By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

IBERVILLE – For the West St. John girls track team, it was more of the same. That went double for the Ram boys – kind of.

For the third straight year, the Lady Rams walked away with a district crown, topping all comers in Wednesday’s District 8-1A meet at East Iberville.

And for the second straight year, the Ram boys went back and forth with rival White Castle for hours. Only this time, instead of the Bulldogs winning by a single point as was the case in 2009, the teams finished deadlocked in a tie to become co-district champions.

“It’s come down to these two teams each of the last two years, and its always so close,” said West St. John boys coach Martin Sylvain. “For the kids, this is great. But our main goal is still in front of us, and that’s to win state.”

Said girls coach Stacy Bradford: “We ran hard, we threw well, and now we go home with number three. Now the goal is to be better next week.”

West St. John clinched the tie on the last event, the 4×4 relay.

“That was clutch,” said Sylvain. “One of our top guys in that event, Corey Warmington, had just run the quarter mile and couldn’t go again. To come through there shows me all of our guys are prepared to step up when needed.”

Damon Scott was named the district’s field MVP on the boys side after capturing the district championship in the long jump (20-09.25) and the triple jump (43-03.75), while finishing second in the high jump (6-0).

Scott excelled despite suffering all day from a stomach virus.

“It was hard,” said Scott. “I couldn’t keep my food down and I had a lack of energy. After each event I was so tired, but I knew I had to fight through for my team.”

Said Sylvain: “To compete like he did, you just wanna see what he’ll do once he’s back healthy.”

On the girls side, Ambria Major was named field MVP after winning district in the triple jump (33-07) and long jump (15-10). Major also finished second in the 200 (27.63).

Taj Howard also played a big role, winning first place in the discus (81-09) and the javelin (95-08) for the Lady Rams.

Those three really stepped up, like we knew they would,” said Bradford.

“Said Howard: “I told coach I was gonna get it today. When I threw (the javelin) I knew I had it. This was the best day I’ve had.”

Kyla Morris finished first in the girls shot put (31-04) and the 300-meter hurdles (50.94).

Arnelle Jack placed first in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.71.She also placed third in the triple jump (29-09.50).

Other high Lady Ram finishers were Latisha Jupiter (third, 800, 3:01.95), Summers (third, 400, 1:01.26), and Janeeca Jones (second, javelin, 81-06).

All three girls relay teams captured first place. The 4×400 team (Morris, Tian Janae Summers, Latisha Jupiter and Janade Williams) notched a time of 4:50.23. The 4×100 team (Morris, Arnelle Jack, Major and Williams) posted a time of 52.78, and the 4×200 team (Summers, Jupiter, Williams and Howard) finished with a mark of 2:04.05).

For the boys, Corey Warmington placed first in the 400 (51.55).

“It feels good,” said Warmington. “But now it’s time to push harder to get the next one (at regionals).

Ravane Owens took district in the 200 (23.37) and second in the 100 (11.03) The 4×400 Rams (Titus Barre, Ladarius Lewis, Chris Gauthier and Denzel Pierre) and the Ram 4×200 team (Barre, Kenneth Dabney, Lewis and Gauthier each took first place honors with respective times of 3:43.01 and 1:32.63.

Other high Ram finishers were Kenneth Dabney (third, 100, 11.14 and second, 200, 23.72), Barre (third, 400, 53.57), Lewis (third, 300 meter hurdles, 42.79), Tevin Smith (third, 3200 meter run, 11:36.93), Blandy Young (third, triple jump, 40-01), Demiere Gordon (second, discus, 132-11), Blake Carter (second, shot put, 46-02) and Ronnie Feist (third, shot put, 44-03).

Gordon finished second in the discus despite an injured wrist.

“It bothered me, but I just focused on what I had to do,” he said.