C.E. BYRD BOYS AND GIRLS CELEBRATE A STRONG SHOWING AT THE WESLEY/PAYNE RELAYS.
Before he put his 4x400m on the track for the final race of the Wesley/Payne Relays, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and pulled up the team score on the meet's live results. His Yellow Jackets were two points behind Captain Shreve.
He told the relay team that they had to beat the Gators in order to win the meet and thus claim the Caddo Parish championship.
With two members of the relay-Gevin Phill and Traylon Johnson- getting the first taste of the relay, the prospects looked bleak, but their coach believed.
"Both teams have similar season best 4x4 times," Plaza said. "Our top two were having a great meet so I knew we could do it."
Byrd's "top two" were sophomore 400m specialists Wyatt Ditt and sprinter Martin Brogna.
The Yellow Jackets relay team got it done as they finished second to Loyola (3:35.73) with a time of 3:37.44.
While the Jackets needed to beat Shreve to tie the Gators. They would need another team to beat the Gators to win the meet.
Enter Evangel, who finished third by the narrowest of margins with a time of 3:42.16. Shreve was fourth with a time of 3:42.19.
Byrd scored 120 points, two more than runner-up Captain Shreve.
Of course, the Yellow Jackets would not have been in position to win the meet if it weren't for senior Primes Brock and John Patrick Bartle. Brock took care of business in the throwing events by winning both the shot put (45-4) and the discus (148-5.25).
Bartle won the distance double with a time of 4:59.87 in the 1600m and 10:41.08 in the 3200m.
Byrd's only other win came in the 4x800 where the relay team of Graham Gordy, Luke Henry, John Hunter, and Bartle won with a time of 9:17.70.
The C.E.Byrd girls finished third behind Huntington (164 points) and Captain Shreve (94 points)
The Lady Jackets were led by Spencer Frierson (5:25.32),who won the 1600m, and freshman Anna Lake Watts (12:26.72), who won gold in the 3200m.
In the field events, the Lady Jacket only win came from sophomore Libby Chen, who won with a jump of 7-2.
Byrd's girls 4x800 had a dominating to start the action on the track. The relay team of Watts, Pressley Lockey, Aubree LaCroix, and Jenna Key ran a time of 11:01.99.