By Michael Kiral / L’Observateur / March 16, 1998

RESERVE – A school-record performance in the high jump by Amanda Roussel highlighted a victory by the Riverside Lady Rebels in the Riverside Meet Wednesday afternoon.

Roussel cleared the bar at five feet, 5 1/4 inches, bettering the record of 5-5 set by Leigh Louque in 1995. Roussel made the jump on her thirdeffort after barely missing at the height on her first two attempts. Shewas the only competitor to top 4-8 during the meet.

Roussel’s previous best was 5-4 set her freshman year and tied last week.

She said she has been trying for the record for the past four years.

“It feels great,” Roussel said. “I have been trying since the eighth grade tobreak it. This year, it finally worked out. I have been jumping pretty goodthis year. I almost broke it last meet. I have been trying for so long and itfinally happened today.”Roussel’s first-place finish help the Lady Rebels finish first in the meet with 149 points. Archbishop Blenk placed second with 105 points,followed by Louisiana School for the Deaf with 84. St. Martin’s was fourthwith 62 points, followed by St. Thomas Aquinas with 51 and Fisher with23.

Melissa Martin and Marcy Remondet placed one-two in the shot put. Martinwon the event with a toss of 34-10 with Remondet right behind with a toss of 31-10. Martin also placed second in the javelin with a throw of95-8. St. Martin’s Catherine Betz won the event with a throw of 129-8,and also placed first in the discus with a toss of 106-9. Riverside’s MandyRoussel was second with a toss of 90 feet.

Nicole Lambert placed third in the javelin with a throw of 89-10. KellyLouque was fourth in the discus with a toss of 78-5.

The Lady Rebels’ Hannah Hobdy won the long jump with a jump of 16-3 1/2. Hobdy was also second in the triple jump with a jump of 33-2 1/2.Amanda Roussel was third with a jump of 31-11 1/2.

Roussel capped her memorable day with a first-place finish in the 100- meter hurdles with a time of 17.72 seconds. Teammate Jennifer Guidrywas third in a time of 19.09. Michelle Millet gave the Lady Rebels anotherfirst-place finish in the 400-meter dash in a time of 1:05.22.Lori Smith placed first in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.28 andher time of 28.57 was good for second in the 200-meters. Remondet wasthird with a time of 29.28.The Lady Rebels’ relay teams won the 400- and 1600-meters while placing second in the 800-meters behind Louisiana School for the Deaf.

The Riverside boys placed third in the meet with 109 points. Loranger wasfirst with 131 points, followed by St. Thomas Aquinas with 127. St.Martin’s was fourth with 59 points, followed by Fisher with 54 and Louisiana School for the Deaf with 52.

Keith LeBlanc opened the meet with a second place finish in the javelin with a throw of 133-9 1/2. LeBlanc also placed fourth in the 100-meterdash with a time of 11.87.T.J. Sutton and Jason Dunn tied for first in the pole vault with vaults of 11feet. Ronnie Mason placed first in the triple jump with a jump of 39-4.Joel Levin placed second in the high jump with a jump of 5-6. Levin wasalso fifth in both the long jump and triple jump with jumps of 17-1/2 and 33-8, respectively.

Steven Gill was second in the shot put with a toss of 44-2. TeammateRhett Vicknair was fourth with a toss of 42-4. Vicknair also placedsecond in the discus with a toss of 133-6 1/2.

Michael Sparcella had the best finish for the Rebels in the running events, placing second in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:24.59. Danny Steinwas fourth in the event with a time of 2:25.97. The Rebels’ 1600-meter relay team placed second, while the 400- and 800-meter teams placed third and fifth, respectively.

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