Hosanna Christian's Laticia Watson, center, takes first in the Class B girls 100-meter hurdles as Bell City's Lauren Guidry, left, and Shelby Landry take second and third at the LHSAA's high school state athletics meet Friday. (Associated Press)
Hackberry boys, Bell City girls capture state track titles
Last Modified: Saturday, May 05, 2012 12:04 AM
By Warren Arceneaux / American Press
BATON ROUGE — Hackberry’s boys won with strength in numbers and Bell City’s girls had multiple scorers in multiple events as both won state championships Friday on the second day of the state track and field championships.
Hackberry won the Class C meet, outscoring Holy Rosary 83-66, while Bell City won the Class B title with 67 points, 15 more than runner-up Hosanna Christian.
Hackberry picked up two wins from Eddie Bird in the shot put and discus to take an early lead, then regained it when Brett Bird finished third in the 800, the 12th of 18 events.
Second-place finishes by Joseph Thomas in the 400 and Dylan Morrison in the 300 hurdles gave the Mustangs some extra cushion.
Every member of the Mustangs team competed in the meet. Last year, just two high schoolers were in the meet for the Mustangs.
First-year head coach Brent Calais recruited more athletes and Hackberry had 21 entries.
“We had 11 guys, three seniors, and everybody stepped up,” Calais said. “Everyone ran on the track today. We have great kids with big hurts.
“This is our first boys championship in anything but golf. We knew we had a shot, and everybody stepped up. Eddie Bird, Ryan Seay and Waylon Raymond, my three seniors, were great today. This is great.
“These kids have great heart and desire, and this championship is for them.”
The Lady Mustangs threatened to make it a sweep, leading most of the way and being tied headed into the final two events, but First Baptist finished one-two in the 3,200-meter run and both Epps mile relay teams earned points.
First Baptist won with 101 points while Epps was second with 94. Hackberry was third with 88 points.
Hackberry got wins from Reagan Darbonne in the pole vault and DJ Simon in the 400.
In Class B, the Lady Bruins took an early lead when Jenna and Heidi Zaunbrecher finished one-two in the pole vault, each clearing 9 feet, 6 inches. Jenna won the tiebreaker.
Glenmora briefly took the lead, but the Bruins scored 14 points in the 100 hurdles when Lauren Guidry finished second and Shelby Landry finished third, retaking the lead for good.
Guidry added another second place in the 300 hurdles, breaking the class record with a time of 47.28 seconds. Laticia Watson of Hosanna Christian won with a record time of 46.64 seconds. Bell City finished second on the 4x100 and 4x200 relays.
“We surprised some people,” said Bell City head coach Jason Jagneaux. “When I saw the heat sheets, I thought we had a shot.
“Coming out first and second in the pole vault was outstanding, and second and third in the 100 hurdles helped out a lot. When you can get two girls in the top three of an event, that’s a lot of points.
“These girls come out and practice and work hard. That makes coaching easy. Our pole vaulting coach, Andre Fruge, and jumping coach Jason Leonards, helped us out, and without those two we would never have a championship.
“Heidi was seeded ninth in the long jump and came out fifth, and doing so well in the pole vault, that gave us points we were not counting on.”
Choudrant won the Class B boys title with 59.5 points. Anacoco was second with 47 points, getting a win from Josh Cecil in the javelin.
Bell City finished fourth with 43 points, getting wins from Joe Primeaux in the pole vault and Travis Thibeaux in the 800.
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