TAPE-BREAKER: PERRYVILLE'S RAMSEY FINISHES SENIOR YEAR WITH 3 STATE TITLES

Celeste Ramsey figures to take plenty of momentum into her freshman year at Southeast Missouri State University.

Ramsey, a recent Perryville High School graduate, capped a sensational senior season of running by winning both the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter (in state meet record time) during the Class 3A state track meet held May 30-31 in Jefferson City.

Earlier in the school year, Ramsey won the Class 3A state cross country championship.

"It (the state track meet) was really exciting," said Ramsey, who has signed a letter of intent to compete in both track and cross country at Southeast. "It was a goal of mine to win state. I was hoping for first in both. I was going to run as hard as I could."

Ramsey has been training seriously for her running career almost year-round for the past several years. She started running in seventh grade and really got after it once she put her basketball away.

"I played basketball in junior high and my freshman year but I wasn't very good," she said with a laugh. "I really like to run. I take a break after cross country state and track state, but other than that I train pretty much the whole year, sometimes running about 40 miles a week."

Ramsey signed with Southeast well before winning her state track titles last month. She also considered Southern Illinois but is glad she'll be continuing her athletic and academic career in Cape Girardeau.

"The SEMO coaches are all real nice and I'm looking forward to coming there," said Ramsey, on the A Honor Roll at PHS.

Making her even more excited about attending Southeast is the fact her sister, 1996 PHS graduate Michelle, was a freshman hurdler for the Otahkians this year. And a fellow 1997 PHS grad, Ryan Layton -- who was second in the 1,600 and 3,200 at state -- has also signed to run for Southeast.

"It's going to be a lot of fun running with both Michelle and Ryan," she said.

All in all, Ramsey figures her senior year at PHS couldn't have gone much smoother.

"It's been quite a year," she said. "It went about as well as I could have hoped. I'm going to train and work a lot this summer and then look forward to coming to SEMO."