The St. Louis girls caught up to Barbe at the wire, using a strong finish on the track to earn a share of the team title at the St. Louis/Taussig Relays, run Friday at Barbe High.

The Bucs won the boys crown, outpointing LaGrange 117.3-102.

In the girls meet, Barbe raced to an 18-point lead over Leesville in the field events. Barbe’s Natalie Breaux set a meet record in the girls pole vault with a best of 10 feet, 6 inches. Peyton Montgomery gave the Bucs another win in the javelin (125-9) and placed third in the shot put.

The margin stayed the same through the first four running events, with the Bucs getting a win from Kellie Webb in the 1,600 (5:29.84) and the Wampus Cats responding with a win from Destinee Holder in the 110 hurdles.

The St. Louis 4×100 relay team of Drew Chatters, Christi Clemons, Shondalyn Jasmine and Hannah Jackson set a meet record with a time of 48.69 seconds to lead a late charge that saw the Saints pull even with two events left after Christi Clemons won the 200, her second win of the day.

Webb won the 3,200 to give the Bucs a six-point lead, but St. Louis earned eight points with a second-place finish in the final event, the mile relay, while Barbe earned two points for finishing fifth to force the tie.

The Saints got another win from Shondalyn Jasmine in the 300 hurdles and two in the field from Rhea Thompson (shot put) and Destinee Delahoussaye (high jump).

“We moved some people around, put Christi in some open events to see what she could do,” said St. Louis head coach Tommy Johns. “We are trying to finagle our lineup before we get to district in a few weeks.

“Everybody did a god job, Christi, Shondalyn in the hurdles running a 45; what a surprise for a freshman. We wanted to get an idea of what Christi could do and she did a phenomenal job. Everybody did, that is what it takes to win a meet like this. As young as we are, winning the meet is a good confidence booster.

“Normally we tell the kids that we try to win the last three, if we win a local one, that’s fine. But to win the meet you host, it always helps.”

In the boys meet, DeRidder’s Dionte Heath swept the three jumping events with marks of 21-8 in the long jump, 44-3 1/2 in the triple jump and 6-0 in the high jump.

Blair Henderson of St. Louis set a meet record in the 400-meter run with a time of 49.22 seconds.

LaGrange made a late surge on the track and finished 1-2 in the 300 hurdles, with Markel Thomas winning and Robert Harrington finished second, to move within 10 points of the Bucs, but Trey Quinn won the 200 for the Bucs to stretch the lead to 17 points with two events left.

(Rick Hickman / American Press)

Rick Hickman