MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / October 5, 1998

LAPLACE – Coming off their first district titles since 1992 a year ago, the St. Charles Catholic cross country teams are preparing for a repeatperformance in 1998.

The St. Charles Catholic boys and girls squads both captured districttitles in 1997. The Comets went on to place fifth in state while the LadyComets placed 10th.

Coach Frank Monica’s teams this year consist of 22 boys and 26 girls.

Included in that group are last year’s district champions, Courtney Baloney and Nicole Guarino. Also returning are all-district selections MikeDonnelly, Liz Dufresne, Felicia Farlough and Jennifer Pollet. All-districtselections are based on the top seven runners in the district meet.

Donnelly placed second, Dufresne fourth, Pollet fifth and Farlough seventh at the meet. Brandi Catoire, who placed 10th in the district meet alsoreturns.

Other members of the boys team are Chris Arcuri, Kurt Biven, Patrick Brazan, Sean Burger, Casey Cassagne, Paul Champagne, Chris Cotantini, Derek Deroche, Dane Duhe, Dustin Falterman, John Hall, Matt Landry, Jared Lorio, Matt Monica, Neil Oberoi, Andre Ory, Clint Scroggs, Matt Templet and Casey White.

Members of the Lady Comets squad are Mary Callabrese, Ellyse Catoire, Crissy Daigre, Robin Davis, Amanda Flores, Natalie Golden, Monique Guidry, Lindsey Jacob, Ashley Ladner, Konstanz Liliedahl, Brandi Madere, Lindsey Marse, Lynze Perkins, Alisha Reine, Kristen Rome, Cheria Scaffidi, Melissa Schlindwein, Savanah Sunseri, Amanda Templet, Shannon Templet and Kori Theard.

Hurricanes Frances, Georges and Hermine have played havoc with the cross country season so far this year, forcing a couple of meets to be canceled and the training regiment to be disrupted. St. Charles Catholic wassupposed to compete at the Jewel Sumner meet in Kentwood last Saturday but many of the students had been forced to leave town because of Hurricane Georges.

The postponements are forcing the teams to play catchup in what Monica called the strongest of all classes in cross country, Class 2A. Episcopal ofBaton Rouge is ranked No. 1 for all classes in the boys poll. In the girls’poll, St. Thomas Aquinas is fourth and Episcopal 10th.St. Charles Catholic has been able to compete in two meets so far, the E.D.White meet Sept. 5 and the Newman meet in Audubon Park two weeks ago. Monica said the boys team is slightly ahead of the girls team after the first two meets. Baloney is leading the Comets with a time of 18 minutes,32 seconds, accomplished at the E.D. White meet. Abner Sanders ran a18:59 in the rain and mud at the Newman meet. For the girls, Guarino hasthe best time at 14:24. Monica said Pollet is also doing really well with atime of 16:05.

Barring more postponements, St. Charles Catholic has five more meetsbefore defending its crowns at the district meet. The Comets and LadyComets head to Baton Rouge today to compete in the St. Joseph’sInvitational in Highland Park, a meet with over 1,000 runners from across the state.

“We are going for the excitement and experience and to set personal best times,” Monica said.

St. Charles Catholic returns to Highland Park next Saturday to compete inthe Catholic High meet before closing the season with three meets at UNO against Rummel, DeLaSalle and Brother Martin and Jesuit.

Return To Sports Stories

Copyright © 1998, Wick Communications, Inc.

Internet services provided by NeoSoft.

Best viewed with 3.0 or higher