By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — Some local track and field stars from West St. John and East St. John are off to a strong start this season and had a chance to showcase their skills last week when the two schools co-hosted the St. John relays meet at WSJ.

The Ram boys and girls and the Wildcat girls were among teams participating at the event.

Quan Scott, Jeremy Jackson and Marvin Pierre headlined the day for the West St. John boys. 

Scott won three events, capturing the long jump (22-7), triple jump (45-4) and high jump (5-10) and is enjoying another successful season after a strong showing at the 1A state meet last season.  

Jackson won the 200 meter dash with a mark of 22.3 seconds and Pierre took the shot put event with a mark of 45-9.

“We’re ahead of where we’ve ever been,” said West St. John boys track and field coach Antoine Carter. “I think we have the potential to make a state championship push. We’ve got a lot of talented young guys mixed in with our established seniors.”

Carter said Scott is off to a faster start than he expected.

“Coming right out of basketball, I didn’t expect him to be at this level so quickly,” said Carter. “He’s probably only at about 75 percent health. He’s been dealing with an ankle issue. It’s phenomenal to see what he’s doing.”

He believes Scott and Jackson each will have a chance to contend for multiple individual titles at state.

“Jeremy’s probably in the best shape he’s been in over the last four years. He’s stronger and faster. He’s working extremely hard.”

Elizabeth Scioneaux highlighted the Ladycats day with three first place finishes, earning top honors in the long jump (16-6), triple jump (34-3) and high jump (4-6). 

Ayonte Thomas won the 100 (17.18) and 300 meter hurdles (58.1) while finishing second in the triple jump and third in the long jump for ESJ. Dominique Gray won the discus (82-3) and finished second in the shot put while Kannisha Brooks won the shot put (28-9). 

Anjelique Johnson (second place 100 meter dash) Kariontae Victor (second, javelin), Kaiela Scott (second, 100 and 300 meter dash) and Jirah Brown (second, 100 and 300 meter hurdles).

“it was a good buildup for us, a good showing,” said East St. John girls track and field coach Mark Creecy. “We’ve got a lot of talent on our team this season and it’s spread out … We’ve got a chance to score points in more or less any event. Some of our girls are getting attention from several big colleges, several out of state. It’s exciting.”

For the West St. John girls, Christina Holmes won the javelin (88.25) while Maya Trench finished in second place in the high jump and third place in the triple jump. 

The Rams girls track and field team did not compete last season but a number of girls stepped up as first-time participants this season, giving WSJ enough competitors to field a roster. 

“I thought we did great,” said West St. John coach Nelann Taylor. “You see what some of these girls did as first-timers, really just coming over from basketball, it’s kind of amazing.