By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The Riverside Rebel girls track and field team has sat atop the throne of District 10-2A for quite some time – and they’ll continue to do so for at least one more year.

The Rebels clinched their fourth consecutive district championship Monday night at Joe Yenni Stadium, scoring 128 points to create a comfortable margin ahead of second place John Curtis (98 points).

“I thought our team did a good job,” said Riverside coach Joe Trosclair. “Since winning our first meet at Destrehan, the girls have gotten better and better. I feel like we’ve got a shot at regionals for the first time in a long time. We’ve got a lot of girls who qualified.”

Michelle Mayes and Channan Simmons put on the best individual shows for the Rebels.

Mayes placing first in three separate field events: the discus (98-8). The shot put (32-9) and the javelin (97-0). That combination earned the junior honors as the district’s Field MVP.

She qualified for the Class 2A state meet last season as a sophomore in the javelin, and Trosclair looks for even bigger things this year.

“She has a chance to make it to state in all three,” he said. “She’s been doing an awesome job for us. Her throws have just gotten better over the season.”

Simmons also made a huge impact for Riverside, capturing first place in both the high jump (4-10) and long jump (16-9) events.

She wasn’t finished, taking second place finishes in the 100 and 200 respectively.

“I just feel like we’re strong across the board,” said Trosclair. “With Michelle and Channan kind of leading the way, we’ve been able to score big points both in the field and on the track.”

All three Rebel relay teams took first place at Yenni. Taylor Terrio, Kennedy White, Kaitlyn Masters and Rae Alexander comprised the 4×100 team. White, Masters, Alexander and Ja’Keyra Gautreaux made up the 4×200 team and Terrio, Toni Hebert, Kendra Turner and Gautreaux captured the 4×400.

Many of those runners reached state last season as part of the 4×200 and 4×100 Rebel teams that qualified. 

“Most of them are back and that does help,” said Trosclair.

“They gained a lot of confidence from having that experience under their belt.”

He also credited the addition of coach Chelsea Lucas-Nicholas to the staff as making an impact.

“She’s been doing a phenomenal job with our runners,” said Trosclair.

John Curtis captured the boys district title, scoring 212 points to take the title by a large margin. Riverside finished fourth.

Evan Kirkwood took first place in the boys javelin with a throw of 132-0. Jordan Andrews took second place in the high jump with a leap of 6-0.