By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

As district and regional meets loom in the next two weeks, three parish schools tuned up on Wednesday at Riverside.

The Rebels, along with St. Charles and Reserve Christian, faced off along with South Plaquemines and Ponchatoula in a five-team track meet.

South Plaquemines edged Riverside by one point, 100-99, to take first place honors in the boys meet.

Riverside captured first place honors on the girls side, however, 102-56 over second place St. Charles.

The performance by the Riverside boys was anchored by Jesse LeBlanc, who took first place honors in three events.

LeBlanc’s throw of 162-8.5 was good enough to seal a first place finish in the javelin. In track events, he took first place in the 400-meter event (53:14) and the 1600-meter (5.05:31).

“I felt it was a good day,” said LeBlanc. “It was a decent run each time, considering the wind.

“It’s good practice heading into district.”

Alex Bonnette was another first place winner for Riverside, taking first in the shot put with a put of 43-5.5.

Matt Nobile was another winner for the Rebels, taking first in the 800-meter with a time of 2:20.10.

“He’s really worked hard this year, and it showed today,” said Riverside coach Tim Taffi. “He’s been a pleasant surprise this year.”

For St. Charles, Brett Landry and Justin Vicknair represented the Comets with first place finishes. Landry’s time of 12:14.27 took first place in the 3200-meter event, while Vicknair’s time of 17:42 took first in the 110-meter hurdles.

The Comets’ Courtland Taylor took two second place finishes – in the 110-meter dash (11:25) and the 200-meter dash (23:30).

“He put up some of his top times of the year, against some very tough competition,” said St. Charles Coach Jerry Schexnayder.

In the girls’ events, four Rebels took first place finishes: Brittany Prejean (high jump, 4.6); Chelsea Simon (discus, 79-9); Maurie Laiche (100-meter, 13:77); and Heather Cancienne (300-meter hurdles, 54:03).

St. Charles’ Reyna Lubin (long jump, 15-5) and Kasi Duhe (javelin, 69-3.5) notched first place finishes as well.

“The event went well,” said Riverside Coach Tim Taffi. “All the teams were pretty close in competition. There weren’t any blowouts.

“We just hope to see improvement every week. The last two or three meets, we’ve seen some real strong competition, 4A and 5A schools. This is a good tune up. We’re getting the kids ready, and we’ll see if we can qualify for regionals.”