By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

WHITE CASTLE – If recent results are any indication, the West St. John and White Castle boys track teams are gearing up for quite a battle to decide District 8-1A in a little over a week.

After West St. John had bested the Bulldogs a week prior by 20 points to win the Green Devil Relays at Plaquemine, White Castle struck back by edging the Rams 119-110 at their home track to win first place at the White Castle Sugar Relays.

“White Castle’s real balanced. They’ve got a really good distance runner, really good sprinter, strong field guys. Without a doubt, it’ll be a barnburner to decide this district. Just like it was a year ago.”

Meanwhile, the Riverside girls finished sixth overall on that side of things as Plaquemine captured the meet crown. West St. John finished sixth. The Rebels took sixth on the boys’ side.

Both the West St. John boys and girls had a number of high finishers, including first place finishes in five of the boys’ events.

The 4×1 relay team (Chris Gauthier, Kenneth Dabney, Corey Warmington and Ravone Owens) took first place with a time of 43.8. The 4×2 relay team (Owens, Dabney, Warmington and Ladarius Lewis) achieved the same place with a time of 1:31.

Damon Scott continued his impressive run, finishing first in the triple-jump (43-7) and the long jump (22-6). He led another strong showing in the field events for the Rams. Demiere Gordon took first place in the discus, making a distance of 132. Blake Carter captured second place in the shot put with a throw of 46-7.

On the track, Lewis’s time of 41.0 seconds took second place in the 300-meter hurdle event. Tevin Smith took third place in the 3200-meter run (12:00).

White Castle clinched the meet with a winning performance in the 4×400 meter relay, recording a time of 3:33.7.

Riverside had a number of high finishers as well. For the boys, Matt Nobile took second place in the 800-meter run (2:10.2). Ryan Terrio took second in the pole vault (12-6). Cody Warner’s toss of 45-7 was good for third in the shot put.

For the Rebel girls, Kori Bourgeois won the javelin throw (84-10). Shea LaFountain captured first in the high jump (4-11) and third in the long jump (15-10.5). Channon Simmons was first in the 800 meter run (2:46.4).

Heather Cancienne took third in the both the 300-meter hurdles (55.1) and 100-meter hurdles (19.1). Riverside’s 4×100 and 4×400 meter relay teams each took third with respective times of 53.1 and 5:03.5.

West St. John’s Kyla Morris nailed down two top three finishes on the girls side, taking second place in the 300-meter hurdle event (51.2) and third in the shotput (30-0).

Arnelle Jack’s time of 17.4 earned her second place in the 100-meter hurdles, and Ambria Major earned a second place finish in the triple-jump with a mark of 34-2.5. Taj Howard’s javelin throw of 82-7 captured third place.

“I felt good about things,” said West St. John coach Stacy Bradford.

“Even without as many trophies at the end, our times went down and our field performance improved. Any track coach is going to be happy with that. We’re still looking good once competition in our classification starts.”