LAPLACE – The East St. John cross country teams took fifth and sixth place team finishes at the district 6-5A meet held this past week.

The East St. John girls team finished fifth in the field and the boys team took sixth.

“This is the most kids, running with the most consistency, that we’ve had since I’ve been the coach here,” Paul Dupuis said. “We are getting better all the time, and starting to get more kids out for the team.”

The girls team was led by Monique Chevalier who finished 11th at district, while she was followed closely by Latasha Ellis in 12th place, Samantha Cole in 15th, Kayla Lindsey in 27th and Bonnie Dupuis in 33rd.

The East St. John boys have a bright young star in the making in freshman Travis James. He finished 20th in the district meet against all upper classmen, and is expected to be a top performer for the Wildcats as he gains more experience.

Behind James in the district race, James Carroll had 24th, Michael Watson finished 29th, Brandon Trent was 33rd and Robert Dehoyos was 34th to round out the finishers who qualified in the team total.

Also running for the Wildcats, Charmer Pratt was 39th, Steven Haniford was 42nd and Steven Foster also finished, but did not have an official place.

The Wildcat teams will be competing this week in the state meet in Natchitoches.

“Realistically, we are going to state so our kids can get some exposure to the faster runners in the state,” Dupuis said. “Then we hope to keep building on what we now have going with these kids.”