By JERRY BYRD, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE — There was a little something of everything for local relay teams at the 2024 LHSAA State Track & Field Championships over the three-day day event. From the joy of winning the school’s first state championship in any sport, to the agony of defeat after being pulled off the podium for a disqualification.
It started on Thursday with the Class 1A meet when Magnolia School of Excellence captured its first state championship, not just in track and field, but any sport. Kathryn Griffin, Khloe Wells, Lyric Williams, and Desiray Markson made history by winning the girls 4×100 with a time of 50.82.
The Magnolia sprint relays almost doubled up as the 4×200 relay (1:48.42) finished a close second to Louise McGehee (1:48.31) earlier in the day.
On Saturday, the Northwood sprint relays walked into LSU’s Bernie Moore Stadium with the fastest qualifying times in both the 4×200 (1:28.31) and 4×100 (42.35) in Class 4A.
In the 4×200, the Falcons had trouble moving the baton through the second exchange, opening the door for cross-town rival Evangel Christian Academy. The Eagles’ team of Joshua Isaac, Johnny Casey, Tyreek Robinson, and Roy Morris Jr. won the state championship with a 1:28.20. Northwood finished third with a 1:28.56.
“We freaked out a little bit on that second exchange,” Northwood head coach Austin Brown said. “Of course, they were dejected when I saw them after. I told them that they didn’t have to do anything special in the 4×100. All they had to do is be themselves, and do what got us there.”
While all of the exchanges were a bit slower than Brown would have liked, the Falcons were still within striking distance after the final exchange, but Evangel was in the lead. Senior James Hollingsworth, who only came out for track and field this year, gained on the Eagles’ anchor leg and was able to lean at the tape to capture Northwood’s first state championship in the event since 2017.
“It was great!,” Brown said when asked about the celebration afterwards. “I met them at the gate where they check in. There was relief. We looked at the times early on in the season and felt like we would have a chance to be in that position. It’s been two months of working and trusting our marks.”
Northwood’s state championship 4×100 foursome — Desmond Harris, Justin Thomas, Jeremiah Johnson, and Hollingsworth — ran a 42.29. Evangel was right behind at 42.35.
On Friday, Calvary’s 4×400 relay of Kolby Thomas, Tsehaye Knight, Landon Sylvie, and Jackson Burney won a state championship with a Class 2A meet record time of 3:25.50.
The Huntington girls 4×400 team of Jaila Marshall, T’La Dewitt, Nyla Ware, and Haliey Evans sat on the podium waiting on their moment to stand up and receive their gold medals after battling back in the race on the last lap. That moment never came as a red flag went up in the far turn on the anchor leg for impeding the runner.
Huntington head coach LeRonn Burris protested the call to no avail.
Earlier in the day, the Lady Raiders’ 4×200 (Aniyah Jackson, Janayah Dotson, Ware, and Dewitt) and 4×100 (Marshall, Dewitt, Ware, and Evans) finished second to Warren Easton in both relays.
But the goal for the Lady Raiders was not relay gold medals, it was defending their state championship from a year ago. Huntington fell short finishing third in the Class 4A girls standing with 51 points. Warren Easton won with 72 points.
Huntington’s Demetria Harris had a sensational conclusion to her phenomenal career as a Lady Raider. Harris won the 100 meter hurdles (14.20) and triple jump (40-8.25). In the latter event, which she picked up just this year, Harris was a quarter of an inch away from tying Danielle Brown’s composite state meet record set in 1997.
Airline’s Jeremiah Boudreaux closed out his storybook senior season with a 5A state championship in the boys 300 hurdles. After breaking his leg on October 20, Boudreaux battled back and has led the state all spring in the event.
In his final race as an Airline Viking, Boudreaux ran away from the field and won with a time of 36.76, breaking the Class 5A record set by Craig Rock (37.02) in 2014. It’s also No. 2 all-time behind Kashie Crockett’s 36.42 in 2021.
Boudreaux also finished third in the 110 hurdles with a personal record time of 13.95.
Other area athletes to win state championships included Loyola’s Tripp Roemer, who doubled in the Class 2A boys 1600 (4:24.52) and 3200 (9:35.38), Calvary’s Burney in the Class 2A boys 800 (1:53.23), Miller Malley of Benton in the 5A boys pole vault (14-11.5), Woodlawn’s SheLunda Brooks in the 4A girls shot put (35-4.75), and Evangel’s Morris (23-9.5) in the 4A boys long jump.
C.E. Byrd’s Jenna Key and Spencer Frierson, the two best distance runners in school history, closed their high school careers together running in the 5A girls 3200. Key got on the podium in third (11:15.57) and Frierson finished sixth (11:42.04_.
Parkway’s Gabe Falting wrapped up a record-breaking career as a Panther. Falting finished fifth in the 5A boys’ 800 (1:55.97) and ran a leg on Parkway’s fifth-place 4×800 relay (8:03.92) and sixth-place 4×400 relay (3:22.10).
Contact Jerry at sbjjerrybyrd@gmail.com