Led by state champions KeKe West and Taylor Davis, the Benton Lady Tigers finished runner-up in the Class 4A girls division in the Allstate Sugar Bowl/LHSAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday at LSU’s Bernie Moore Stadium.
Benton scored 39 points with almost all of those coming in the field events. New Orleans Edna Karr won with 64.
West, a senior, and Davis, a sophomore, won the triple jump and high jump, respectively.
Haughton seniors Josh Lister (5A boys 100) and Savannah O’Neal (5A girls javelin) also won individual titles. Lister anchored Haughton’s winning 4X100 relay team.
Lister won his specialty, the 100, going away in 10.44 seconds. Terroll Jolla of St. Augustine was second in 10.64.
The victory was a moment of redemption for Lister, who was disqualified in the 100 last year because of a false start. This time he got off to a good start, took the lead around the halfway mark and pulled away in the last 30 meters.
Lavonta Gipson, Kynan Hayes, Emile Cola and Lister ran a school-record 41.15 in the 4×100, breaking the old mark of 41.25 set by Javonte Woodard, D’Kovin Ware, Michah Larkins and Lister in 2014.
Saturday’s win gave Lister, a Navarro College signee, three relay championships in four years.
Gipson, Hayes, Cola and Lister also finished runner-up in the 4X200 in 1:26.73. They broke the 42-year-old school record of 1:27.3 set by a foursome led by the late Joe Delaney in 1975.
Lister also finished fourth in the 200, which has never been his specialty, in 21.46. Jesuit’s Jandon Briscoe won in 21.23.
O’Neal won the javelin with a personal-best throw of 129 feet, 4 inches. Morgan Tidwell of St. Amant finished second with a 127-1.
O’Neal went over 129 feet on her first attempt and then had the winning mark on her second. She was the runner-up in the event last year.
West won the triple jump with a leap of 38-6.5 inches. She went over 38 feet twice and had the winning jump on her fourth attempt. Runner-up Alysia Terry of Ursuline Academy was second with a 38-4.5, which came on her final attempt.
West also finished third in the long jump with a leap of 17-6. Ben Franklin’s Angel Williams won with a 19-3.
Davis had a flair for the dramatic in winning the high jump. She cleared 5 feet, 4 inches and 5-6 on her third and final attempts.
Edna Karr’s Alacia Myles didn’t have a miss until her first attempt at 5-6 and then made it on her second.
But Davis cleared 5-8 on her first attempt, and Myles missed all three attempts.
Davis also finished fourth in the triple jump with a 36-7.75.
Benton finished just two points ahead of third-place Vandebilt Catholic, so the two points Breanna Bundy scored with a fifth-place finish in the pole vault and one point Peyton Reeder scored with a sixth-place finish in the 100 hurdles were critical.
Other Bossier Parish athletes making the medal stand with third-place finishes Saturday were Airline’s Malik Britt (5A boys 300 hurdles, 39.32), Benton’s Rheagan White (4A girls discus, 116-9), Airline’s Seth Papineau (5A boys 1,600, 4:24.15) and Airline’s Brittany Roberson (5A girls 400, 57.23).
The Bossier foursome of Derrick Hullaby, Richardson Decamerion, Quinton Smith and James Davis finished third in the 4A boys 4X100 relay in 42.64.
Britt also finished fourth in the 110 hurdles in 14.98.
Several parish athletes just missed making the medal stand.
Parkway’s Adrianna Wilder finished fourth in the 1,600 in 5:24.46 and the 3,200 in 11:31.95.
Airline’s Taejon Morris was fourth in the 5A boys 800 in 1:58.50.
The Parkway foursome of Chase Creamer, Terrace Marshall Jr., Justin Rogers and Jared Thomas took fourth in the 5A boys 4X100 in 41.96.
Airline’s Melanie Bailff and Tyler McComic fared well in their respective divisions.
Bailiff broke her own meet records in the ambulatory para ambulatory 100 and 200. She ran a 17.67 in the 100 and a 38.63 in the 200.
Bailiff also competed in the shot put and discus.
“Trememdous track season for Melanie,” Airline coach Seth Stowell wrote in a Twitter post. “Has never complained once about a workout. Just shows up and goes to work. Very proud.”
McComic had season bests in the wheelchair 200, 400 and 800 in 32.36, 1:03.65 and 2:21.36, respectively.
“Super proud of Tyler McComic and his work ethic throughout the track season,” Stowell wrote on Twitter “Proud of the way he represents Airline.”
McComic also threw 16-9.5 in the shot put.
— Russell Hedges, rhedges@bossierpress.com
Clarification: Story should have said “almost all” of Benton’s points came in the field events — not “all.”
Clarification: Story should have said “almost all” of Benton’s points came in the field events — not “all.”