Morales, Breaux, win individual championships

It’s one down, one to go for the Terrebonne High School boys’ cross country team.

One year after losing the parish championships by just one point, the Tigers created two goals for the 2011 season, to win both the parish and district championships.

The first of those goals was reached last Wednesday when the school’s boys’ team rebounded from last year’s second place finish and comfortably won the 2011 parish meet.

The race was the first-ever cross-country meet to be hosted on Terrebonne’s campus.

“I think we started working on this race a year ago,” Terrebonne cross country coach Marty Collins said. “They weren’t going to let anything stand in the way of them and this championship.”

Like always, the first person to cross the finish line was a Tiger.

As he virtually always does, Terrebonne senior Jose Morales won the individual boy’s title, comfortably edging out Ellender’s Aaron Yarmush.

But Morales wasn’t without help.

A total of five Terrebonne runners placed in the top 10 of the race. Joining Morales among the race’s highest finishers were Christian Burgo (fourth), Terry Dupre Jr. (fifth), Brandon Madere (eighth) and Bryan Bergeron (ninth).

“We have very good balance,” coach Collins said. “We’ve gone run several tough races. … We’ve picked different courses with a lot of hills that’ll give us a lot of challenges. And we’ve done so well. I’m just really impressed.”

Also scoring in the top 10 on the boys’ side were Vandebilt’s Evan Chauvin (third), H.L. Bourgeois’ Jared Matherne (sixth), and Ellender’s Tyler Verret (seventh) and Brian Verdin (10th).

With the parish championship award now in their trophy case, the Tigers’ boys will now move onto their second goal, district.

Collins said he believes he has the personnel to possibly scratch the last goal off his list.

“We really want to be the district champ, that’s our second goal we set,” Collins said. “We believe we have potential to be a top 10 team at state. The best I’ve ever finished was 19th. … It’s an exciting time here for us.”

Vandebilt girls shrug off youth, rout competition for parish title

In most sports, inexperience is usually a fatal flaw.

It’s not so bad for the Vandebilt girls’ cross country team.

The young Lady Terriers easily outran their competition in the opening race of last Wednesday’s meet to secure its place as repeat parish champion.

The team’s performance impressed coach Dave Malone, who said winning the parish championship was a season-long goal for Vandebilt.

“We performed well,” Malone said. “We’ve been practicing real hard. We knew we had a chance to repeat as parish champions and the girls came out today and proved it again.”

Vandebilt is led by underclassmen.

Not by sophomores or juniors, either, but by eighth graders.

Eighth graders Alexa Breaux and Jenna Cheramie finished first and second respectively to pace the Lady Terriers in the individual race.

Malone said dealing with such youth is a challenge he’s never had to face in his time as a coach.

“When they first come out, their eyes are big and they weren’t sure what to expect,” the coach said with a laugh. “But once they get out there and start running and realize they have potential, you don’t have to tell them much.”

Malone added that to reinforce his point, he pulled the eighth grade duo together earlier this week and explained to them just how good they can be if they continue to dedicate themselves to the sport.

“That’s the first time I did that in my 10 years coaching cross country,” Malone said. “But I just told them, ‘You can do great things. You have that potential.'”

Vandebilt also got solid points from Jewel Triggs (third), Katelyn Breaux (fifth) and Jordan Ortego (12th), who rounded out the team’s scoring.

H.L. Bourgeois’ Catherine Schexnayder (fourth) and Alice Deano (sixth), Terrebonne’s Elizabeth Jordon (seventh), South Terrebonne’s Beth Duplantis (eighth) and Dariane Dardar (ninth) and Ellender’s Triana Allridge (10th) rounded out the top finishers.

Malone said having that many Vandebilt runners near the top enforces to his team that their goals for the season are well within reach with the state meet looming.

“For the most part, we’ve been consistent this year,” Malone said. “We have the potential to be a good team this year and certainly into the future. Hopefully, this trend continues. … Our goal this year is to be in the top 5 at state. Next year, we need to go for it. We have no seniors. We’re young and, hopefully, we can make a push to win it all.”

Terrebonne High School’s Jose Morales (left) paces the field as Ellender’s Aaron Yarmush trails behind. Morales and Yarmush finished first and second in last week’s parish cross country meet. CASEY GISCLAIR