A lot for this guy to be thankful for this holiday season
November 20, 2012
Vandebilt survives, moves to the quarterfinals
November 20, 2012
The E.D. White cross country teams are state champions again.
Both the school’s boys’ and girls’ teams took home Louisiana’s top prize this week at the LHSAA 3A Cross Country Championships last Tuesday in Natchitoches.
The E.D. White boys earned the Class 3A title with a team score of 43, which outlasted West Feliciana’s runner-up mark of 58.
The Lady Cardinals swept through the competition and posted a score of 31 – far better than the 68 by South Beauregard, who was second place.
The victory marked the second-straight year that both the Cardinals and Lady Cardinals earned the state championship.
“This was our second round of seeing if we could do it again,” E.D. White cross country coach Don Grabert said. “Before the meet, I looked at the competition and I thought that we had a good chance in both boys and girls. When we got to the meet and we actually started running, I knew that we had a good chance because our kids did great – they really rose to the occasion.”
On the boys’ side, the Cardinals were clustered near the top of the pack.
Freshman Ian Coats paced E.D. White’s runners with a fourth-place finish.
After Coats crossed the finish line, several teammates were not far behind.
Senior Devin Turner and sophomore John Stafford finished 12th and 13th, respectively.
Not far behind were freshman Stephen Boudreaux and senior Quentin Landry, who finished 16th and 18th.
Grabert said he was especially excited about the way the boys performed because they lost a lot of runners from last year’s title-winning squad.
The resiliency is not anything new to the Cardinals, who have now won nine state titles in 11 years on the boys’ side.
“We had only three that ran from last year’s team, so we had to plug in four other runners,” Grabert said. “What they did this year was really impressive. The times that we posted were better – across the board.”
On the girls’ side, little doubt was left – the Lady Cardinals were easily the state champions.
Four E.D. White runners finished in the Top 9 of last Tuesday’s race – a quartet led by junior Emily Sauce, who finished third.
Also at the top of the pack were junior Hannah Babin, who finished fifth; freshman Adelyne Labat, who finished seventh and freshman MiMi Guidry, who finished ninth.
Junior Courtney Troxclair rounded out the team’s scoring with an 11th place finish.
Grabert said the success of his girls’ team is a testament to hard work and dedication.
During the course of the season, the Lady Cardinals lost three of last season’s contributors to injury.
Another contributor didn’t try out for the team.
“We literally were plugging in the girls that we had on the team, not fully knowing what to expect,” Grabert said. “But as the year went on, they really progressed and had a great season all around.”
When one looks at the times, Grabert’s statement holds even more weight.
Runners on both the boys’ and girls’ side earned much quicker finishing times than they did in the 2011 meet.
Grabert said being able to perform amidst a tough field is the mark of a champion.
“We ran better than last year. Way better than last year,” Grabert said. “It was a tougher field, but we rose to the occasion. … The kids worked hard all year and we were blessed with some pretty good depth. It definitely worked in our favor.
“The kids stood tall to the occasion. We told them that they were the defending state champions until someone beats them. I think it had a lot to do with it – we had the confidence knowing that we were the champs and we take great pride in our running. We run all year here.”
And for the future?
With a slew of underclassmen, Grabert said he believes bright days remain ahead.
“On the girls side, we lose three seniors, but two of them were hurt for pretty much the whole year,” Grabert said. “On the boys, we lose two, but we have a lot, a lot of kids coming up. We expect to have some fun times here in the future.”
Elsewhere in the Tri-parish area
E.D. White was the only school to bring home the state title, but other local teams fared well at the Cross Country Championships.
In Class 1A, the Houma Christian boys’ team finished ninth with a score of 199.
Anchoring the Warriors’ push was freshman Devin Battaglia and senior Jacob Dupuis, who finished 28th and 34th, respectively.
Houma Christian’s girls also had a solid showing and finished No. 10 in the state with a team score of 250.
Leading the Lady Warriors was freshman Kaylee Parfait, who finished 17th in the individual race.
In Class 3A, Berwick’s boys earned a ninth place finish in the state.
Leading the push for the Panthers was sophomore Neal Theriot, who finished 10th.
In the same class, Patterson did not compete in the team competition, but senior Jonathan Jeffcoat made his mark on the individual race, finishing seventh.
In 4A, the Vandebilt girls dominated the top-half of the individual race, finishing fourth in the team competition.
Freshman Alexa Breaux finished second in Louisiana – finishing a second behind St. Thomas More’s Hannah Bourque, who won the individual title.
Lady Terriers eighth grader Eleana Callejas finished third in the race 18 seconds behind the pack.
Freshman Jenna Cheramie rounded out the Vandebilt trio with a ninth-place finish.
On the boys’ side, Vandebilt, South Terrebonne and Ellender had solid days, finishing 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively.
Senior Evan Chauvin paced Vandebilt’s team with a 22nd place finish. Freshman Wesley Lapeyrouse led Ellender with a 35th place mark and junior Bailey Dardar led South Terrebonne with a 48th-place finish.
The E.D. White boys’ and girls’ cross country teams pose with their state championship trophies. The Cardinals won the titles for the second-straight season.
