Regional Recap: The Road to State

Beginning in region 1, we saw unprecedented performances all around. The junior, Lily Garrett, dominated the field and nearly shaved off an entire minute from her 3 mile PR from her district competition. She finished the race with a #5 all-time mark of 17:27. She had a lead of over 20 seconds over the next two runners, which also ran stunning PRs.


Lily Garrett (right) and Jenna Key (left) at the 5A Region 1 Championship
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Coming in 2nd was Jenna Key of C.E. Byrd. This was her first time breaking the 18-minute barrier as well and cemented herself as the 24th best cross country runner of all time in Louisiana with a time of 18:37. Key has beaten Garrett earlier this year at the Watson Invitational where she finished about 30 seconds ahead, but the tables have been turned at this meet. 

Another astonishing performance came from the 3rd place finisher, Jaci Gary of Southside High School. This freshman ran 17:58 which is the second-best freshman result of all time, as well as making her the 32nd best performer in state history. This was a tremendous jump in her previous personal best which was 18:42.

The Ruston girls had a wide margin of victory, sitting at 28 points alongside C.E. Byrd finishing in second with 64 points. Other teams that qualified include Lafayette High, Parkway High, Barbe, Southside High, Alexandria, and Haughton

In region 2, St. Joseph's Academy took charge of the race and clearly set out to pack run. The team won the meet with a perfect score (15) and a 1-5 split of 17 seconds. It's difficult not to be able to highlight each of these individual performances because there are just too many to talk about on this team. 

What cannot be explained in words can surely be seen throughout this season. The best example of this is from these two past weekends at the East Baton Rouge Metro Championships and these regional results.


From left to right: Christen Chehardy, Hannah Linebaugh, Rylee Deignan, and Natalie Venkataraman at the Region 2 Championship

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The next top performers outside of SJA were Hannah Linebaugh of Denham Springs and Natalie Venkataraman of Baton Rouge High. Both of these girls PR'd by about 10 seconds each, finishing around 18:24 and 18:34, respectively. Behind them is another close following of talented girls, but unfortunately there is just too much to cover to talk about each runner out of the top 15. 

Taking home the 2nd place trophy was Mandeville with 104 points and Fontainebleau just 24 points behind them. Other teams that qualified are Dutchtown, Denham Springs, Live Oak, Ponchatoula, and Walker

In region 3, the Dominican girls took home the win with a 28 point victory over Mt. Carmel

The individual winner, sophomore Morgan Trauth, ran a solo effort of 18:07. She won by a margin greater than a minute and a half. On top of that, she did not have her teammate, Kelsey Major to accompany her in that race. That solo performance was a personal best that placed her on the top 50 all-time performers list.


Morgan Trauth at the St. Joseph's Academy Invitational

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The two previously took the top two positions at the District 9 Championship, where they initially held off Mt. Carmel

Coming in second, Adeleine Berner of Mt. Carmel, who outlasted Bryce Couvillon of Dominican with a 6-second gap; finishing with a final time of 19:40. She led her team to a second-place finish and the rest of their top five found themselves within the top 15 of the end results. 

The two teams seemed to have rested their top runners in prep for the state meet this coming weekend. There were several contenders from each team that raced at the District 9 Championship and did not make an appearance at this race. 

Rounding out the rest of the qualifying teams from region 3 are John Curtis, Central Lafourche, Chalmette, Thibodaux, Archbishop Chapelle, and Destrehan.

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