DISTRICT D-11 TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Lady Coyotes claim District championship

MORRILL – For Leyton High's Abbe Draper, it could be a long wait to see if she qualified for the 2015 NSAA State Track and Field Championships scheduled for next week.

With berth's at state and district bragging rights on the line at Morrill High School on Wednesday, the teams of Class D-11 did battle with the Potter-Dix Lady Coyotes reigning supreme as the District champions of 2015.

The Coyotes finished well ahead of runner up Crawford with 125 points to 94. The Leyton Warriors and Creek Valley Storm also had strong meets. The Warriors ended the day in third place with 90 points while the Storm garnered 55 for fifth.

Additionally, the Coyotes will send five of its girls to state, including two District champions in Alexus Rozelle (shot put, discus) and Ryley Hicks (pole vault).

"Today I was just waiting for the pole vault because that's what I had the best expectations to go to state in," said Hicks. "I was hoping to P.R. in my other events and I was about two seconds off in the mile."

Regyn Hicks (high jump), Payton Franklin (pole vault, 100-meter hurdles) and Anna McLaughlin (high jump) also qualified for state by virtue of their second-place finishes. There were three qualifiers in the high jump and pole vault since there was a tie for second place in both events.

Rozelle automatically qualified in the discus after her throw of 121 feet, six inches exceeded the automatic qualifying distance of 118 feet. She went on to win the event by a wide margin. She also won the shot put comfortably as her personal best put of 38 feet, 11.5 inches was more than two feet ahead of the runner-up.

"Knowing that I didn't have a lot of competition here, I was trying to do a couple of P.R.'s," Rozelle said. "I got one P.R., and missed one in the discus by about a foot. I'll keep working hard until state and hopefully I can go 125 in the discus and 39 in the shot."

For the Storm, sophomore Jessie Straber earned two tickets to Omaha's Burke Stadium after qualifying in two events almost simultaneously.

After she won the high jump, she hustled over to the triple jump pit. Straber edged out the Coyotes' Regyn Hicks and McLaughlin for the title in the high jump and finished second to the Warriors' Kaitlyn Berner in the triple. Straber went to state last season in the high jump.

"It was different having to do the high jump and triple jump so close together because I jump off different feet," Straber said. "In the high jump, I go off my left foot and go off my right foot in the triple. It wasn't my best triple jump by a long shot, but at least it was good enough to qualify."

Freshman Payje Misegadis will also represent the Storm at state. She earned her way with a tie for second in the pole vault.

The Warriors will send five of their girls to state and possibly a sixth. Berner, a senior, heads east for the fourth straight spring after she earned District championships in the triple jump and 800-meter run. She fell just short in the long jump after winding up in third.

"I think I only got one good jump out of six," said Berner after scratching on five of her attempts in the triple jump. "I was starting from the 32 (feet) board which is to make me reach, but half the time I can't reach the pit. I usually go from the 28 board so going to the 32 is definitely a challenge."

Berner ran a personal best in the 800 and missed the school record by about a second.

Another Warriors' senior, Shaela Jenkins, returns to Omaha for the third-consecutive year in the 100 hurdles. She won her second district championship in the event. When Jenkins was a sophomore, she took her place at state by winding up with one of the best third-place times in the state at districts and qualified as a wild card.

"I'm really excited. I knew I couldn't be nervous today," Jenkins said. "I warmed up today the way I usually do but I added a little more. When I got in the race I was fine. Every time I saw someone next to me, I pushed really hard."

The Lady Warriors' 400-meter relay team, run by Berner, Dani McKay, Jessica Houk and Cheyenne Nickel, edged Potter-Dix for the championship by just under three seconds.

Only the winner of relay events qualify for state. McKay, who is going on a family trip to Germany next week, will be replaced at state.

For Draper, she hopes her close third in the 100 hurdles will get her a ticket to Omaha. Though she crossed third, many of those at the finish line saw her as the runner-up and greeted her with hugs and congratulations. Unfortunately, it was determined she missed second by 0.04 seconds despite running a personal best by about two seconds.

"That race was definitely my best race ever," said Draper moments after the race. "Even if I don't go, I'm going to be proud of how I performed. I knew that Sioux County girl was ranked ahead of me so I just saw her and kicked it in."

The 2015 NSAA State Track and Field Championships open up at Burke Stadium in Omaha on Friday, May 22 and runs through the following day.

DISTRICT D-11 RESULTS

At Morrill High School

GIRLS – TEAM SCORES

1. Potter-Dix, 125; 2. Crawford, 94; 3. Leyton, 90; 4. Morrill, 78; 5. Creek Valley, 55; 6. Sioux County, 24; 7. Banner County, 22; 8. Minatare, 17; 9. Garden County, 10; 10. Hay Springs, 1.

100 Meters

1. Bryttnee Lemmon, Crawford, 13.29; 2. Jessica Harvey, Morrill, 13.41; 3. Jessica Houk, Leyton, 14.00; 4. Hope Shepard, Potter-Dix, 14.15; 5. Payje Misegadis, Creek Valley, 14.23; 6. Angela Johnson, Sioux Valley, 14.41.

200 Meters

1. Bryttnee Lemmon, Crawford, 27.77; 2. Shalyn Lackey, Morrill, 28.77; 3. Savannah Shaw, Potter-Dix, 29.01; 4. Hope Shepard, Potter-Dix, 29.49; 5. Jessica Houk, Leyton, 30.41; 6. Cheyenne Nickel, Leyton, 30.81.

400 Meters

1. Bryttnee Lemmon, Crawford, 1:03.73; 2. Kalen Nedella, Crawford, 1:04.36; 3. Cheyenne Nickel, Leyton, 1:06.10; 4. Kristine Barnett, Leyton, 1:10.58; 5. Presley Christensen, Potter-Dix, 1:11.93; 6. Madeline Rodenbaugh, Sioux County, 1:14.35.

800 Meters

1. Kaitlyn Berner, Leyton, 2:28.01; 2. Kalen Nedella, Crawford, 2:31.41; 3. Lilyanna Martin, Morrill, 2:39.98; 4. Aly Dane, Crawford, 2:50.00; 5. Autumn Smith, Garden County, 2:54.20; 6. Presley Christensen, Potter-Dix, 2:57.20.

1,600 Meters

1. Lacie Lietka, Crawford, 6:08.47; 2. Franki Doty, Minatare, 6:21.16; 3. Ryley Hicks, Potter-Dix, 6:32.51; 4. Courtney Knisley, Banner County, 6:34.84; 5. Sarah Tweet, Crawford, 6:35.48; 6. Maddie Schlosser-Ross, Minatare, 6:40.29.

3,200 Meters

1. Lacie Lietka, Crawford, 13:18.37; 2. Maddie Schlosser-Ross, Minatare, 13:36.18; 3. Sarah Tweet, Crawford, 13:56.95; 4. Ryley Hicks, Potter-Dix, 14:12.90; 5. Courtney Knisley, Garden County, 14:27.90.

100-Meter Hurdles

1. Shaela Jenkins, Leyton, 17.24; 2. Payton Franklin, Potter-Dix, 17.38; 3. Regyn Hicks, Potter-Dix, 17.63; 4. Katlynn Kling, Sioux County, 17.76; 5. Taylor Berner, Leyton, 17.88; 6. Payge Hoffman, Potter-Dix, 17.96.

300-Meter Hurdles

1. Katlynn Kling, Sioux County, 49.58; 2. Angela Johnson, Sioux County, 50.68; 3. Abbe Draper, Leyton, 50.72; 4. Regyn Hicks, Potter-Dix, 52.56; 5. Payge Hoffman, Potter-Dix, 53.54; 6. Payton Franklin, Potter-Dix, 55.46.

4x100 Relay

1. Morrill, 53.61; 2. Creek Valley (Jessie Straber, Allie Blackwelder, Chandra Smith, Payje Misegadis), 55.64; 3. Leyton (Abbe Draper, Taylor Berner, Shaela Jenkins, Jessica Houk), 56.27; 4. Potter-Dix (Sara Gingerich, Jourdan Langley, Payton Franklin, Trinity Langley), 57.51.

4x400 Relay

1. Leyton (Kaitlyn Berner, Dani McKay, Jessica Houk, Cheyenne Nickel), 4:21.93; 2. Potter-Dix (Hope Shepard, Payge Hoffman, Savannah Shaw, Regyn Hicks), 4:24.67; 3. Crawford, 4:43.71; 4. Morrill, 5:05.00; 5. Banner County, 5:21.00; 6. Creek Valley (Natalie Christofferson, Sami Schmid, Andi Ortgies, Hannah Schievelbein), 5:21.40.

4x800 Relay

1. Crawford, 11:00.68; 2. Potter-Dix (Presley Christensen, Sara Gingerich, Trinity Langley, Ryley Hicks), 11:29.98; 3. Leyton (Natalie Cruise, Katie Higgins, Diedra Waite, Hope Dykman), 13:24.40.

Shot Put

1. Alexus Rozelle, Potter-Dix, 38-11.5; 2. Kaitlin Howell, Morrill, 36-7; 3. MaKenna Dahlgrin, Banner County, 32-1; 4. Dani McKay, Leyton, 31-11; 5. Allie Blackwelder, Creek Valley, 31-10; 6. Cortney Lewis, Potter-Dix, 31-3.5.

Discus

1. Alexus Rozelle, Potter-Dix, 121-6; 2. MaKenna Dahlgrin, Banner County, 106-3; 3. Jessie Straber, Creek Valley, 96-2; 4. Courtney Leach, Garden County, 95-3; 5. Hannah Schievelbein, Creek Valley, 94-0; 6. Kaitlin Howell, Morrill, 90-6.

High Jump

1. Jessie Straber, Creek Valley, 5-0; 2. Anna McLaughlin, Potter-Dix, 4-10; 2. Regyn Hicks, Potter-Dix, 4-10; 4. Michaela Lauber, Garden County, 4-4; 5. Lilyanna Martin, Morrill, 4-4; 6. Abbe Draper, Leyton, 4-2.

Pole Vault

1. Ryley Hicks, Potter-Dix, 8-0; 2. Payje Misegadis, Creek Valley, 7-6; 2. Payton Franklin, Potter-Dix, 7-6; 4. Jessica Harvey, Morrill, 7-6; 5. Sami Schmid, Creek Valley, 7-0; 6. Natalie Christofferson, Creek Valley, 7-0.

Long Jump

1. Jessica Harvey, Morrill, 15-1; 2. LeAnne Sherrod, Morrill, 14-7; 3. Kaitlyn Berner, Morrill, 14-5; 4. Stefanie Mitchell, Creek Valley, 13-7.5; 5. Shalyn Lackey, Morrill, 13-7.5; 6. Katrena Ryan, Hay Springs, 13-6.

Triple Jump

1. Kaitlyn Berner, Leyton, 32-11.5; 2. Jessie Straber, Creek Valley, 31-0.25; 3. Lilyanna Martin, Morrill, 30-8.5; 4. Trinity Langley, Potter-Dix, 30-7; 5. Payje Misegadis, Creek Valley, 30-4.5; 6. LeAnne Sherrod, Morrill, 29-11.25.