It was a three-peat for Benton senior Taylor Davis and a first for the Airline boys’ 4X800-meter relay team at the Allstate Sugar Bowl/LHSAA Outdoor Track and Field Meet on Saturday at LSU.
And it was also a very good day for Bossier junior Decamerion Richardson.
Davis won the Class 4A girls high jump for the third straight year. She cleared 5 feet, 6 inches, two inches higher than runner-up Alacia Myles of Edna Carr.
Because of a lengthy period of heavy rain earlier Saturday in Baton Rouge and concern about the potential for more, all field events except the discus and javelin were held in the Carl Maddox Field House adjacent to Bernie Moore Stadium.
Davis also finished runner-up in the triple jump with a leap of 37-6.5. Belle Chasse’s Amy Warren won with a 38-7.75.
For the first time, the 4X800-meter relay was held in Classes 3A, 4A and 5A. Airline will forever be the first Class 5A boys winner.
The foursome of senior Taejon Morris, senior Goffrey Cole, junior Gabriel Cole and junior Joshua Burns won in 7 minutes, 59.16 seconds, 4.26 seconds ahead of Baton Rouge Catholic.
The foursome went under eight minutes for the first time, breaking their own school record by almost nine seconds.
Richardson qualified in three events and made the awards stand in all three.
He had the seventh best qualifying time in the 100 and ran in lane 8. But he stayed with winner Trejun Jones for most of the race, running a 10.75 to Jones’ 10.58.
Richardson ran a 21.63 in the 200, putting him comfortably in third. He finished.10 behind runner-up Jonathan Green of Carencro. Jones won again in 21.31.
Richardson competed in the high jump between the two sprints. It was a very balanced field with no one posting a spectacular qualifying jump in the regionals.
Richardson and Leesville’s Duwon Tolbert both cleared 6-0, two inches lower than winner Brendan Perry of Lakeshore. Richardson cleared 6-0 on his first attempt and Tolbert missed, so Richardson got the runner-up medal.
Airline’s Gabriel Cole was the only other parish athlete that posted a top-three finish and made the awards stand. He finished third in the 800 in 1:58.88. Byrd’s LaDann Thomas repeated as champ in 1:55.82.
Several other parish athletes came close to making the awards stand.
Parkway sophomore Joslyn Crosby finish fourth in the Class 5A girls 1,600 in 5:28.15, 6.06 seconds out of third.
Benton junior Mclane Smith finished fourth in both the Class 4A boys 1,600 and the 3,200. He ran a 5:28.15 in the former and a 10:24.71 in the latter. Smith was only 3.64 seconds behind the third-place finisher in the 3,200.
Benton senior Anthony Echols was fourth in the discus with a 137-2, just three inches behind the third-place finisher.
Benton junior Shaw Malley finished in a three-way tie for fourth in the pole vault with a 13-5.75. The third-place finisher cleared 14-0.
Benton senior Michael Scoth was fifth in the 300 hurdles in 40.19, just .02 out of fourth and .26 out of third.
Benton junior Kristen Glovier finished fifth in the discus with a 96-6, 2-10 behind the third-place finisher.
Parkway sophomore Peyton Pipes was sixth in the 5A girls javelin with a 102-5.
Benton finished eighth in the 4A girls division with 20 points. Karr won with 68, edging Booker T. Washington by two.
Richardson’s performance lifted Bossier a tie for ninth in 4A boys with 22 points. Carencro won with 88. Benton was 15th with 16.33.
Airline finished tied for 13th in 5A boys with 18 points. Catholic won with 70.
