By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE — Friday represented the first track meet at East St. John since before Hurricane Katrina. And the Wildcats broke in their brand new state of the art track in style.

Both the East St. John boys and girls captured first place at the Wildcat Relays, the second time this season that the Wildcats have swept a track meet.

“It was very exciting,” said East St. John boys’ coach Eleno Rodriguez. “It was a lot of work but it feels great to get back into a groove. We’ve got the district meet here Wednesday, so it’s a good week to open things up here.

“I thought we did very well. I was a little disappointed that some schools could not make it, but it was still an exciting day.”

The ESJ boys won by a wide margin, besting second place Destrehan 178-64. West St. John took third place.

It was a similar breakdown on the girls’ side as East St. John (146) and Destrehan (79) represented the top two spots. Lutcher took third place with a score of 46, and West St. John finished fourth with 37. Cohen rounded out the five team girls field with 28.

“It was great to be able to compete at our own venue,” said ESJ girls’ coach Quinton Bradley. “We had some girls fall, but get back up and keep going. They compete so hard and make this the easiest job in the world.”

East St. John’s DeChris Strong took track MVP honors while teammate Fred Williams took the field MVP award.

Strong competed on the Wildcats’ first place 4×200 (along with Desmond Broussard, Darius Lipps and Lennard Davis) and 4×100 (with Broussard, Lipps and Darion Monroe) relay teams, while taking first place in the 200 and first in the 100.

Williams, meanwhile, finished first in the javelin and in the discus while taking third in the high jump.

The Wildcats earned a number of first place finishes on the boys’ side including: Elex Carter (triple jump); Marlon Watkins (pole vault); Joshua Smith (1600); Jevaughn Albert (800); the 3200 meter run (Donald Stirgis); and the 4×400 relay team (Albert, Jesse Bailey, Broussard and Davis).

West St. John’s Ronnie Feist and LaDarius Lewis each represented West St. John first place finishers. Feist took first place in the shot put while Lewis captured first in the high jump. Feist also took second place in the discus.

Destrehan’s Keagan Joseph captured first place in the long jump.

For the girls, East St. John’s Deznee Wilson took track MVP honors while teammate Journae King tied with Tahajanik Howard for the field MVP award.

Wilson finished first in the 200, second in the 100, and was on the first place 4×100 (with Bianca Holmes, Darichelle Sampson and Dominique White) and second place 4×200 (with King, Sampson and White) relay squads.

King took first place in the long jump and the high jump while Howard nailed down first in the discus and javelin.

Other first place winners for East St. John included Cecilia Woods (1600); Darichelle Sampson (100); Terrian Gauff (800); and Anne Marie Jenkins (400).

West St. John’s Arnelle Jack captured first place in the 100.

Destrehan’s Chelsea Grows (triple jump), Allyssa Radecker (300), and the 4×400 relay team (Dajon Darensburg, Brittany Johnson, Grows and Radecker) each took first place finishes.

Lutcher’s Javonte Kelson (shot put) and the 4×200 relay team (Morgan Bleakley, Jawane Jenkins, Brandi Johnson and Taylor Payne) rounded out first place winners at the event.

The District 6-5A meet for both teams takes place today at Joe Keller Memorial Stadium.

“We won’t be as deep as some of the other teams here, but I feel like we can compete in a number of events,” said Rodriguez. “I’m looking forward to the competition.”

Said Bradley, “Hopefully we can take district and get as many as possible into the regional,” said Bradley. “Then try to take state.”