Suiting Up: The LSU High School Invitational
At approximately 2:46:33 as the afternoon quickly faded away on January 11 – My fellow suit and I embarked on a journey south for Baton Rouge from our current residence in the city of Monroe, Louisiana to participate as spectators in the 2008 LSU High School Invitational. For some years this meet has belonged to a list of elite meets in the United States attracting not only some of the largest fields, but some of the fastest. As we made our passage, we enjoyed only the very best that the radio had to offer in our 2001 White Ford Taurus (a target burrow from a relative of my associate, chosen not only for its fuel efficiency, but pimping good style). As we continued further down the road - we were treated to a fantastic site with a highway billboard entitled “Chuck Norris Injury Attorney” – I didn’t think to take down his number but have now realized its necessity in the case I find myself in a bind and need the assistance of unquestionably the best (injury) lawyer the world has to offer. Continuing on - we passed speed trap following speed trap on the deserted highway winding towards our destination, with every shack or resemblance of civilization drawing on our appetite with the freshest artery-clogging boudin South Louisiana had to offer, I knew now we must be getting close.
Approximate arrival time: 6:10:58. Unfortunately, there was a small incidence of 
confusion and we opted to stop in on yet another suit instead of going straight to the meet. The impression was that we were early and had 3,902 seconds before the introduction into a weekend of our spectator getaway, with the gun scheduled to have a sounding at 7:15 – which commenced the girl’s 3200 meter race. Sadly we missed a phenomenal performance from Malia Cali of St. Thomas Aquinas, who ran away with the race, recording a meet record in lane two while lapping runners (including second place!), and narrowly missed the field house record by five seconds - which was recorded at the meet 2 years prior by fellow St. Thomas Aquinas graduate Whitney Curry. It seems yet another Miguel Beccerra (side note Rosendo Vallejos haha) prodigy has come to be, and it’s scary to think this one is continuing to drop her times to legendary Louisiana standards as a mere sophomore!
If we are going to credit Malia for starting the dominance this weekend for Louisiana distance girls then it would only be fitting to give recognition to Laura 
Carleton of St. Louis for bringing them home. In the 1600 it was the battle of the Carletons - as an unrelated pair of runners, Mary Carleton Johnson of Springhill Track Club, and Laura Carleton of SLH (LA), swapped leads on many occasions in an attempt to break one another. To the delight of the crowd neither would give in, which consequently resulted into a battle at the bell with Laura putting a small gap on the back stretch. Just when many began to think Laura was going to cruise to victory in the final few meters, Mary rallied back and came to less than a stride from taking it for herself. In a gutsy race run by Laura she came within .25 seconds from setting a meet record, which is held by former Louisiana standout, and nationally rising star Clerc Koenck, now at Lamar University in Texas. Laura came back later that night to not only lead off the 4x800 meter relay for her team, but garnish a lead that would not be relinquished for the rest of the race as they went on to win in 10 flat.
In the jumping events, the highlight without question came from Vandebilt Catholic’s defending national indoor champion Rachel Laurent, whose list of accomplishments rivals the length of the pole she jumps from. After this weekend’s meet, she could add yet another tally to that list - as she crushed the LSU field house record by almost a foot with a jump of 13-02. Incidently, this 
mark would make her competitive in most boy’s competitions around the nation. Another performance worth acknowledging is Morgan Leleux of Catholic NI, who although might be overshadowed by Rachel, also broke the meet record with a jump of 12-04. In the boy’s long jump the winner would be decided in the final jump of the day, as Andrew Rhorer of Catholic High passed on his final jump with the (at the time) lead, Christian Williams would steal this away in his final jump of 22-03.75
In out of state team action we saw Track clubs take down the Carl Maddox Field House records in the women’s 4x400 in Wings TC and Sacs TC with times of 3:55 and 3:59, and the San Antonio Blazers capture the men’s 4x200 record with a time of 1:28.38.
Other elite marks set by Louisiana athletes included:
Although there were numerous outstanding marks from Louisiana high school athletes this Saturday at the LSU indoor invitational, one could not help notice the absence of the state’s elite as a whole. With the coming high school qualifiers hosted by McNeese University and LSU, undoubtedly we will see times continue to drop as the indoor season heats up with a final culmination of the LHSAA State Indoor Championships.
Please check back as we will be posting multiple interviews and videos from the meet later on this week:
Photo Gallery:
https://la.milesplit.com/photos/albums/1656
Until next time coming at you from all corners of the state,
The Suits