By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

The only swim meet for the River Parishes Swim League in LaPlace Thursday night was very literally a hotbed of action with fans and family packing Riverlands Country Club in a duel between the Stingrays and the Larayo Barracudas. And the Larayo faithful didn’t head home empty handed as they saw their squad pick up 33 individual first places and a 387-162 overall victory.

Paige Williams and Brandon Klibert led the Barracudas with three first place finishes apiece while Paige Breaud and Luke Jackson took a combined four firsts and a pair of second places. For Riverlands, Grace Richoux got the Stingrays started with a first in the freestyle and added three more throughout the meet to sweep her individual races. Merryn Guidry did the same, taking three firsts in the freestyle, breaststroke and the butterfly in the girls 13 & 14 year old heats.

Larayo got off to a quick start overall, taking a 209-110 point lead after three strokes, and went into the relays ahead by more than 150. But the energy remained high throughout the meet and the competition was fierce as Riverlands took two of the last three events. The meet came to an official close with Larayo winning via the girls team in the free relay.

The River Parishes Swim League is set for an invitational at Larayo to finish up the season this weekend.