By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

TERREBONNE – East St. John’s relay teams continue to pick up steam, leading another strong performance by the Wildcats track and field squad on Friday.

ESJ captured third place overall, and the 4×100, 4×200 and 4×400 relay teams all finished first at the Terrebonne meet, priming the Wildcats for its district meet today at St. Amant.

The 4×100 relay squad, consisting of Quinton Johnson, DeChris Strong, Floyd Raven and Reynaldo Young, paced the field with a time of 41.61. The 4×200 squad (Johnson, Strong, Brandon Mitchell and Young) finished with a time of 1:27.50, and the 4×400 team (Mitchell, Alonzo Martin, Kashawn Campbell and Dustin Dunn) finished at 3:29.81.

“We came in looking to upgrade our relay finishes,” said ESJ boys coach Eleno Rodriguez. “We were able to produce our fastest times. If we keep going that way, I think we can be even faster and be highly competitive with anyone in state.”

Baishawn Pratt continued his strong season, finishing second in the 1600-meter run (4:44.20) and third in the 800 (2:07).

“He produced his best time in the mile so far,” said Rodriguez of his junior distance runner. “He’s a guy with tremendous potential whose shown great improvement this season. My hope is that by this time next year, we see him really show what he can do and fulfill that potential.”

Barry Conner took third place in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 43.93. He also took fifth in the 110 hurdles (16.75).

Raven, Young and Mitchell all took top five finishes within the large field. Young finished fifth in the 100 (11.0), Raven took fourth in the 200 (22.56), and Mitchell was fifth in the 200 (22.77).

“I was very happy with how things went,” said Rodriguez. “I’m hoping to see us do very well in district.”

NOTE: DeChris Strong earned track MVP honors at the Tabasco Relays at New Iberia on April 9.