MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / May 4, 1999

LONGVIEW – Six years ago, Riverside coach John McMillan saw a seventh grader high jumping four-feet, six inches in P.E. and told head track coachJohn White about her.

A year later, Amanda Roussel would be competing in the state track and field meet. Four years after that, Amanda Roussel would capture the Class2A state title in the high jump. And now, a year later, the school’s recordholder in the high jump has been given the opportunity to jump at a higher level.

Roussel recently signed a letter of intent with Northeast Louisiana University and will attend the school on a track scholarship. Roussel willdo mainly high jumps her first year but the coaches at NLU has expressed interest in trying her in the heptcathlon.

LSU had called Roussel last year and Louisiana Tech had expressed interest in her this year before Roussel decided on Northeast after visiting the school in January.

“It looks like a nice school,” Roussel said.

Roussel will literally jump right into college track. She said the team willstart lifting weights and practicing the first day of school. Roussel willcompete in indoor track before starting the outdoor track season in the spring.

“I’m looking forward to next year and starting college,” Roussel said. “It’sgoing to be different but I’m excited.”Roussel certainly has come a long way since those P.E. classes. Shecompeted in junior varsity in the seventh grade before moving up to varsity as an eighth-grader. That year she began clearing the bar at 5-0. Ayear later, she moved up to 5-4 and advanced to the state meet as the district and regional champion in the event. She completed the year byfinishing fifth at the state meet.

Roussel failed to qualify for regionals as a sophomore but came back strong her junior year, placing third at the state indoor meet. At a meet atRiverside in early March, she cleared the bar at 5-5 1/4, breaking the school record. A month later, she would raise the standard with a jump of5-6. Roussel broke the record a third time at the District 9-2A Meet atWest St. John, clearing the bar at 5-7 to win the district title.Roussel added a regional title the following week with a jump of 5-2. Aweek later, Roussel went to the state meet for a second time and this time came home with the title, jumping 5-4 to beat out teammate Rachel Branton.

“It was a great feeling,” Roussel said of being the last competitor remaining in the event. “I was so happy, so excited. I couldn’t believe thatit was happening.”Roussel later added a sixth-place finish in the hurdles at the meet. Thisyear she is competing in the hurdles and the triple and long jumps as well as the high jump. She also competed again in the state indoor meet andplaced second.

Roussel felt tired on the day of a home meet March 22. But before the daywas through, White would look over to the high jump area and see the sign change – Roussel had just cleared 5-8, breaking her own school record once again.

Roussel competed in the District 9-2A meet two weeks ago at Riverside and came away with her second straight district title after jumping 5-2.

Roussel added a third place finish in the triple jump and a fourth in the long jump in being named the meet’s Outstanding Field performer. Rousselwent on to take the hurdles in 17.43 seconds, helping the Lady Rebels wintheir 10th straight district title.

Roussel said that instead of putting pressure on the athletes, keeping the streak of district titles alive motivated them.

“It makes you want to push yourself and do better,” Roussel said.

White said he never had to worry about Roussel pushing herself. Whilesome athletes have success early and then top off, White said Roussel was not one of those.

“She has been a tremendous athlete,” White said. “She has been fun tocoach, fun to work with. Some small schools go to a meet and don’t scorepoints. When you have people like her, you don’t have that problem. She isalways one of the first ones there and one of the last ones to leave.”Leaving Riverside will be a hard move for Roussel who said she will miss her teammates and coaches.

“It’s been fun, some of the best times of my life” Roussel said. “It feltgood being on a team that wins. We had good people on the team thatworked hard and represented the school very well. I’m going to miss all ofthem.”Roussel’s career at Riverside is not over yet. She placed first in the highjump at the Division IV, Region III Meet Wednesday at Riverside to qualify for the state meet at LSU.

“My goal is to win state and jump better than I did last year,” Roussel said. “Hopefully I can break my record one more time.”

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