By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

East St. John’s Baishawn Pratt finished fifth among all runners in Wednesday’s Metro championship cross-country meet, a week after the Wildcat boys captured the River Parish Championship over St. Charles and Lutcher.

Pratt’s time of 16:57 represented his second best time of the season, behind his school record time of 16.19 set earlier this season.

“He was second in the race for the first mile or so, then he dropped back into eighth,” said ESJ coach Paul Dupuy. “He finished strong to get back into the top five.”

Dupuy says he believes Pratt, a sophomore, can be even better, and soon.

“He’s getting stronger and better,” Dupuy said. “He runs such a strong first mile, I think he’ll begin to run (the first mile split) under five easy. The premier guys all run in a range of 4:15 to 4:30. We’ll see how low he can go.”

The boys finished sixth overall at the Metro meet.

“New Orleans’ fastest teams were there. We had some tough competition,” said Dupuy. “We just need a couple more runners in that upper echelon.”

The River Parish Championship was run last Thursday at the St. John the Baptist Library. Pratt led the victorious Wildcats with a time of 17:52, taking the individual crown.

Lutcher’s Drake Duhon (18:41) finished second. SCC’s Chris Graugnard (19:17) took third.

The Wildcats finished with a score of 31, besting St. Charles’ 41 and Lutcher’s 56.

St. Charles captured the girls’ championship. Reyna Lubin emerged with the individual title, notching a mark of 23:34.

ESJ’s Dawn Brooks (23:48) was second, and SCC’s Erica Blank (24:01) was third.

SCC’s score was 16, besting ESJ’s 30 and LHS’ 50.

Dupuy says Brooks is beginning to get back to her form from a year ago, after being limited by a toe injury.

“I’m anticipating that she runs really well at state next week,” he said.

St. Charles Coach Matt Monica said he thought the day was one of his team’s best showings.

“I think combined, between the boys and girls, it’s the best we’ve run all year,” he said.