CATHOLIC'S DAVID LEMANN TAKES THE BATON IN THE 4X800 AT THE '23 MCNEESE INDOOR NO. 2!
High school track and field..you gotta love it!
Especially when you look at the meet entries and find the meet record holder seeded No. 4. That is the scenario we have at tomorrow's McNeese Indoor No. 2, which will be held inside of the university's Recreation Center beginning at 9am.
Last year, Catholic High's David Lemann cruised to a 9:54 in the 3200m which was good enough to add his name to the record books.
That was then. This now.
Lemann is seeded No. 4 in tomorrow's 3200m. Ahead of him are two Parkway Panthers--seniors Gabriel Falting and Brennan Robin, who are seeded No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.
While Leman's indoor times this season are not quite where he was this time a year ago, there is nothing in his body of work to suggest he would not be able to run as fast tomorrow...or even faster given the competition.
Leman started his 2024 season with a performance that is not up to his standards--a 4:56 at the LSU Indoor Classic 1600m. He righted the ship last Saturday with a big drop finishing No. 9 at the LSU High School Qualifier with a 4:38, only five seconds behind the time he put up in the same meet as a junior.
It's important to note that Lemann set the meet record at McNeese without serious competition. The second place finisher last year was Lemann's teammate Daniel Hudson, who finished 24 seconds behind him.
Falting finished behind Lemann at the LSU High School Qualifier, running 4:46. This will be the Arkansas State commit's first 3200m since his sophomore year.
Robin--a freshman-- has taken a page out of military strategy during the indoor season with his "scorched earth" campaign in the 1600m. It started with LSU Indoor Classic where in his first ever indoor meet he ran the second fastest 1600m time in Louisiana history for freshmen boys.
The following week, Robin competed in the mile at the Arkansas HS Invitational where he turned in the fastest mile time in the nation.
The challengers for Lemann are not just coming from the Parkway pair, Lemann will have to contend with his own teammate--sophomore Jonathan Thompson, who ran two seconds faster than the McNeese Indoor No. 2 record in his first meet at the LSU Indoor Classic.
Thompson followed that PR in Week No. 1 with another PR last weekend at the LSU Qualifier where he finished second with a personal record 4:31 in the 1600m. Back-to-back runner up finishes for Thompson. Could this be his week to make it to the top of the podium?
Will Lemann be able to retain the record? While we don't know the answer to the question, we do know that it will tougher for Lemann to retain the record than it was to break it in the first place.