Much like the girls' 1A race, the boys will have a full plate this coming Monday. There is a competitive race between four teams on the boys' side.
The top two coming in are Metairie Park Country Day and Ascension Catholic. Metairie Park is looking to defend their title from 2020 and Ascension Catholic is coming back after a third-place finish last year.
Ascension Catholic is a mature team with three seniors leading the pack. Out of those seniors, Chase Walker stands alone at the top. He holds the fastest time in 1A this season (16:06), as well as claiming the 800m and 1600m titles in outdoor track. He is a crucial low-stick for the team, as they are somewhat spread out. The two other seniors, Andrew Bright and William Bellina, have the chance to sneak into the top ten and help out their team score.
Chase Walker at the East Baton Rouge Metro Championships
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What will truly secure the win for Catholic would be its fourth and fifth runners, Andrew Landry and Noah Girior. If the gap were closed between Metaire's fourth and fifth runners, that could change the outcome of the state meet.
Metairie Park has the chance to put two of its runners on the podium, one of which is Johnathan Zink. Zink has recently run a personal best at the St. Michael Warrior Run and secured the second-best time in 1A with a 16:16. Zink has had an upward trend in performance all season long, which could be the deciding factor in winning the individual title in the battle against Chase Walker. The other of Metairie's two runners is John Caplan. Chaplin is in the position to fight for a spot on the podium against other fast individuals. Caplan holds the fourth-best time in 1A with a 16:47.
A strength that Metairie has is a following of three closely-knit runners. Christian Myers and Phillip Antis finished together at the St. Michael Warrior Run and both landed a personal best for it. Not too far behind them was teammate Bastien Sever. He was only separated by about 20 seconds but he closed out the team's top five with a decent finish. If these three run together like that again, then Metairie may be in store for a back-to-back championship.
Some individuals to look out for are Jay Parker of Ouachita Christian and Tyler Blissett of Highland Baptist Christian. Parker has been on the road of consistent improvement all season and recently broke 17-minutes for the first time with a time of 16:46. He holds the 3rd fastest time in 1A and could overcome the young talent Blissett and John Caplan.
Tyler Blissett at the 1A Outdoor State Meet
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Blissett is only an 8th grader, but he has already made a big splash in the 1A arena. He has already shaved off about a minute from his time last year and has consistently run below 17-minutes for 3 miles. During the 2020 state meet, he placed 14th and there is no doubt that this young man is hungry for more and wants a podium position.