The show had just begun with the Girls' Gold Division as even more historical times were dropped.
Ella Chesnut replicated one of her top performances from earlier in the season and finished her 5k in a time 18:45. She opened up in a surprisingly fast mile at 5:41 and hung on and crossed the line in 212th place. She started the race with her teammate Brynn Kelso but she did not finish the race alongside Chesnut.
The most impressive team performance came from a team that anyone could suspect. Jesuit set the state record for the 5k team average and claimed the highest finishing position at a national championship as a team. The Blue Jays finished 16th overall in a field of the best prep teams in the nation and recorded an average of 15:25.
Leading the team was Jack DesRoches, who ran the third-fastest 5k of all-time, right behind Ryan Travis (15:01) and Eric Coston (15:03). He finished the race with a final time of 15:09 which is a 15 second personal best in comparison to his time from earlier this season. DesRoches was the highest finisher from Louisiana and ended the day with his 102nd place in his division, but 115th overall.
The rest of the Blue Jays finished ahead of any other Louisiana competitor with the rest of the Blue Jays finishing very close to each other. Lucas Sampedro, Leland Crawford, and Robert Buisson finished within four seconds of each other with each of them finishing in 15:26, 15:28, and 15:30, respectively.
The rest of Jesuit's tightly-knit squad were Aeric Wender, Brady Mullen, and Michael Vocke. They were not far behind their teammates with times of 15:34, 15:38, and 15:48, in that order. Though Michael Vocke did not run with his usual partner in competition, it leaves room for the imagination of what Jesuit could have done if it were a normal day for the best team in Louisiana history.
Another aspect of this championship that should be noted is that Leland Crawford was the second-fastest freshman in the overall field of competition. He finished only 2.98 seconds behind the fastest freshman, Cooper Wasson, who came from the silver division.