MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / October 26, 1998

RESERVE – The East St. John cross country meet held Wednesday afternoonon the school grounds had a definite local flavor.

St. Charles Catholic, with four runners in the top 10, won the boyscompetition while the Lady Comets placed second. The girls’ race was wonby E.D. White’s Meghan Kliebert, a niece of East St. John principal DebraSchum. East St. John’s Yoshiko Taylor placed second.The Comets finished with 55 points. South Lafourche was second with 85points, followed by H.L. Bourgeois (90), E.D. White (97) and CentralLafourche (135). The host Wildcats were sixth with 139 points.E.D. White won the girls’ competition with 25 points. St. Charles Catholicwas second with 67, followed by H.L. Bourgeois (123), South Lafourche(127) and Vandebilt Catholic (132). East St. John was ninth with 187points.

H.L. Bourgeois’ Adrian Garcia placed first in the boys’ competition with atime of 17 minutes, 10 seconds. The senior said the victory was his fourthin five meets this season.

“I have been hurt lately,” Garcia said. “I wasn’t worried about my time, Ijust wanted to do good.”Courtney Baloney was the high finisher for the Comets, placing third with a time of 17:54. Abner Sanders was fourth with a time of 18:10, edgingteammate Mike Donnelly who finished in 18:11. Andre Ory placed eighth in19:03 while Chris Cotantini was 35th with a time of 20:23.

For East John, Latz Miller was the top finisher in 19:14. Miller edged outteammate Robert Heidel who finished a second behind. Lionel Gaufffinished with a time of 20:45.

For the girls, Kliebert overtook Taylor at the beginning of the last lap around the school. Taylor crossed the line in a time of 14:20.”It was a little difficult and it was competitive,” Taylor said, saying it felt like different running on the home course. “It felt like an everydaypractice. I didn’t think about the routine that much.”Nicole Guarino was the top finisher for St. Charles Catholic, placing fifthoverall with a time of 14:50. Liz Dufresne was 11th in 15:29 whileJennifer Pollet ran a 15:47 to place 16th. Brandi Catoire was 20th with atime of 16:22 and Crissy Daigre was 25th with a time of 17:18.

“It is a culmination of what we have been doing,” St. Charles Catholiccoach Frank Monica said.

“The boys have been training really hard. Cross country is all heart. I tellthem it makes the race easier if they train harder. I am pleased with this.In two years, we have made tremendous progress in terms of the program.”This was the fourth time that the school has hosted a cross country meet.

East St. John coach Charity Mack said that putting on a meet involves a lotof coordinating with the other coaches. It took two days alone to map outand measure the course and getting it the equal three miles for the boys and two miles for the girls. Then there was the painting of the arrows onthe course and the making of time sheets.

As far as for her team, Mack said she was kind of disappointed with its finish but that it will bounce back.

“There is no mistake that we have work to do and we will do it,” Mack said.

East St. John will compete at a district meet at South Lafourche Monday.St. Charles Catholic competes in the Brother Martin/Jesuit meet at UNOSaturday.

Return To Sports Stories

Copyright © 1998, Wick Communications, Inc.

Internet services provided by NeoSoft.

Best viewed with 3.0 or higher