Local teams fare well in state cross country meet

They didn’t have to drive across the country to get there n pretty darn close.

But despite the long drive and overly chilly conditions, several Tri-parish cross country teams fared well at this past week’s LHSAA State Cross Country Championships in Natchitoches.

On the boys side, E.D. White finished third in the state in Class 3A, placing behind eventual state champion Holy Cross and runner up West Feliciana.

The Cardinals scored 145 points n a number that is determined by adding the combined finish of the team’s top five runners, who were Tyler LeBouef (9th place), Benton Troxclair (18th place), Rory Eschete (31st place), Patrick Roth (42nd place) and Ty Barbier (45th place).

“This year, I honestly thought third would have been an awesome finish, that’s what I told the kids,” E.D. White cross country coach Don Grabert said. “We knew fourth or fifth, we had a shot for, but in the middle of the meet, we actually looked like we had a shot at second, but as the meet went on, we dropped back a little bit. But third was a great race for them.”

E.D. White was the highest men’s team to place at the state meet, but they weren’t the only Top 10 finishers.

In Class B, Houma Christian finished No. 7 in the state with a team score of 256, led by sophomore Jacob Dupuis’s 42nd-place finish and 8th grader Daniel Achee’s 43th-place finish.

In 4A, both Vandebilt Catholic and Ellender finished in the Top 10 in the state.

The Terriers finished No. 7, while the Patriots rounded out the Top 10.

The highest individual finisher on the boys side resides in Terrebonne, as junior Jose Morales finished No. 6 among all Class 5A runners with a 16-minute, 13-second three-mile time.

Like on the boys’ side, E.D. White’s girls team paced local performers, finishing as the Class 3A state runners-up.

All of the Lady Cardinals’ top five performers finished in the Top 20, led by senior Taylor Dugruise (4th place) and sophomore Olivia Coffman (5th place).

Freshmen Hannah Babin (13th place), Kristen Waguespack (15th place) and Kayla Waguespack (19th place) rounded out the E.D. White scorers.

The Lady Cardinals were able to be runners-up, despite beating the odds.

Grabert said the team’s leading runner all season was out with a stress fracture, which makes the team’s feat in the state meet more impressive.

“That hurt our chances a little bit,” he said of the injury. “But we have great depth on the team. We were able to recover. Then we had lost our No. 3 runner for most of the season with a stress fracture as well, but she was able to come back a few days before the state meet and give us that one race. All things considered, with all of the injuries and everything, I feel like we did pretty well.”

In 4A, Vandebilt was our area’s top finisher on the girls’ side, finishing No. 7 in the state thanks to a No. 30 and No. 31-place finish from senior Emily Carrere and sophomore Makelle Pena.

Ellender finished 17th in 4A.

Terrebonne, South Terrebonne, Thibodaux and Central Lafourche also competed in the state meet on the girls side with their teams finishing 27th, 28th, 32nd and 35th in the state respectively for Class 5A.