QUITMAN'S BRYAN LAY CELEBRATES AFTER VAULTING 14-10 AT LAST CHANCE MEET!
Quitman's Bryan Lay and St. Joseph Academy's Kennedy Papillion are moving on up!
Lay, who set a personal record in the pole vault with a jump of 14-0 at last week's McNeese Indoor No. 2, took it to another level on Saturday at the LSU Last Chance Qualifier. With the raising of his hand a couple of times and some encouragement from the public address announcer, the near capacity crowd at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse put their hands together and helped Lay to a massive jump of 14-10 and a trip to the top spot of the podium.
"It was a little nerve wracking because I was wanting to perform, but then I just trusted God with everything and he got me through and got me a PR," Lay said. "I just hope he gets all the glory for it."
Papillion's win in the girls high jump was less subtle as the sophomore won a jump off to win the title. Papillion jumped a personal record 5-3. It's the second PR is as many weeks.
Both Lay and Papillion not only fared well on the track, they also fared well in this week's MileSplit LA Performer of the Week poll. Papillion edged out Kali Magana garnering a whopping 40,704 votes. Magana had 33,423 votes.
In the boys' poll, Lay had 69 percent of the vote (14,559 votes) to outpace Scotlandville's Corinthian Walker, who had 24% (5,103).
Having won this week's poll, both Lay and Papillion will advance to the ballot for MileSplit LA Indoor Athlete of the Year, which will be published during the last week of February.