By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – LARAYO moved to 2-0 this season on Thursday after notching a win over visiting Belle Terre, 439.5-107.5.

It is the second Barracuda victory this season over a LaPlace rival, after downing Riverlands in its season opener.

LARAYO staked itself out to a big lead after the first event, outscoring Belle Terre 78.5-26.5 in the freestyle event. That lead ballooned to almost 100 after the backstroke, 155.5-57.5.

The Barracudas won all but two relay races.

The Piranhas best performance may have come among the 11-12 year old boys grouping (led by Jobe Kelly, Michael Boudreaux and Jonah Fernandez), in which Belle Terre swept all of the top three placements in the freestyle and backstroke.

“I’m proud of our kids,” said Belle Terre coach Kyle Wilking. “LARAYO is always an extremely tough meet, but we have some kids here that feel like we’re going to build this up and beat them in the coming years. They really want it, and that’s something we can build off of.”

Kelly Campbell, Brandon Klibert, Meredith Keating, Maggie Trepagnier and Kelsie Williams each won all three of their events for the Barracudas.

Evan Scioneaux, Austin Matherne, Paige Williams, Cody Schafer and Blakely Heltz each captured two first place finishes.

Josh Vicknair, Eden Scioneaux, Evan Scioneaux, Jordan Jensen, Alex East, Ben Brady, Alexis Puisseguer, Evan Gravois, Eli Ory, Luke Brouwer, Riley Weber, Chelsea Cupit, Catherine Monica and Alyssa Hooge rounded out LARAYO’s first place finishers.

Tyra Watkins came away with two first place finishes to lead Belle Terre.

Jobe Kelly, Gage Alleman and James Krawczyk rounded out first place winners for the Piranhas (1-1).