Kicking off at the Region 1 qualifier, Ruston almost took home a perfect score with a final count of 18 points. The team placed their top five runners within the top six with Trent Wells of C.E. Byrd disrupting the Bearcats.
From left to right: Trent Wells, Mason Haley, and Caleb Babineaux at the Region 1 Championship
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Caleb Babineaux continued his winning streak and shattered his previous performance from the District 2 Championship. He shaved off 15 seconds from his previous personal best to run the fastest time in the state this season at 15:04. This time places him at #14 for all-time Louisiana performers.
Finishing behind him is one of the best young runners in the state, sophomore Thomas Rogers. He ran a time of 15:18 which makes him the 7th fastest runner in the state and the 7th overall fastest Louisiana sophomore of all time.
As mentioned earlier about St. Joseph's academy, there are just two many impressive finishes from Ruston to touch on all of them, but keep an eye out for this underdog team at the state meet.
Rounding out the top 10 were Kenneth Smith of Haughton, Gabriel Falting of Parkway High, and Landon Spears of West Monroe. Smith and Falting showed out and fought each other to the finish with both boys finishing at 15:50. These were both huge PRs
Parkway High took home second place with 99 points and plenty of room for comfort between them and the remaining teams. Other teams that qualified from this region are C.E. Byrd, Barbe, Lafayette High, Benton, Pineville, and West Monroe.
Picking up in Region 2, more and more top times in the state were established. Leading the way was Caleb Ackman of Zachary. He was followed closely behind by Daniel Sullivan of Catholic High. This is the second time that these two have clashed like this, and both times, Ackman has finished on top.
Caleb Ackman leading the charge at the Region 2 Championships
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Ackman beat his personal best from last week at the East Baton Rouge Metro Championship by one second and gapped second place by 7 seconds. Following behind Ackman and Sullivan were a plethora of fast times.
A fair amount of these came from Catholic High. They managed to place four of its runners within the top ten, all ranging from 15:17 to 15:40. The Grizzlies ended the day as the victors with a resounding score of 32 points.
Another runner to note is junior Rhen Langley. He has been battling injury with his achilles, but has consistently run better over time. Just last week he ran 16:34 and he dropped his time down to 16:00 this past weekend. Rhen is coming into the state meet as one of the most underrated runners and he should not be left out of the conversation.
Ty Frazier and Benjamin Lewis of Fontainebleau are another set of runners that have made large strides throughout the season. In this meet, Frazier shaved off 24 seconds from his best mark and took 3rd. Meanwhile, Lewis cut down 20 seconds from his previous best and took home an 8th place finish. These two have improved significantly, as have many runners at this race, but this could bode well for Fontainebleau this next weekend.
More fast times came from Mandeville with Nathan Fontan and Kayden Hedrick. Fontan, who won the District 6 Championship, finished 6th with a 15:36 performance. More notably, his teammate who is just a freshman, ran 15:58 for 3 miles. This time places Hedrick as the 3rd fastest freshman in the state and shatters his previous PR by over 45 seconds.
Teams, outside of Catholic High, that qualify to the state meet are as follows: Mandeville, Zachary, St. Paul's School, Walker, Fontainebleau, Live Oak, and Dutchtown.
Rounding out the recap with Region 3, Jesuit, once again, emerges victorious with a team score of 31 points. Following in second was Brother Martin with 39 points. The team scores were close between these two, but it was obvious that neither team was racing its strongest squad. Either way, both teams found themselves on top and move on to the state meet.
Robert Buisson finishing at the Southern Showcase
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Jesuit's Robert Buisson took home the individual title with a time of 15:44 followed by his teammate, Patrick Dowd in 15:52. The rest of the team was not far behind with Jesuit's 5th man finishing in 13th place.
It is clear that Jesuit is resting its top squad after an impressive performance at the District 9 Championship. The team accumulated a perfect score with the team claiming all top seven positions and potentially recording the fastest team average in state history at 15:19.
Holy Cross's Gage Baldassaro finished third in a time of 16:06. This was a 14 second PR for the sophomore and only the second time that has broken 17-minutes this season.
Brother Martin's Eli and Gabriel Levy led the charge with a 4th and 5th finish between them and followed shortly after by a close pack of four Crusaders, finishing within 14 seconds of each other.
Teams moving on from this region to the state meet that is not already mentioned are: Holy Cross, Archbishop Rummel, Central Lafourche, Archbishop Shaw, John Curtis, and Hahnville.