A young Greene County High School girls’ track & field squad has a variety of team leaders, and among that group is junior Payton Kokenge. The high jumper/400 meter runner talked with Raccoon Valley Radio about how she views her role as a team leader. “I want to help push all the girls to realize their full potential because they’ll eventually be leaders of the team, too. That’s the (previous) graduates did for me.”

Kokenge has cleared the high jumper bar at 5′ 0″ and higher in her career, including this season indoors. She said a lot of success in that even is mental, although every jumper has to have a certain amount of technique. She’s run some 400 meter races in past seasons, but will be counted on this season for a more important role on the track.

The Rams have a coed indoor meet this Saturday at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, then open the outdoor campaign on March 19 at Indianola for a coed meet at Simpson College.