JOURNAL STAFF
Patience has been the key for Airline senior Brianna Taylor during the 2022 outdoor season. After a strong, early indoor campaign, the Lady Viking had to overcome a Jan. 25 automobile accident, and then a hamstring injury while warming up for one of her final indoor meets.
Those setbacks led her to miss most of the outdoor season, but a week before the District 1-5A Meet, she showed herself and her coaches that she was ready to return to championship form … just in time for the championship season of her final year on Viking Drive.
Saturday, she will take to the track in high school for the final time as she competes in the 2022 LHSAA Class 5A State Outdoor Track & Field Championships at LSU’s Bernie Moore Stadium in Baton Rouge.
She qualified for the state meet in three individual events. She won the Region I-5A 100 (12.22), and finished second in both the 400 (57.48) and 200 (24.99).
Taylor’s goal is to make the podium with top three finishes after finishing fifth last year in both the 100 (11.89) and 200 (24.83).
Whether she accomplishes the goal or not, Taylor’s high school career has been nothing short of amazing. Just making it to the biggest stage in Louisiana high school track and field after overcoming adversity is something Taylor is proud about.
“It was really difficult,” Taylor said about overcoming the automobile accident and hamstring injury. “I learned patience. I learned how to listen to my body.”
This year wasn’t the first year Taylor has learned to overcome adversity. Just when she was starting to see some major improvements during the indoor season of her sophomore campaign, Covid-19 shut down the 2020 outdoor season after only one meet.
“Through everything with the pandemic my sophomore year, I’ve learned to be grateful for every race, every opportunity. You don’t know when a race might be your last.”
Taylor isn’t the only sprinter who has had to overcome adversity this year. Captain Shreve’s Marquez “Macho” Stevenson knows the feeling all too well.
Stevenson had his mind set on winning three individual events at the LHSAA State Outdoor Meet. He wanted to win the 100, 200, and, his specialty, the 400. Those hopes were dashed when Stevenson caught cramps in his lower leg after the District 1-5A Meet, keeping him out of the 200.
The junior bounced back at the Region I-5A meet by winning the 100 (10.73) and breaking the Region 1-5A Meet record in the 400 (47.67), lowering the mark (47.76) set in 2013 by Parkway’s Cory Hamilton.
When Stevenson posted his blistering time last Wednesday in Natchitoches, it was the fastest 400 run in Louisiana this year, but the following day Catholic junior Winston Decuir ran a 46.90 at the Region 2-5A Meet.
That sets up the 400 to be a race to watch at the state meet, both this year and next.
In the Class 4A Division, all eyes will be on Huntington sophomore Demetria Harris to see if she can be perfect once again.
Harris has scored 40 points for the Huntington Lady Raiders in both the District 1-4A Meet and the Region 1-4A Meet. While her effort wasn’t enough to help Huntington beat North DeSoto in the district meet, it was enough to defend the school’s Region I-4A title from a year ago.
After overcoming some nagging injuries at the beginning of the season, Harris is running faster than ever. At the Region I-4A Meet, she had personal records in both the 100 (12.08) and 200 (25.24). Other wins came in the 100 hurdles (14.91) and long jump (17-10).