MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / November 21, 1999

NEW ORLEANS – Four-for-four.

The seniors on the Lutcher boys’ swim team ended their prep careers the way they began them, as state champions, edging out St. Charles Catholicat the Division III state meet Friday afternoon at the UNO Lakefront Arena Pool.

The victory was the Bulldogs’ fourth straight state title in Division III and capped the careers of seniors Jason Chaubaud, T.J. Millet and Josh Sylveston a high note.

Lutcher finished with 316 points, followed by St. Charles Catholic with271 and Parkview Baptist with 201. Brusly was fourth with 206 pointsand St. Louis Catholic fifth with 189.”It was an exciting meet,” Lutcher coach Joan Murray said. “There was alot of anxiety. But I was pretty confident in them because they worked sohard. They were very consistent. It’s very hard to let go of the seniors.Four years I was with them. It’s very hard.”The Lutcher girls’ team continued to increase their point totals, finishing third for the straight year but improving its point total from 209 to 215.

Most of the team members improved on their times and will be back again next year.

“The times they had were unbelievable,” Murray said. “I got some hope forthe future for the girls’ team.”Parkview Baptist captured its fourth straight state title with 555 points.

Sacred Heart of New Orleans was second with 432 points. Brusly wasfourth with 144, followed by E.D. White with 136 and St. Charles Catholicwith 125.

Unlike last year when the boys’ team won the first event and led the rest of the way, this year’s squad had to battle back from an early deficit. The200-yard relay team was edged out by St. Charles Catholic, finishing in adead heat with Parkview Baptist in a time of one minute, 89 seconds.

Lutcher came back in the next event as Chaubaud placed fourth in the 200- yard free style with a time of 2:14.37. Cody Jackson was right behind himin 2:14.52. Albany’s Matt Stogner captured his fourth state title in1:51.67.T.J. Millet joined Dustin Murray as Lutcher swimmers to win individualstate titles as he placed first in the 50-yard freestyle in 23.37. Murrayhad won the 100 freestyle last year. Tyler Murray was sixth in the 50 in24.93.Lutcher trailed St. Charles Catholic, 99-95, after eight events but tookthe lead for good in the 100-yard butterfly. Jeff Bourgeois placed sixth in1:07.11 and Chaubaud was eight in 1:12.35, giving the Bulldogs a 119-117lead.

The Bulldogs pulled away in the next event, the 100-yard freestyle. Milletplaced second, taking over a second off his preliminary time by finishing in 52.42. Sylvest was fourth in 55.78 while Tyler Murray (56.61) andJackson (58.74) placed sixth and seventh, respectively, giving the Bulldogs57 points in the event. Jennings’ Brian Boudreaux won the event in 51.98.Travis Detillier added a fifth-place finish in the 500 freestyle in 6:24.54.Stogner added another state title, finishing in 5:09.80.The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Murray, Jeff Bourgeois, Sylvest and Millet rallied on the third leg to capture the state title, finishing in 1:37.14. Ricky Bourgeois then went on to place fourth in the 100backstroke, finishing in 1:05.92. Daniel Dornier added a 12th-place finishin 1:21.24. Jennings’ Boud-reaux added his second title in 57.83.Syvest closed out the individual events with a fourth-place finish in the 100 breaststroke, touching the wall in 1:11.58. Jeff Bourgeois was eighthin 1:16.45. Rayville’s Matt Coenen placed first in 1:04.09.The Bulldogs went out on top as the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Jeff Bourgeois, Jackson, Chaubaud and Ricky Bourgeois took the lead midway through the second leg and pulled away to a first-place finish in 3:56.17.In the girls’ competition, the Lady Bulldogs closed strong to edge E.D.White for third place in the 200-yard medley relay, finishing in 2:10.81. Freshman Laurie Luersen placed seventh in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:25.86. Teammate Morgan Belak was 13th in 2:39.39. Lacey Milletfollowed with a third-place finish in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:31.65 behind Parkview’s Shelby Benson and Sacred Heart’s AnnieSchmidt.

Aimee Whitney placed first in the consolations and ninth overall in the 50 freestyle in 28.61. Teammates Jennifer Davis (29.59) and Tia Jackson(29.85) were 13th and 14th, respectively, in the event won by SacredHeart’s Julia Coutin. Whitney followed with a sixth-place finish in the100 butterfly in 1:09.91. Erin Martin took three seconds off herpreliminary time to place 11th in 1:18.32.Luersen placed fifth in the 100 freestyle, touching up in 1:03.26. Jacksonwas 12th with a time of 1:07.26. Belak followed with an eighth-placefinish in the 500 freestyle in 7:08.50. The 200-yard freestyle relay team took seven seconds off its time in the preliminaries, placing fourth in 1:57.16. Parkview took the title in1:42.92, a Division III record.Millet got her second third-place finish in the 100 backstroke, finishing in 1:10.16. Pearl River’s Christy Watkins was first in 1:03.38. Lutcher’sJessica Lambert came in 14th in 1:25.71. Jennifer Davis and Krystal Davis came in 15th and 16th, respectively in the 100 breaststroke, finishing in 1:25.05 and 1:27.77. The 400-yardfreestyle relay team closed the meet with a third place finish in 4:24.72,placing behind Parkview and Sacred Heart.

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