MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / April 25, 1999

RESERVE – It’s not often that a track meet comes down to the last event, but the District 9-2A Meet did just that Wednesday.

Riverside surged ahead of West St. John after the 3200-meter run andneeded at least a third place finish in the final event, the 1600-meter relay.

The West St. John team of Donovan Pierre, Donriel Louis, Tremaine Nathanand Rysean Brown did its job, winning the event in three minutes, 37.26seconds. But the Rebels’ squad of Joel Levin, Michael Cooper, JonathanOubre and Joey Poirrier also did theirs, coming in third in 3:43.12, givingthe Rebels their second consecutive district championship.

Riverside finished with 129 points, edging out the Rams who finished with 127. St. Martin’s was third with 93 points, followed by Ridgewood (75),St. Charles Catholic (58) and Ecole Classique (39).”The makeship mile relay came through,” Riverside coach John White said of his 1600-meter team he had to juggle because of injuries. “We had a lotof personal records today. We had a real good meet. Those personal recordsand injuries to West St. John was what made the meet so close.”Riverside had 17 individuals and a relay team qualify for the Region III meet Wednesday at Riverside. West St. John qualified 10 individuals andthree relays while St. Charles Catholic had seven individuals and tworelay teams qualify. The top four placers in each event qualify forregionals.

Riverside’s Rhett Vicknair was selected as the meet’s Outstanding Field performer after winning the javelin, placing second in the discus and fourth in the shot put.

Vicknair had a best throw of 165 feet, seven inches in the javelin, beating out team- mate Seth LeBlanc who had a throw of 160-11. West St. John’s TermanHoward was fourth with a throw of 148-5.

St. Martin’s Ryan Rossner took the discus with a throw of 147-3. Vicknairwas right behind with a throw of 144-2. St. Charles Catholic’s Elinus Noelwas fourth with a throw of 132-10. In the shot put, Ecole Classique’sJonathan Taylor took first with a throw of 48-6 3/4. St. CharlesCatholic’s Kenny Ordeneaux was third with a throw of 47-9 1/2, followed by Vicknair with a throw of 45-2 1/2.

West St. John swept the jumping events. Louis and Pierre tied for thedistrict title in the high jump with jumps of 6-2. Louis also placed firstin the triple jump with a jump of 45-3 1/4. Dehaven Duronslet was secondwith a jump of 44-4 1/2, followed by Levin’s jump of 41-5. Duronsletcaptured the long jump with a jump of 21-9 1/4. Levin was second with ajump of 20-9 3/4, followed by St. Charles Catholic’s Julian Ward who hada jump of 20-3.

Louis, who is competing in track for the first time since his freshman year, was also on the Rams’ first place 800- and 1600-meter relay teams.

“I have been practicing better and better and its coming easier and easier,” Louis said of his improvements in the high jump.

“Coach (Elmo) Boudreaux helps me a lot and I have been jumping higher and higher. Coach Boudreaux has also been helping me in the triple jump.”I want to practice harder and try to pick up my speed in the 800 relay to make my team better.”Riverside’s Justin Dunn took the pole vault, clearing the bar at 13-6. St.Martin’s Seth Duplantis was second with a vault of 12-6. Riverside’s T.J.Sutton placed fourth with a vault of 11-6.

In the track events, West St. John’s Arlando Comminie set a personalrecord in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.62.”God ran with me throughout the whole race,” Comminie said. “Last yearin regionals I flipped out on the first hurdle so I’m hungry now.”Teammate Abrom Johnson took both the 100 and 200 meters. In the 100,Johnson ran a 11.09, beating out Josh Schexnayder who finished in 11.21.Riverside’s Bradley Hodges placed third in 11.47. In the 200, Johnson crossed the line in 23.69, defeating Hodges whofinished in a personal best time of 24.03. Schexnayder and teammateWayne Stein were third and fourth in 24.20 and 24.38, respectively.Rysean Brown gave the Rams another first place in the 400, finishing in 53.02. Riverside’s Jonathan Oubre was fourth in 56.63. Riverside’s Armand Cen-tanni took first in the 1600 with a time of 5:02.26 and fourth in the 3200 with a time of 11:41.69. Teammate Travis Fox was fourth in the 1600 with a time of 5:13.57 whileSt. Charles Catholic’s Mike Donnelly was third in the 3200 in 10:50.83. In the 800, Riverside’s Micheal Sparcella was third with a time of 2:12.56,followed by teammate Jeff Roccaforte in 2:14.88. In the relays, West St. John’s 800-meter team of Comminie, Louis, Brownand Jessie Jackson took first in 1:33.81. St. Charles Catholic was third in1:36.07. The Rams also took first in the 400 behind Johnson, Brown, Jamar Bailey and Jackson, finishing in 44.62. The Comets were fourth in 45.93.St. Martin’s Whitney Davis was selected as the meet’s Outstanding Trackperformer after winning the 3200 and placing second in the 1600.

The top three finishers at the regional meet qualify for the state meet at LSU May 7.

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