STATE TRACK: LaPoint adds three medals, two state titles to collection

Published 9:06 am Saturday, May 4, 2024

South Cameron’s Chad LaPoint finished his stellar high school career on Thursday with three more medals at the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Class C outdoor track and field championships at LSU’s Bernie Moore Stadium.

LaPoint won two golds and earned a bronze to bring his career state medal total to 11, including seven golds. All but one were in individual events.

LaPoint won his fourth consecutive 110-meter hurdles state championship with a time of 16.29 seconds, beating runner-up Jay Nash of Saline (16.94) by more than half a second.

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LaPoint also won the long jump for the second time in three seasons with a personal-best jump of 22 feet, 1 inch. His other medal came in the 100 meters when he finished third (11.42).

Hackberry junior Ely Walker won his third consecutive discus state championship and first in the shot put to lead the Mustangs to a runner-up (77) finish in the boys team standings behind champion Gibsland-Coleman (119).

He threw a personal best to win both events, 157-71/4 in the discus and 46-73/4 in the shot put.

Brant Thomas added a win in the javelin (144-2).

On the girls side, Reeves (62) was unseated as the Class C champion by Simpson (78), led by Kelsey Williams’ first-place finish in the 400 (1:04.79).

Other Southwest Louisiana individual gold winners in Class C included Johnson Bayou’s Lydia Trahan (100, 13.27), Kenzi Perry (girls pole vault, 6-51/2) and E.J. Abshire (boys pole vault, 9-11) and South Cameron’s Reagan Veronie (girls javelin, 109-11/2).

The Starks girls 4×200 and Johnson Bayou girls 4×400 relays teams also won gold.

In Class B girls, Hathaway’s Kaitlyn Sawyer medaled in four events, including two individual state championships in the 800 (2:23.94) and 1,600 (5:20.02). She was the runner-up in the 3,200 (12:18.45) and 4×400 relay (4:17.54).

Hamilton Christian’s relay team of Travis Bolden, Kaleb Bigwood, Jayden Jasmine and Javon Vital won the Class 1A boys 4×100 (43.41) and 4×400 relays (3:27.11).

The Merryville girls finished state runner-up in Class 1A.