Bearcats, Saints, Cubs win LHSAA State Indoor Titles

Field Event photos by Gaven Hammond

Running event photos by Kyle Valdez

LHSAA State Indoor Results


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There weren't many surprises in the girls division of the 2022 LHSAA State Indoor Track & Field Championships at LSU's Carl Maddox Fieldhouse on Saturday. The teams which were supposed to win-Ruston in Division I and St. Louis in Division II, did what they were supposed to do...won in convincing fashion.

For the Lady Bearcats, it was a historic day as it was their first championship in school history. It was old hat for the Saints, who won their third straight title.

On the boys side, it was a different story. And the surprises were foreshadowed before the meet began as news started circulating about Warren Easton's failure to declare their athletes for the meet, which prevented the No. 10 60 meter sprinter in the nation, senior Leon Elloie , from competing.

Edna Karr's Ra'hj Dennis won the 60 meters with a time of 6.85. Elloi had a best of 6.80 in his last time out on the same track at LSU's Last Chance Meet.

In the end, it was the Ruston boys team beating Catholic by one point in Division I, and University beating the favorite, Lake Charles College Prep. , without winning a single event. 

"We told the boys about a week ago it may come down to the 4x4," Ruston head coach Allen Whitaker. "So we were prepping them for that. They answered the call tonight."

Ruston, who came in seeded third with a time of 3:30.51, finished second with a 3:26.46. That one spot was the difference in Ruston taking home the championship trophy and getting sized for state championship rings, and finishing as the meet's runner up.

Individually, it was Ruston's Brandon Green who stole the show in the meet's much anticipated triple jump. 

Again, the drama played out like a Hollywood movie, but actually started two weeks ago at the LSU Last Chance Qualifier. Whitaker held Green out of the triple jump and Ouachita's Jeremy Nelson moved past Green and into the top four in the country with a jump of 46-6.

Green's season best coming into the State Indoor Meet was 48'11. 

On his first jump, Green fouled. On his second, he jumped deep into the pit and into the history books with a 51-6.25 effort. It's the all-time No. 2 in Louisiana. According to Track & Field News, he trails only Tara's Kenny Hall, who jumped 54-10.25 in 2004. Green passed former ULM All-American Nat Sewell (51-6) and Walter Davis (51-4) , who was a NCAA champion at LSU and competed in two Olympic games. 

Green, who signed with the University of Oklahoma during the early signing period, knew it was going to be a special day long before the 51-6 jump.


Ruston's Brandon Green talks about his LA No. 2 all-time TJ (51-6.25)

"It's been a great day," Green said. "I started off in the long jump. On my first jump I jumped 23-5. I knew it was going to be a good day from there.I progressed and used that motivation and energy to the triple jump.I knew what I had to do, and it had to be done." 

Green used his District 2-5A opponent's performance at the LSU Last Chance Meet as motivation.

"I have a saying," Green said. "Pressure doesn't phase me. I'm built for this. I knew I had to come out and do what I'm supposed to do."

Needless to say, his coach was impressed.

"Brandon didn't triple jump two weeks ago and he saw a guy go No. 1 in the nation. I 

said 'Brandon, are you going to be ready for the state meet?'. He said 'yeah, coach.' Brandon is one of those guys...he's a big moment guy. I knew he was going to be fine. I didn't think 51-6, but I knew he was going to be fine today."

The Ruston girls were led by senior Bryanna Craig, who scored 28.5 points-or 36% of Ruston's 79-point team total, 22 more than runner-up St. Joseph's Academy. Craig won both the long jump (18-4.25) and high jump (5-8.75). She finished third in the 60 hurdles (8.78), in a race which featured three of the top 13 hurdlers in the nation. 

Craig ended her day by running the second leg of Ruston's winning 1600 meter relay (3:56.71), which posted the No. 4 time in the nation and broke the meet record in the event. 

"I'm actually proud of all my events," Craig said. "But I'm especially proud of this 4x4 with this team and finally being able to win first place and win overall."


Ruston Girls 1600 Relay (3L56.71)- No. 4 in US!

Ruston senior Jada Williams ran an opening leg split of 57.5 on the 1600 meter relay. She also finished second in the open 400 (56.80).

Williams talked about what it meant win the first title in school history.

"For us to be waiting this long, I feel like it's a good achievement," Williams said. "It's a good accomplishment for all of us to come together and win, finally, and make history."

"This means a lot," Whitaker said. "Especially to me, when I took the job over the girls were predominately pretty good. A girls championship has escaped me over the years, so to finally get one...is...I don't even have the words for it. A rich tradition school like Ruston High..coaches like Dave Anderson...great athletes in the past. For us to get one, it's all the word to me, man." 


Ruston HC Allen Whitaker talks about sweeping Division I girls and boys titles!

While the St. Louis Saints are no stranger to state championships, the way they won their third in a row was nothing short of epic. Coach Johnny Giordano's team scored points in every single event. 

"I'm kind of speechless," Giordano said, as his Saints danced around with the state championship trophy behind him. "We exceeded expectations. We scored in every single event. It's almost impossible just to qualify in every event. Our field people did a great job early this morning. Our high jumper (Maci Fontenot) got six big points. We followed it up in the long and triple. That gave us a lot of momentum, and then we handled our business on the track."


St. Louis HC Johnny Giordano talks about Saints' dominating performance for three-peat!

Leading the way for the Saints in the field was Tia Reder . She finished second in the long jump (17-6) and then came back to win the triple jump (36-1.5). 

"It's crazy, because my coach pressured me to do the triple jump because I didn't want to," Reder said. "But now I'm here and I got first place, and I literally PR'd."

Reder credited the Saints success to her coach having the ability to coach every event group. 

On the track, the Saints were led by Ella Segura and Kenzi Touchet. Segura collected a medal of every color. She won the 3200 (11:44.54), finished second in the 1600 (5:20.33), and finished third in the 800 meters (2:24.93). 

Touchet won the 400 (58.75) and the 60 hurdles (8.87). 

St. Louis scored 111 points. Episcopal was runner up in Division II with 65 points. 

In the Division II boys, University and first-year coach Aaron Ernest won a state championship by scoring 62 points. Runner up Lake Charles College Prep scored 36.