NATCHITOCHES – Looking at the final results for the East St. John cross country team at the state 5A meet held here this past week, it might not look like the Wildcat runners were setting too many records.

But the silver lining in the performance cloud is the simple fact that coach Paul Dupuy has a very young team that actually turned in their best performance in many a year. The future looks outstanding for the youthful Wildcat runners.

The ESJ boys took 35th in the team standings, but the team couldn’t be younger, with six freshmen runners and one sophomore.

James Carroll led the boys with a 171st individual finish with a time of 19:53 on the three mile course. He was followed by Michael Watson in 194th with a 20:30 time, then Travis James with a 20:52 time for 198th place.

Brandon Trant came in 207th in 21:17, Steven Haniford was 234th in 22:35, Robert DeHoyos was 235th in 22:41, and Charmer Pratt was 236th in 22:45.

“We were excited to have a team with so many guys who are running together as a group, and close together in their times,” Dupuy said. “Our team effort has gotten better with every meet and there is no doubt that this team has big things that will be coming up in the future.”

The Lady Wildcats were led by Monique Chevalier who finished 105th overall in 24:31, with Samantha Cole 155th in 27:28. The ESJ girls did not have enough runners to compete as a team.