Sacred Heart, VPHS split EP Track Meet

By: LANCE REED

Sports Editor

While the rough weather was closing in on Basile, the Evangeline Parish Track Meet was still ready to go on. The field events started an hour early to try and make sure the entire event got finished. Nevertheless, the best track and field athletes in Evangeline Parish were at Basile High School to battle for the parish title.

It was a close battle in the girl’s events. Sacred Heart and Ville Platte High went back and forth in the points. The SHHS girls had done really well in the field events, but Coach Robert Soileau really needed his young ladies to come through in the track events. They did the job, scoring 150 points to win the event. The Lady Bulldogs came in second with 132 points and Basile was third with 109 points. Pine Prairie placed fourth with 87 points and Mamou scored 43 points.

The three relays were really fun to watch. Sacred Heart won two out of the three. In the 800-meter relay, the team of Lindsey Schexnayder, Hannah Enicke, Lauren Parrott and Samantha Davenport placed first in that event. The 1,600-meter relay team of Schexnayder, Enicke, Allison Fontenot and Parrott took the top slot in the long distance relay. Ville Platte’s 400-meter relay team of Megan Moore, Brittany Arvie, Lacey Thomas and D. Attle were unbeatable in their event.

Mamou’s Shakilya Gauthier was selected at the Outstanding Field Person and Ville Platte’s Lacy Thomas was named the Outstanding Track Person.

The Ville Platte High boys were seeking to pick up another EP Track and Field Title. They came out strong and finished strong, collecting 155 points to win the show. They were chased by Pine Prairie with 132 points. The Panthers chased the Bulldogs with some fine performances in the field events. The host team, Basile, placed third in the event with 108 points and Mamou was fourth with 78 points. Sacred Heart scored 75 points at the event.

The boy’s relay teams put on a great show. Sacred Heart’s 1,600-meter relay team of Cade McDaniel, Michael Vidrine, Kyle Fontenot and David Daire placed first in the long distance relay. Ville Platte won the 400-meter relay with the team of Hansoni Alfred, Jerry Joseph, Jasper Doucet and Ralensee Nelson. The Pine Prairie team of Kyle West, Zack Blood, O.J. Redfield and Kalinsky Ardoin grabbed first in the 800-meter relay.

Ville Platte’s Ralensee Nelson, a junior, had an outstanding day. He was named the Outstanding Field Person and set a new Evangeline Parish record in the Long Jump Event. He leaped 22-feet and seven-and-a-half inches to make the notch in the record books.

Basile’s Phillip Thompson was selected as the Outstanding Track Person at the event.

All of the EP track and field athletes are preparing for their upcoming district meets. The District 6-2A meet will take place April 17th. Port Barre is the host of that event.