ROCHELLE — The Rochelle Lady Hub track and field team showed promise throughout the 2024 season, winning the JV title during the Interstate 8 Conference meet and scoring points in several individual events during the IHSA 2A Rochelle Sectional. As Rochelle builds for the future, head coach Colfay Pointer will aim to turn that potential into results at the varsity level.

The Lady Hubs concluded the 2024 season with a 13th place finish in the IHSA 2A Rochelle Sectional earlier this month. Rochelle started the indoor season in March with a second-place performance at the Sycamore Invitational and a third-place performance at the Warrior Invitational in Sterling. Highlights from the outdoor portion of the 2024 season include a second-place finish at the 50th Annual Ogle County Invitational held at RTHS in late April.

“We were always able to find positive moments and there weren’t any moments throughout the season where our team separated,” Pointer said. “We were always positive and we were always shooting to accomplish our goals. We strived to become 1 percent better each day and I was happy with the growth I saw this season. Our culture helped us continue to get better.”

Rochelle will lose a small contingent of varsity seniors including Kyra Bivins, who led the Lady Hubs in the throwing events and finished third in the discus at the sectional meet. Kylie Smith and Kennedy Adamski are two more key contributors who will graduate from the varsity roster. 

Several juniors made their presence felt at the varsity level during the 2024 season. Dempsey Atkinson won the Interstate 8 title in the high jump and assisted in the sprint relays, while Erin Murphy anchored the throwing unit and took third in the shot put at the sectional meet. Sprinters such as Zoe White, Alex Neece and Arline Villanueva also filled key roles at the varsity level.

“Our field events are our bread and butter right now,” Pointer said. “There’s where a lot of our athletes right around the edge of qualifying for state are located and most of them are returning next season, so I’m excited about that. I want to see more improvement on the track, especially the sprints and the middle-distance events. We have a pretty good distance crew right now.”

More juniors who contributed at the varsity level include Brisa Zepeda and Bridgett Ramirez, who helped fill out Rochelle’s distance crew during the 2024 season. The Lady Hubs have a promising sophomore class eligible to return that includes distance runners Rose Luxton, Annaliese Koziol and Mary Chadwick as well as sprinters Ryelee Bogle, Katie Toczylowski and Valerie Saldana.

“I’d like to be competitive at the varsity level in our conference next season,” Pointer said.

Sophomores in the middle-distance events who found varsity roles were Carmela Bright and  Kyrie Cragin, who finished fourth in the 400-meter dash during the sectional meet earlier this month. Rochelle’s talented freshman class includes Elyse Manning, who finished fourth in the triple jump at the sectional meet, as well as sprinters Reese Kissack and Jasmine Walsh.