, Kiesel mentored several notable athletes in cross country and track, including Andrew Gardner, who won five state titles between cross country and track, three national Foot Locker Cross Country Championships and the 2013 World Junior cross country championship.

Kiesel joked that he was dropping trash off at the dump when he got the call in October.

“I was pretty shocked and extremely happy,” he said “It’s nice to be recognized. It’s nice that my kids that I coached over the years can be recognized as well.”

Before Mead, Kiesel was the head cross country coach and assistant track coach at Rogers for 11 seasons. In 2005, he helped Becca Noble win the 800-meter championship at the junior nationals and junior Pan-Am games.

Kiesel, a graduate of Lincoln High School in Tacoma, attended Spokane Community College and Eastern Washington University where he competed in cross country and track. He won the NAIA District I championship in the 800 and placed fourth nationally, earning All-American honors, and won the 1977 Prefontaine Classic 800.

Since retiring, Kiesel serves as the District 6 cross country championships course and facility coordinator, and as an assistant to Tyson as a volunteer coach at Gonzaga University.

“The beauty of our relationship is that he’s one of my best friends,” Kiesel said of Tyson, a fellow Hall of Famer. “You’ve got to have people in your corner, and you’ve got to have people that you can learn from, and people that you know you can draw from. … He’s always been a great advocate, and I have learned so much from him.”

Helling was hired as the first head coach for the girls track and field team at Mt. Spokane in 1997 and continues to this day. She built a powerhouse program with 10 teams finishing in the top eight at state, 11 individual state title winners and more than 85 top-eight medals. She guided her teams to 12 district titles, four regional titles and placed second at state last year.

Helling coached both her daughters, Sammie and Ashlee Pedersen, as well as both her husband – and boys track coach at Mt. Spokane – Danny Figueira’s two children, Kainoa and Kahea Figueira

“Absolutely the highlight of my life,” Helling said. “I just loved coaching them. It’s a fine line coaching your kids and being a mom but it was so much fun.”

After stints as an assistant coach at Valley Christian and Lewis and Clark, Helling was named head girls coach at West Valley in 1990 and a took the same job one year later at Mead. Helling guided the Panthers to the 1996 team title after third- and fifth-place finishes in previous years.

Helling was one of the most decorated female athletes in GSL history for Central Valley. She was a two-time league MVP in basketball, setting several school records along the way, and helped the Bears track team place second at state in 1981, winning the 300-meter hurdles with a state meet record and placing in three other events. She was a three-time district champ in the 300 and still holds the school record, which has stood for 44 years.

She competed in college at Idaho and Spokane CC, where she helped the Sasquatch win the NWAACC basketball title in the 1983-84 season and was named to the all-region and all-tournament teams. She transferred to Whitworth and set the school record in the 400-meter hurdles as a two-time national qualifier.

“As an athlete, I was in control of what I was doing,” Helling said. “Coaching is different in that you prepare the kids as best you can, and it’s a little scary sometimes that you don’t know what the outcome might be. But at the same time, it’s super fun to watch kids succeed when they don’t think they can as much as you know they can.”