ST. FRED'S FRESHMAN BRADIE EPPINETTE COMPETING IN THE 2021 LHSAA STATE XC MEET
Just because St. Frederick's Bradie Eppinette is a freshman doesn't mean she is too young to defend titles. Eppinette started her 2022 cross country campaign the same way she started her season a year ago-by winning the Choudrant Aggie Invitational.
Last year, Eppinette edged out Cedar Creek's Madison Morris by ten seconds, running a time of 20:41. This year, the win was more convincing as she beat Cedar Creek's Caroline James by over a minute with a winning time of 2:07.
"It felt really good, surprisingly," Eppinette said. "I did have a little pain in the last mile, but other than that, it felt good."
Eppinette was surprised by the margin of victory.
"They were sticking with me the whole time," Eppinette said. "And I figured they would stick with me to the end just because of how well they are as runners."
Other girls in the top ten included Cedar Creek's Taylor Ramsey (21:25), Morris (21:44), St. Frederick's Kenna Quayle 22:14), Audrie Juneau 22:15), and Marsala Trahan (22:18), Sterlington's Andie Woodhead (22:23),and West Ouachita's Courtney Hunter (22:20).
Simpson's Ean Allain, who finished 15th in the same race a year ago, won the varsity boys race, passing Cedar Creek's Myles Carpenter in the race's last quarter of a mile and finishing with a time of 17:22. Carpenter was the runner-up at 17:30.
"In the second mile, I kinda let up a bit," Allain said. "But I was like, 'I cannot let this happen.' I've been training real hard. I have to stick with the program."
Carpenter, who is just a freshman, was running in his first varsity race and his first race in Louisiana. Carpenter transferred to Ruston from Oregon.
Carpenter is still getting used to running in Louisiana, especially the humidity, which made it hard for runners to breathe on Saturday morning at the Gospel Campground in Ruston.
"It's usually in the high 60s there," Carpenter said. "It's mild. I'm not used to this humidity."
Other boys in the top ten included; West Ouachita's Carson Almond (18:16) and Garrett Deal (18:46), Cedar Creek's Ethan McCarthy (18:28) and Anderson Maxwell (19:01), Choudrant's Hagen Davis (18:41), Grace Christian's Brandt Rachel (19:16), St. Frederick's Sebastian Criswell (19:20.28), and Sterlington's Lee Cooper (19:20.59)
Cedar Creek swept both the girls and boys divisions of the Invitational.
"We came out here and built the foundation," Moss said. "We are building for November 14th (the state meet). We used it as a workout. It wasn't the workout that we wanted. Our top three did what they were supposed to do. We didn't complete our four, five, six, and seven."
"Myles ran fantastic," Moss said of his runner-up finisher in the boys division. "He is only going to get better. He is right on track.
Another Cougar which impressed Coach Moss was Ethan McCarthy, who has been under the weather lately, but ran a gutsy race, finishing fourth with a time of 18:28.
"He is a fighter, through and through," Moss said. "He is coming off an illness so we didn't expect much, but you are not going to outhurt him."
The Cougars will step up in class next Saturday as they head west down I-20 to compete in The Border Dash, hosted by Parkway High School. The Border Dash will be held at South Bossier Park.