Call her the Priest River Rocket.

Spartans junior AshLee Rey is tearing up the track this season – and tearing up the school record book along with it.

Rey, who confessed she doesn’t really enjoy the grueling 400 meters, broke PR’s record in the event three weeks ago and added another record in the 200 the same day.

For Rey, it seems like all this success is happening pretty fast.

“It’s really exciting,” said Rey, who also plays soccer and basketball for the Spartans. “I remember when I was a freshman, I would look at those records and think, ‘Wow, I’ll never break any of those, or get anywhere close.’

“It was surprising to me that I did, though, and I feel honored to be part of the school history.”

What’s not surprising, though, with the 3A District I meet scheduled Friday and Saturday at Timberlake High School in Spirit Lake, is that Rey has set some pretty lofty goals – for herself and for her teammates.

“This year, our girls’ team has a really good chance of placing at state,” Rey said. “And I want to try and help that happen as much as I can. … It would be kind of cool to get (an individual) state championship, of course.”

This season, Rey has twice defeated defending 400 state champ Jamie Brower of Kellogg.

But what’s up with this aversion to a race at which she’s so good?

“I really don’t like the 400 at all,” Rey said. “It’s HARD. I don’t know, it’s just the thought of it, I guess. The 200 is my favorite race – it’s like the perfect distance, but my coaches got me started in the 400 relay and now I run it.”

Combine that dislike with what Rey referred to as “world-class butterflies” and it would seem she couldn’t possibly succeed.

For Rey, though, two negatives apparently make a positive.

“I get nervous, so I try not to think about it,” Rey said of competing. “I think when I do get the most nervous is when I perform the best – it must be the adrenaline.

“I haven’t thrown up yet, but I always feel like it.”

Rey said she couldn’t do any of it without the help of her parents.

“They always support me,” Rey said. “I don’t live with both of them, so getting to practices and meets can be hard for them.

“But they always make it there.

“I really want to go to a four-year college,” added Rey, who thinks architecture or forensic science would be interesting majors. “I’d like to get a scholarship to run track, for sure.”