By JERRY BYRD, Journal Sports
NATCHITOCHES — Two Caddo-Bossier schools have fielded cross country teams which have proven over the course of the season to be the best in school history. Today, those two teams – the C.E. Byrd girls and Parkway boys – will compete against the best in the state looking to return home from the LHSAA Cross Country Championships with some hardware.
But it won’t be easy.
The Lady Jackets, led by school record-holder Jenna Key (17:26), will attempt to dethrone St. Joseph’s Academy, winner of the last eight state championships.
The Panthers have a school-record holder of their own in Gabe Falting, who set the new three-mile mark of 15:19 at last week’s regional meet.
Parkway is ranked by MileSplit as No. 4 in Louisiana, just behind No. 3 Ruston, who escaped last week’s regional meet with a 31-33 win over the Panthers.
However, both Parkway and Ruston find themselves in the midst of Louisiana high school cross country’s version of Clash of the Titans as New Orleans Catholic League rivals Jesuit and Brother Martin are expected to battle it out for first and second in Division 1.
When those schools faced each other with their best runners competing at the District 9-5A Championships, Jesuit came away with a win by the narrowest of margins.
In the sport of cross country, depth is rewarded and both Byrd and Parkway are loaded with talent which has allowed Byrd’s Juan Plaza and Parkway’s Kent Falting to coach the best teams in school history.
Other members of the Byrd’s top five include Spencer Frierson (18:30), Laila Wells (19:14), Mallory Swint (19:21), and Hudson Roberts (19:29).
Besides having his son as a school record-holder on the team, Coach Falting also has the fastest freshman in Louisiana in Brennan Robin (15:24). Other members of the school record-breaking top five include Alex Gomez (15:33), Gary Smith (15:36), Ben Ruliffson (15:39) and Andrew Kent (15:57).
Individually, Key, who finished ninth at the state meet last season with a time of 18:44, is the highest ranked local runner going into today’s state championship event. She is ranked No.4 with a season best of 17:26.
St. Joseph’s senior Elise Brown (17:18) and junior Michelle Daigle (17:22) are ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. Both season bests for the top two Stickers came at last week’s Division 1 Region 2 Meet. SJA also has the defending Division 1 state champion in Hannah Vaughan, who is ranked No. 10 with a season best of 18:07.
On the boys’ side, Calvary’s Jackson Burney (15:38) has the highest local MileSplit ranking at No. 5 in Division 4.
Other runners to watch include Loyola’s Tripp Roemer (16:08), who is ranked No. 9 in Division 3 and Falting, who is ranked No. 11 in Division 1.
Besides the Byrd girls and Parkway boys, there are three other teams who should finish inside the top 10. The Benton girls, led by sophomore Claire Allen (19:12), are ranked No. 4 in Division 1. Caddo Magnet girls are ranked No. 8 in Division 2. The Loyola boys are ranked No. 8 in Division 3.
Contact Jerry at sbjjerrybyrd@gmail.com