MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / May 12, 1999

BATON ROUGE – West St. John’s Donriel Louis went into the Class 2A statetrack and field meet Friday afternoon battling a case of the flu.

I didn’t take Louis long to feel better, however, as he captured the state high jump championship at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium on the LSU campus.

Louis later went on to finish seventh in the triple jump and helped the Rams’ 800-meter relay team to a second-place finish.

West St. John placed seventh in the state with 26 points. Episcopal scored101 points to win its third straight Class 2A title. Newman was secondwith 44 points, followed by Northeast (36), Rapides and Christian Life (32) and Oak Grove (29).

In the high jump, one of the first events of the day, Louis cleared the bar at six feet, two inches, but missed on his first two attempts at 6-4.

Louis, a member of the Rams’ basketball team, then heard teammate Arlando Comminie tell him to pretend he was going up for a dunk before his final attempt.

“I jumped as high as I could and I cleared it,” Louis said.

St. Bernard’s Keith Crumpe and Ouachita Christian’s Josh Kirby bothmissed on their final attempts at 6-4, leaving Louis as the lone competitor remaining. Louis passed on attempting a jump at the nextheight.

“Inside I’m feeling good,” Louis said. “I said a prayer before I jumped,thanking the Lord for helping me be here and asking Him to help me win.

The Lord answered my prayers. When Kirby missed, I jumped for joy. Ilooked up at the stands, saw my coach (Elmo Boudreaux) and told him I got it.”In the 800-meter relay, the Rams’ squad of Comminie, Louis, Abrom Johnson and Rysean Brown closed strong to finish in a time of one minute, 30.24 seconds. Oak Grove won the title in 1:30.04.Louis finished his day with a best jump of 42-10.75 in the triple jump.Teammate Dehaven Duronslet placed eighth in the event with a jump of 42-2.25. Micheal Sykes of Rapides placed first with a jump of 45-8.75.Duronslet also placed fifth in the long jump with a jump of 20-11.75.Northeast’s Jordan Frazier was the state champion with a jump of 23- 9.50.West St. John’s Treman Howard was seventh in the javelin with a throw of152-10. Port Barre’s Andrew Robin came out on top with a throw of 188-7.

Riverside’s Rhett Vicknair placed eighth in the event with a throw of 148- 6. Vicknair also placed fifth in the discus with a throw of 150-11.Newman’s Adam Biderman was first with a throw of throw of 167-2.

Biderman also was first in the shot put with a throw of 53-4.50. St.Charles Catholic’s Kenny Ordeneaux was ninth with a throw of 45-6.50.Riverside’s Justin Dunn tied with John Ryland of Buckeye for sixth in the pole vault with a vault of 12-0. Episcopal’s Chandler Rice was first with avault of 15-6.

In the track events, Comminie placed third in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.23. Jewel Sumner’s Gary Smith was first in 14.88, ahead ofEpiscopal’s Brett Bolden who had a time of 15.16.”I felt I could have done better than that,” Comminie said. “But it givesme a lot of motivation for next year. My goal is already set for next year.”Johnson placed seventh in the 200 meters with a time of 23.237.Northeast’s Carl Kelly was first in 22.31.Rice of Episcopal was named the meet’s outstanding performer.

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