By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE – Three East St. John track and field stars made an impact over the weekend at the Allstate Sugar Bowl track and field meet, which hosted a field of 40 teams from across the Southeast region.

Darius Lipps, JeVaughn Albert and Elizabeth Scioneaux all secured top five individual finishes for the Wildcats.

Lipps took fourth place in the boys’ 200 with a time of 22.21 and sixth place in the 100 with a time of 10.96. Albert finished third in the 800 with a time of 1:57. All three times were personal bests. Albert’s time in the 800 was the third best mark in the state this year.

Scioneaux, meanwhile, broke ESJ’s girls long jump record and bested her previous best mark significantly, improving her high mark from 15-7 to 17-3. That was good for third at the event, while she finished sixth in the triple jump (33-3).

The boys 4×400 team Leonard Davis, Donald Stirgus, Darren Darensburg and Albert) took fourth with a time of 3:28, just behind Higgins’ winning mark of 3:27.

“Higgins is in our district, so that’ll be interesting going forward,” said East St. John boys coach Greg Gathers. “Our 4×400 team is one we’re expecting to contend for state. We’re still formulating what that final team’s going to be.”

The Wildcat boys finished 14th overall out of 40 at the event.

“We were looking at it as a way to measure ourselves not just among the teams in the metro area or in the state, but against the Southeast region,” said Gathers. “There were teams from Mississippi, Alabama … looking at it from a district point of view, we finished first among the teams that were there.”

In Class 5A, the Wildcats posted the fifth best mark, behind Chalmette, St. Paul’s, West Monroe and West Jefferson.

“We know now that we’re not too far off,” said Gathers.

Lipps – a relative of former Pittsburgh Steeler and Reserve native Louis Lipps – has put in the work and has become a leader by example on the track team, said Gathers.

“He’s working real hard. When you hear that Lipps name, and Louis Lipps comes to mind … you know he’s got the pedigree,” said Gathers. “He’s an upper classman who’s working real hard. His goal for this year is to run a 10.7. He might be the missing piece on the (4×400). Stay tuned. I’m expecting big things out of him the rest of the way.”

Albert, meanwhile, is garnering attention from the next level as a senior.

“Southern and Dillard have shown interest,” said Gathers.

“He’s starting to get attention at the college level and he deserves it … I’ve been coaching him since he was 10 years old, along with my brother Ricardo. They used to call him Speedy back then. So just to see what he’s doing is a great feeling for me to experience as a coach.”

Scioneaux, a junior, is having a breakout season on the girls team in just her second full season as a competitor.

“There are big things ahead for her,” said ESJ girls coach Mark Creecy. “She’s one of the better athletes in the area and it’s a pleasure to watch her progress. Coach Quinten Bradley’s a very good jump coach and he’s been working with her. She’s come a long way already. She’ll probably compete in three jumps for us and maybe run a relay.”

East St. John’s boys and girls teams are both set to compete Thursday at the Glen Oaks meet.