Siblings pace Coyotes at Perkins County

As Alexus Rozelle of Potter-Dix readied to take her turn in the girls shot put, a public address announcement caused her to pause. With the shot resting on her shoulder, Rozelle waited until the quiet returned.

"And the winner of the boys long jump is Kelsey Rozelle of Potter-Dix High School," concluded the announcement.

Kelsey and Alexus Rozelle helped lead the Coyotes to several of the strongest finishes at Perkins County on Saturday--quite a feat, as some 15 team members were absent. The entire junior class and two sophomores were excused for the day for ACT testing. Senior pole-vault standout Bryant Knigge was on a college visit.

The girls concluded the E. Lee Todd Invitational at Perkins County in a tie for fourth place with 47 points, behind meet winner Chase County's 142.33.

Perkins County tied with Potter-Dix.

In the boys competition, Ogallala was the clear winner with 170 points with Chase County also breaking the 100-point barrier with 107. Potter-Dix had 13 points.

Sophomore Kelsey Rozelle was the first to score for the heavily outnumbered Coyotes boys. He also managed a personal record in the process.

During the preliminaries, Rozelle maxed out his technique and landed 19-09.25 from his take-off point.

"It was a nice feeling after not hitting the board last week," said Rozelle. "All week I was just working on hitting the mark. I was right on it all day day. I couldn't have gotten closer without fouling."

Rozelle also cleared the medal height (5-04) in the high jump, but lost out to a tie breaker. Officially he finished ninth despite the sixth-place medalist going out at the same height. Rozelle wrapped up a successful day by claiming top tens in the 100 and 200 meters.

In the shot put Sammie Gingerich scored a personal best when he landed the heavy ball at 42-04.25. Gingerich, in fact, shattered his old standard, which stood at 40-03.

"My coach (Amy Rozelle) has been helping me get my elbow in and my chest out," said Gingerich. "I'm starting to put it together now. It felt really good today."

After her pause for silence, Rozelle's freshman sister Alexus resumed her efforts in the shot put to finish second. She also scored with a fourth place in the discus.

Regyn Hicks finished third in the high jump. While she made the finals in the 100 hurdles, she crossed the line just out of medal contention.

Meanwhile the beat - literally speaking - went on for Kate Woten in the distance events. She finished third in the mile. In the two mile she lapped all but two in the field of nine to win by 41 seconds over Denie Jacobson of Gordon-Rushville.

Without the pressure of a close pursuer in the 3,200 meters, Woten had to find her own way to keep up her pace.

"I try to think about the tempo of my strides," said Woten. "I keep the tempo in my head like a song and that correlates with my breathing."

As she passed runners regularly in the two mile, Woten received energy from several of her competitors in addition to sideline rooters.

"Everybody was so encouraging," she said. "The atmosphere here is really great."

Potter-Dix should have a more complete squad in place when they travel to Alliance on Thursday.