DISTRICT D-11 TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Potter-Dix boys cruise to title

MORRILL – Boosted by Jake Johnson, Cooper Hicks and Kelsey Rozelle qualifying for state in four events, the Potter-Dix Coyotes boys' team won the District D-11 Track and Field Championships at Morrill High School on Wednesday.

The Coyotes amassed 153 points to finish well ahead of second place Garden County with 119 points. Leyton was third with 84 while the Creek Valley Storm picked up nine points to wind up in eighth.

Perhaps more importantly for many of the competitors, the top two finishers in each event automatically qualify for the NSAA State Track and Field Championships next week at Burke Stadium in Omaha. Additional qualifiers will be added once all the district meets have been completed. Wild-card berths will be issued to the top third-place finishers from around the state.

Besides Rozelle and Johnson, the Coyotes qualified four others for the big dance including Cooper and Coby Hicks, Sam Bogert and Cameron Purcell. All the Coyotes who are going to state have qualified in multiple events.

The Leyton Warriors will send two of its boys to Omaha after Rhett Dye became a district champion at 3,200 meters and Jake Ernest finished well ahead of the pack in the shot put. Ernest just missed in the discus by taking third.

While all of Creek Valley's state qualifiers are on the girls' side, junior William Payton put in a strong showing in the shot put with a toss of nearly 40 feet to finish in fourth.

Rozelle, a junior, won both the high jump and long jump and was runner up in the 100 and 200 meters. In the two sprints, Rozelle came in second to Garden County senior Ryan Smith.

"(Smith) and I have been racing neck-and-neck this year and we've had some good races," Rozelle said. "I think at state I'm going to focus on trying to beat him and that would be a really good race."

Johnson also is heading to state to compete in four events. He was the winner of the 800, 1,600 and ran a leg in two winning relay efforts (4x400 and 4x800). Johnson ran the relays with Bogert, Purcell and Cooper Hicks. The Coyotes 4x800 relay group is rated Class D's best in the state by Athletic.net.

"After never losing a race at Districts in my high school career, I have to thank all the coaches that have pushed us over the years," said Johnson winning his fourth straight district title in the 1,600 meters. "At state we'll be looking for that 4x800 title and maybe the 800 and maybe the mile too."

Though the Warriors' Ernest ended his District championships with a title and was the top-rated thrower coming in, his victory was far from a certainty. He had been struggling daily in practice since the MAC meet, trying to reach the distances that he has become accustomed.

"We were kind of shaky coming in for sure," Ernest said. "Today my coach was just helping me out with little tips and that got me in the right frame of mind."

Ernest's throw of 47 feet, 7 inches was a new personal best. He twice went over 46 feet on Wednesday and hopes to reach 49 feet at state.

After Dye ran his second consecutive personal best in the 3,200 meters, he joined Ernest on the road to Omaha.

Dye sliced two more seconds off his best after shaving more than 30 seconds from his time at the Bayard B-C-D Invite.

"I felt good coming in but I was a little nervous this morning," Dye said. "I don't usually get nervous before a run. But I felt a lot more relaxed once I got into my track clothes and started warming up."

The Hicks family will be well represented with brothers Coby and Cooper both headed east. Their cousins, Ryley and Regyn, are also headed to Omaha with the Lady Coyotes.

Coby punched his ticket when he won the pole vault. For good measure, he was second across the line in the 110-meter hurdles.

Cooper, meanwhile, took his seat on the bus to Burke Stadium in Omaha by finishing second in the 400-meter dash and the 300 hurdles. He will also run a leg in both of the Coyotes qualifying relay teams.

The state meet is run Friday, May 22 and Saturday, May 23.

DISTRICT D-11 RESULTS

At Morrill High School

BOYS – TEAM SCORES

1. Potter-Dix, 153; 2. Garden County, 119; 3. Leyton, 84; 4. Minatare, 41; 5. Crawford, 40; 6. Morrill, 38; 7. Banner County, 35; 8. Creek Valley, 9; 9. Hay Springs, 3.

100 Meters

1. Ryan Smith, Garden County, 11.77; 2. Kelsey Rozelle, Potter-Dix, 11.82; 3. Juan Garfio, Minatare, 12.07; 4. Kordell Maestas, Leyton, 12.44; 5. Cody Simmons, Creek Valley, 12.66; 6. Aaron Wheeler, Garden County, 12.68.

200 Meters

1. Ryan Smith, Garden County, 23.39; 2. Kelsey Rozelle, Potter-Dix, 24.12; 3. Kordell Maestas, Leyton, 25.44; 4. Aaron Wheeler, Garden County, 25.74; 5. Blake McCormick, Garden County, 25.96; 6. Trevor Cecil, Morrill, 26.44.

400 Meters

1. Ryan Smith, Garden County, 51.07; 2. Cooper Hicks, Potter-Dix, 53.79; 3. Samuel Bogert, Potter-Dix, 57.14; 4. Teghan Osborne, Leyton, 57.47; 5. Max Suess, Leyton, 58.44; 6. Spencer Jones, Crawford, 58.60.

800 Meters

1. Jake Johnson, Potter-Dix, 2:06.25; 2. Cameron Purcell, Potter-Dix, 2:12.75; 3. Austin Kennedy, Crawford, 2:16.30; 4. James Rushman, Leyton, 2:19.55; 5. Tate Coss, Garden County, 2:36.80; 6. Joseph Zamparripa, Minatre, 2:36.94.

1,600 Meters

1. Jake Johnson, Potter-Dix, 4:54.37; 2. Declan Jefferies, Garden County, 4:56.36; 3. Rhett Dye, Leyton, 5:13.00; 4. Kort Dye, Leyton, 5:37.00; 5. Kaeleb Marx, Hay Springs, 5:50.50; 6. Trevor Nelson, Crawford, 5:52.70.

3,200 Meters

1. Rhett Dye, Leyton, 11:07.61; 2. Trevor Nelson, Crawford, 11:12.28; 3. Tate Coss, Garden County, 11:16.47; 4. Andrew Smith, Crawford, 12:24.40; 5. Jacob Frerichs, Leyton, 12:52.50; 6. Nash Leef, Creek Valley, 14:54.10.

110-Meter Hurdles

1. Tyson Dahlgrin, Banner County, 15.69; 2. Coby Hicks, Potter-Dix, 16.63; 3. Tyler Koke, Minatare, 16.93; 4. Cole Christensen, Potter-Dix, 18.49; 5. Blake McCormick, Garden County, 23.57.

300-Meter Hurdles

1. Tyson Dahlgrin, Banner County, 41.33; 2. Cooper Hicks, Potter-Dix, 42.52; 3. Juan Garfio, Minatare, 43.04; 4. Coby Hicks, Potter-Dix, 44.47; 5. Joshua Harvey, Morrill, 47.60; 6. Kolten Marx, Hay Springs, 49.22.

4x100 Relay

1. Garden County, 46.23; 2. Morrill, 47.05; 3. Leyton (Cody McKay, Jared Westman, Zach Hellie, Kordell Maestas), 48.01; 4. Crawford, 50.16; 5. Creek Valley (Pierce Leef, Roy Koesch, Josh Schievelbein, Cody Simmons), 55.21; 6. Potter-Dix (Noah Nelson, Coby Hicks, Justice Palmer, Cole Christensen), 1:12.00.

4x400 Relay

1. Potter-Dix (Cooper Hicks, Jake Johnson, Samuel Bogert, Cameron Purcell), 3:43.05; 2. Leyton (Cody McKay, Kenny Ernest, James Rushman, Teghan Osborne), 3:52.58; 3. Banner County, 4:07.24; 4. Morrill, 4:08.46; 5. Garden County, 4:17.97.

4x800 Relay

1. Potter-Dix (Jake Johnson, Samuel Bogert, Cameron Purcell, Cooper Hicks), 8:52.89; 2. Garden County, 9:50.95; 3. Leyton (Kort Dye, Triston Hume-Gartner, Jacob Frerichs, Aaron Schrotberger), 10:43.00; 4. Morrill, 11:30.00.

Shot Put

1. Jacob Ernest, Leyton, 47-7; 2. Matthew Hessler, Morrill, 43-11.5; 3. Dustin Bleidt, Garden County, 40-2; 4. William Payton, Creek Valley, 39-10.5; 5. Bryce Olsen, Banner County, 38-8; 6. Elliot Epp, Garden County, 37-1.5.

Discus

1. Dustin Bleidt, Garden County, 144-1; 2. Taylor Alcorn, Crawford, 137-8; 3. Jacob Ernest, Leyton, 129-11; 4. Zach Hellie, Leyton, 127-5; 5. Noah Lake, Garden County, 122-3; 6. Jacob Hoffman, Morrill, 118-0.

High Jump

1. Kelsey Rozelle, Potter-Dix, 6-0; 2. Aaron Alcorn, Crawford, 5-10; 3. Tyler Koke, Minatare, 5-6; 4. Cole Christensen, Potter-Dix, 5-6; 5. Kadan Huber, Banner County, 5-6; 6. Joshua Harvey, Morrill, 5-4.

Pole Vault

1. Coby Hicks, Potter-Dix, 11-0; 2. Jorge Lara, Morrill, 10-6; 3. Noah Nelson, Potter-Dix, 10-6; 4. Samuel Bogert, Potter-Dix, 9-6; 5. Mark Schwartz, Garden County, 9-0; 6. Brady Tophoj, Garden County, 9-0.

Long Jump

1. Kelsey Rozelle, Potter-Dix, 20-4.5; 2. Mathew McCarthy, Garden County, 18-11.5; 3. Cameron Purcell, Potter-Dix, 18-2.5; 4. Kadan Huber, Banner County, 17-8; 5. Juan Garfio, Minatare, 17-4.5; 6. Cole Christensen, Potter-Dix, 16-11.5.

Triple Jump

1. Mathew McCarthy, Garden County, 40-2.5; 2. Tyler Koke, Minatare, 40-1.5; 3. Juan Garfio, Minatare, 39-4; 4. Dustin Bleidt, Garden County, 39-0.5; 5. Cody McKay, Leyton, 38-7; 6. Joshua Harvey, Morrill, 38-0.5.