The Haughton Buccaneers and Airline Vikings finished tied for first in the Region I-5A boys track and field meet Thursday at Northwestern State.
But Haughton is the outright champion and Airline is the co-champion. How can that be?
According to the scores on the official results sheet, Haughton scored 62, Lafayette 60 and Airline 58.
But according to Airline coach Seth Stowell in a text, “the Regional meet director had not added Tyler McComic’s 4 points he gets for meeting his standards, per LHSAA rules. Meet director made the change and we both finished with 62 points and the meet director announced it over the PA.”
McComic was first in the 200, 400 and 800 wheelchair races and the shot put wheelchair. Since he was the only wheelchair competitor he scored one point per event.
According to LHSAA rules, “points scored by a wheelchair participants shall count toward his/her team score in all outdoor track and field meets including all regular season, district, regional and/or state meets.”
However, the rule further states that if a wheelchair participant(s) point total enables his or her team to tie or exceed the highest team point total of another team then the team with the wheelchair participant(s) shall be declared the co-champion and the other team without the wheelchair participant(s) shall be declared the outright champion.
Regardless, both teams had a very good meet with several qualifiers for the Class 5A state meet a week from Saturday in Baton Rouge.
The top three finishers in each event qualified for the state meet.
Haughton continued its season-long domination of the sprints, both individual and relays. Josh Lister swept the 100- and 200-meter dashes and the Bucs won the 4X100 and 4X200 relays.
Lister remained unbeaten in the 100, winning in 10.81. West Monroe’s Michael Hamburg was second in 10.92. Parkway’s Darius Bradford finished third in 11.10.
Lister took the 200 in 22.32, edging teammate Kynan Hayes by seven-hundredths of a second.
Lister and Hayes teamed with Lavonta Gipson and Emile Cola to win the 4X100 in 42.00, beating runner-up Ouachita Parish by .25. The Parkway foursome of Chase Creamer, Terrace Marshall Jr., Justin Rogers and Jared Thomas qualified by finishing third in 42.38.
Haughton is the defending state champion in the event.
Gipson, Cola, Hayes and Lister won the 4X200 in 1:27.95. Alexandria Senior High was second in 1:28.07.
Airline’s Seth Papineau and Will Dart finished 1-2 in the 1,600 and 3,200. Papineau ran a 4:28.59 and Dart a 4:30.55 in the 1,600. Papineau’s time in the 3,200 was 9:56.62 and Dart’s 9:57.20.
Dart, a freshman, made the state meet in his first attempt.
Airline’s Taejon Morris and Parkway’s Andrew Robinson finished 2-3 n the 800. Both ran their best times this season. Morris’ was 1:58.35 and Robinson’s 1:58.41. Pineville’s Cameron Farris won in a very fast 1:54.70
Airline’s Malik Britt is headed to state in the 300 and 110 hurdes. He finished second in he former in a season-best 39.27 and third in the latter n 14.98.
West Monroe’s Hamburg won the 300 in a regional record 39.02.
Haughton’s Montoya Bonapart captured the high jump with a leap of 6 feet, 6 inches. He was the only Bossier Parish athlete to qualify in the field events.
Lafayette’s Armand Duplantis broke his own regional record in the pole vault with an 18-1. Duplantis set the junior world record with a 19-4 1/4 in the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays earlier this season.
Duplantis also won the long jump with a 23-5.
Parkway’s Adrianna Wilder and Haughton’s Savannah O’Neal were winners in the girls division.
Wilder won the 3,200 in 11:53.18. Lafayette’s Rosalie Michot of Lafayette was second in 11:57.12. Wilder also finished third in the 1,600 in 5:12.77. Lafayette’s Sydney Minor won in 5:09.76.
O’Neal won the javelin with a season-best 124-8.5, almost nine feet farther than runner-up Kodi Traub of Barbe. She was the Class 5A runner-up last season.
Airline’s Brittany Roberson finished second in the 400 in 57.98, just two-hundredths of a second behind Ruston’s Garianda Dupree.
Haughton’s Jenna Blank is also headed to the state meet. She cleared 9-6 in the pole vault along with Natchitoches Central’s Madison Brown and Barbe’s Alexis Deville. Brown and Deville finished 1-2 when the tiebreaker was applied.
Airline’s Melanie Bailiff was first in the 100, 200, shot put and discus ambulatory para ambulatory events.
Lafayette won the girls team title with 94 points, edging Byrd by two.
Five-time state champ Kyah Loyd of Byrd won the 100, 200 and 100 hurdles. She also helped Byrd win the 4X100 relay. The Lady Jackets also won the 4X200 and finished second in the 4X400.
— Russell Hedges, rhedges@bossierpress.com
According to LHSAA rules, in a case like the one with Airline and Haughton, Airline is actually a co-champion and Haughton is the outright champion. It’s not technically a sharing of the title. Story will be updated Friday afternoon. Better headline would have been “Haughton outright champion, Airline co-champion …”
Regardless, the main goal Thursday was qualifying for the state meet. Both teams have had outstanding seasons with great competition.
According to LHSAA rules, in a case like the one with Airline and Haughton, Airline is actually a co-champion and Haughton is the outright champion. It’s not technically a sharing of the title. Story will be updated Friday afternoon. Better headline would have been “Haughton outright champion, Airline co-champion …”
Regardless, the main goal Thursday was qualifying for the state meet. Both teams have had outstanding seasons with great competition.
See rule 23.7.6 in the LHSAA Handbook under Outdoor Track and Field
See rule 23.7.6 in the LHSAA Handbook under Outdoor Track and Field