By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

The West St. John boys and girls track teams got their last tune up in before today’s District 9-1A championship meet on Friday at the Destrehan Wildcat relays.

Steven Duronslet took second place in the high-jump event, and Sherman Sims notched third in the 200-meter dash to highlight the performance among the boys last week.

Julissa Louper starred in the field events, as she took second place in the shot put (31-2) and discus (86-0) to highlight the Lady Rams’ performance.

Latisha Jupiter and Destani Comminie each notched third place finishes. Jupiter took third in the 1600 meter race (time of 6:45) and Comminie took third in the javelin (101 ft.)

The Lady Rams’ 4×200 relay team took third at Destrehan as well. The boys’ 4×200 team finished in fourth, but notched a season best time of 1:32.00.

“It’s a good tune up. We showed good improvement,” said West St. John girls’ track Coach Stacy Bradford. “I hope we can bring it home on Wednesday. I think we have a good chance.”

The District 9-1A meet begins today at 3:30 at North Iberville High School.

Jupiter – who Bradford proudly deemed his “secret weapon” earlier this season – is an eighth grader who has given the Rams a major lift this season on the track. Bradford feels she’s not finished doing just that.

“Some of these teams in district haven’t seen her before,” said Bradford.

Jupiter is going to run the 800 and 1600 meter events.

Meanwhile, he expects good results in the field events as well, in particular thanks to returning state qualifiers Comminie (javelin) and Tranell Mitchell (triple jump).

“I think we’ve got enough there to net us 60 points in the field events,” said Bradford. “It should be a strength.”

Meanwhile, WSJ boys’ track Coach Martin Sylvain has high expectations, not only against such strong district foes as North Iberville and White Castle, but beyond.

“I think we can win district and compete for the state title,” he said. “We’ve been running real well in these big meets, against good competition. It’s preparing us well.”

Balance is key for the Rams, especially in the field, says Sylvain. That’s where Donald Brown (long jump) and Blake Comminie (discus)lead what Sylvain says is the deepest group he’s ever had.

“It’s not so much in the numbers we have, but in the quality of the guys we have out there,” said Sylvain.