We return after the second meet of the indoor season and we continued to see some stellar performances. We're starting off this recap with the field portion again and highlighting the top performances of the meet.
In the boys' high jump, there was a battle for the state lead between D'Andre Taylor of St. Amant and Sherman Hawkins of Tioga. Hawkins previously held the state lead from the LSU High School Classic with his mark of 6-01, but today these today battled it out and surmounted to their final height of 6-05. D'Andre Taylor took the win due to him having fewer misses on the previous jump, as well as garnering a new personal best and a ranking of US #22 alongside Hawkins.
Coming in for a close third-place was Michael Berry of Ville Platte with his jump of 6-04. He brought home a new personal best as well, topping his previous best by two inches.
In the girls' high jump, small school star, Alana Simon of Episcopal cleared the early heights with ease. She made the bold decision of passing on a height late in the competition in order to threaten the meet record that was set by Ariel Pedigo last year. She took her three attempts at 5-07 but came up short, either way, she settled for a US #20 mark, sitting at 5-05.
Second and third place was a tiebreaker between Miranda Tillery of Lakeshore and Shannen Alack of St. Thomas Aquinas. They both cleared 5-01 as their final height, but Tillery won by the least amount of misses from her previous jump.
In the long jump, Tristan Goodley of Westlake took the win with his last jump of the day. His last attempt overcame all of his other jumps by a whole foot, which led him to win with his final mark of 22-01. This ties him for the second-best mark in the state, tying Brandon Green of Ruston, and sets him at US #52.
The rest of the field was not far behind Goodley with Dylan Sonnier of Southside coming in second with his mark of 21-08.75, just shy of his previous mark two weeks ago. In third was Falon Short of H. L. Bourgeois, with his jump of 21-07.5. Short has not competed in the long jump since 2017, which is impressive considering how well he performed this past weekend.
For the girls, Marley Richard of Destrehan won by just three-quarters of an inch. On top of that, she came from behind on her very last jump to win it all. This jump places her third on the Louisiana overall performance list.
Emery Prentice taking second at the 2021 Indoor State Meet in the pole vault
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Interestingly enough, the majority of the girls from the second flight had their best jumps come from their last attempt. Emery Prentice of Vandebilt Catholic did this and summed up her performance with a jump of 17-09 after sitting around fourth and fifth the whole competition. Ava Riche of St. Joseph's Academy took the early lead but ended up losing it even though she continued to improve throughout all of her jumps. She closed out the day with her mark of 17-07.5.
Keeping up with Emery Prentice, she continued to compete in the pole vault. She won the event at the LSU High School Classic but lost this past weekend to Aly Jo Warren of Holy Savior Menard. Warren won after taking second to Prentice two weeks ago and scoring a new personal best of 12-07.5. Emily Prentice closed out her day with her height of 12-01.5, which means that Warren and Prentice mirrored each other performances almost exactly two weeks ago.
These two girls passed on all of their heights until there was only one other girl left in the competition, Addison Richey of Teurlings Catholic. She was the only one left to challenge these two nationally ranked vaulters, but she had her day come to a close at a height of 11-07.75. This is the second time that these two LSU commits have swept the 1-2 podium positions.
Beau Domingue
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In the boys' pole vault, Beau Domingue of Hammond continued to dominate over the rest of the local competition. He passed on all of his heights until there was no one left competing in the event. He then cleared two heights, landing him with his final result of 15-07. He attempted to jump over 16 feet again but came up short. He still stands ranked at US #6.
The next best competitor in the field was Trey Faherty of St. Paul's Episcopal. He cleared 13-09 and was followed up by Jonathan Woods of St. Thomas More who claimed third place with his jump of 13-01.
Turning to the boys' triple jump, Brandon Green continues to be hailed as the best triple jumper in the state. He only had one jump that was not counted as a foul and he still won the competition with his mark of 48-08.25. As of now, he still stands as US #4.
Coming in second was Jeremy Nelson of Ouachita. His second jump of the day was his best with a bound of 46-10.5. This ranks him at US #16 and the second-best in the state. In third was Tristan Goodley of Westlake. He returned after winning the long jump earlier in the day. He leaped to a distance of 45-07.25 which ranks him at US #30 and the third-best triple jumper in the state.
Ke'yona Gabriel taking second at the 2021 LSU Last Chance Qualifier
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The girls' side of competition was just as competitive with Ke'yona Gabriel of Central Lafourche leaping to her final distance of 37-04.5. She still stands as the top triple jumper of the state and has yet to lose to any local competition in the event.
Zhanell Francois of East St. John took second with only two recorded jumps for the day but held second place from the beginning. Simone Castelluccio of St. Joseph's Academy came in third and was only an inch behind Francois. They now rank as the third and fourth-best jumpers in the state.
Lastly, Grant Griffin of Catholic High won the shot put for the second time in a row. He remained in first place from his very first attempt and finished the day with a distance of 50-00.75. He remained without a challenge as Makhi Smith of Scotlandville and Derrick Williams of Hamilton Christian were about three feet away from Griffin's best mark.
For the girls, Laila Guy of Baton Rouge Magnet won after coming second in this event two weeks ago and Ja'Myah Williams of Madison Prep Academy followed the trend with her second-place finish after finishing third at the last meet. Guy won with a new state lead of 42-11 and a brand new national ranking of US #11.