Rouse’s athletic skill and academic achievement combine to bring full-ride
OHS senior Ellen Rouse has received a full-ride scholarship to the University
Idaho, thanks to her athletic and academic achievements. Rouse has earned eight
state titles in four events during her first three years of high school. She is
ranked eighth in her class with a GPA of 3.94.
She has won three state titles in the 200, two in the 100, two in shot put and one in discus. This year she is competing in all those events again.
Rouse has lived in Orofino all her life and started running track in junior high. Besides track, she has played volleyball in high school.
Her parents, Tracy and Kevin Rouse, ran track in high school, and both made it to state, although they didn’t win titles there. “They were both pretty good,” Rouse said.
With two older brothers, Stewart and Lucas, Rouse says they were always doing something athletic. Both brothers played baseball in high school and American Legion.
During the winter, Rouse competes in the indoor pentathlon in college meets. There, the events are somewhat different than what she’s been doing at the high school level.
She enjoys sprints, and obviously has great success in them. For the pentathlon she runs the 800, a race she says isn’t considered a distance run, “but, for me,” she says, laughing, “anything over a 200 is distance.”
Besides the 800, she competes in shot put, 60 meter hurdles, high jump and long jump for the pentathlon.
She will start in heptathlon when she reaches U of I. The events include the 200 and 800, 100 m hurdles, high jump, long jump, shot put and javelin.
Rouse’s decision to attend U of I came after exploring the possibilities at Dartmouth, Brown, Montana State and Idaho State as well. Her trip to Rhode Island to visit Brown was her first trip to the east coast. “It was so much different than here,” she said.
Referring to U of I, she said “I just felt like their program was a step above
all the other places I’ve been. Their school’s good and I really liked their
coaches. They just had a really good team atmosphere there.”
Rouse is a member of National Honor Society, and with her focus on track, she says it is the only organization she’s had time to participate in her senior year.
She intends to pursue a degree in English because she believes “you can go anywhere with it, so it seems like a good base.”
When her senior year began, Rouse said she wanted it to last forever, but now that graduation is looming “we are literally counting down the days.” Although she says it will be hard to leave home, she is looking forward to the new challenges of competing and studying at the college level.