South Laf. boys, Central Laf. girls win district meets

South Lafourche cross country coach Joey Guidroz sat back and watched all season as his boys’ team finished behind district rival Terrebonne at meets.

For younger, inexperienced coaches, that’d be a source of panic. Not for Guidroz, he knew he had an ace or two in the hole that’d tilt the pendulum his team’s way when things mattered most.

After fielding an injury depleted roster for most of the regular season, the Tarpons ran at full strength last Tuesday at the District 7-5A cross country meet, which took place at the Raceland Recreation Center.

The end result proved Guidroz’s patience had hit the spot, as South Lafourche upset Terrebonne to earn their place as the 2011 district champions.

The Tarpons accumulated a team score of 37 points in the victory, four better than the 41 posted by Terrebonne.

“I knew we had the team to do it, we just had to be patient,” Guidroz said. “Early in the year, we didn’t have our full team because I was letting a couple of injuries heal up. We always tried to keep in focus that it’s always good to be good at the end of a season, rather than being good at the start of a season.”

Like their mascot, the Tarpons swam, or rather ran, in a school at the district meet.

A total of three Tarpons finished in the top five in the race and four South Lafourche runners scored in the top 10.

Brandon Brunet led the group, finishing third behind the race’s winner Terrebonne’s Jose Morales and the race’s runner-up Jerrell Gray of Thibodaux.

Also in the front of the pack for South Lafourche were Miles Bouvier (fourth), Jake Lee (fifth) and Paul Guidroz (10th).

For most teams, the top scorer is a senior or at the least an upperclassman.

It’s a little different for South Lafourche, Brunet is just a freshman.

Guidroz said the young Tarpon has the chance to be special.

“That’s why you coach, man,” Guidroz said of Brunet. “You like to take kids and basically see how good they can get. He’s going to be a good one. I’ve coached several kids who can go. He’s going to be one of them that can do the same. He’s going to be a good one.”

From the future king of the hill to the current, Morales won the individual district title for the second-straight year, but it wasn’t without a fight.

Gray led the Terrebonne standout by a sizeable margin for the opening mile and a half of the three-mile race. But the defending champion never flustered and kept his pace, easily outlasting the Thibodaux challenger in the final mile to secure the title.

“The first lap, I saw him in front of me and I just knew I wasn’t going to be a district champ again,” Morales said with a laugh, still panting for air after the race. “But as soon as I saw him after the first lap, he was going really, really fast and I was like, ‘No way! He can’t keep this up, he’s going to get tired.'”

Rounding out the scoring for Terrebonne after Morales was Christian Burgo (sixth) and Terry Dupre Jr. (seventh). Thibodaux’s Mark Rose and Jansen Callais helped pace Thibodaux, finishing eighth and ninth respectively.

But the story on the boys’ side was the Tarpons, who turned their attention to the state meet, which took place Monday. Guidroz said he hopes to finish in the top 10. Results for the meet were unavailable at press time.

If South Lafourche keeps progressing, that goal seems more than feasible.

“We focused all year long on today,” Guidroz said. “Because this was the big one. We’re excited we were able to get this one.”

Central Lafourche scores girls’ title

The start of last Tuesday’s girls’ race was moved up approximately 15 minutes due to the threat of rain in the Raceland area.

But the outcome was probably decided hours before that.

Central Lafourche took home the team prize in the girls’ race, scoring 40 points to outlast Thibodaux, who finished second with 57 points.

Lady Trojans coach Chris Arnold said his team got strength from a Tuesday morning pep-talk in which the team rallied together and realized just how important it was to win a district championship.

“I just told them regardless of what’s been done this entire season, today’s a different day,” Arnold said. “Everybody’s going to be giving everything they’ve got and nobody’s going to give you a spot. … They took those words and it meant something to them. And it showed today.”

Arnold’s statement seemed to ignite a fire within the Lady Trojans.

A total of three Central Lafourche runners finished in the top 10 in the race with two Lady Trojans placing in the top 5.

Pacing the team was the race’s individual champion Brittany Foxworth, Brooke Picou (fourth) and Alesha Toups (ninth).

Arnold said he also told his runners to not worry about positioning, but rather to shift their focus on something else in Tuesday’s meet; improvement.

The coach’s message was again heard clearly, as several runners posted their best marks of the season.

“Our goal in practice and really in each meet has been just to improve on times,” Arnold said. “It’s not the place they finish in, but the time they finish in.”

Also rounding out the top 5 in the girls’ race were H.L. Bourgeois’s Catherine Schexnayder (second) and Alice Deano (fifth) and Terrebonne’s Elizabeth Jordan (third).

Thibodaux’s Courtney Hepola (sixth) and Alisha Bell (seventh), Terrebonne’s Leah Aucoin (eighth) and H.L. Bourgeois’ Brittany Soileau (10th) also were in the front of the pack.