Catholic and St. Joseph's Academy are situated less than a half mile apart in Baton Rouge's MId-City neighborhood. The two share academic programs, facilities, and Saturday evening, at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse, they shared center stage once again as both schools claimed LHSAA Division I state championship honors for the second consecutive year.
The Bears left no doubt in the boys Division I scoring 77 points, 39 points more than runner-up Jesuit, in what was a total team effort led by victories in the 4x200m and 4x400m relays.
The common denominator on both relay teams were Harrison Lalande and Henry Mensman, who not only shared the podium on the presentation of awards on the two relays but also after the boys 400m. Lalande (49.43) finished as the runner up and Mensman (49.61) finished third to give Coach Sean Brady's squad 14 points in the event.
"Those two guys (Lalande and Mensman) were definitely the heartbeat of this championship team," Brady said. "It really was a team effort. Shoot, we scored in 11 different events. And just about everyone we brought to the meet contributed in some fashion. We had a good meet. We knew we had a good team, but you never know until they put it on the scoreboard."
"It's a culmination of 25 weeks of work," Brady said. "Our boys showed up and had the meet we thought they would."
Off the form chart, we were ten points off. You cannot ever really tell. We don't put a whole lot of stock in that. Like every championship..some step up. Some don't have the best meet. We g
Hammond's Jaylen Jackson won the event with a time of 49.17.
In the 4x200m, Josh Dowell and Gregory Williams joined Lalande and Mensman to run a 1:29.43. Cooper Alligood and Hudson Lalande were the two other legs of the 4x400m, which finished with a 3:24.91.
In the field events, Catholic picked up some quality points from Jack Torrance, John Henry Overton, and Brady Biossat. Torrance (shot put) and Overton (pole vault) picked up runner-up finishes and Biossat, only a sophomore, finished fourth in the high jump with a 6-0.
Torrance's 58-1 was second only to Alexandria Senior High's Carter Rivet, who had a personal record throw of 60-9.50. Rivet's effort puts him at No. 2 all-time in Louisiana and makes him the only sophomore in the nation who has surpassed the 60-0 barrier during the 2026 season.
Overton jumped 14-11 to finish second to E.D. White's Blake Guidry (15-5).
Last year, the Bears leaned on their young distance group to secure the 2025 state championship. The battle-tested distance group accounted for 17 of Catholic's points on Saturday.
Eight of the 17 points came from the 4x800m, who finished second to Central Lafourche, who broke three records, with their 8:01.20. Mandeville had owned the fieldhouse composite, division I meet record, and La. state championship records, with their 8:01.20. Mandeville had owned the fieldhouse composite, division I meet record, and La. state championship composite record with a time of 8:01.23 set a year ago. Members of the Trojans record setting relay included Trevin Lebouef, Trey Detillier, Noah Boudreaux, and Trayton Demei.
The only Catholic distance runner to make the podium was William Decuir (4:19.82) in the 1600m.
Other point getters for Catholic included senior Jude Schlegel in the 60m hurdles, Peter Watson in the 3200m, Augustin Juneau in the 1600m, Patrick Kelly in the 800m
On the girls' side, the race was much tighter for the defending champion Stickers in Division as Coach Vernon Langley's team was able to score 57 points and hold off Lafayette by three points.
"I preach for them to be the best version of themselves...in track and In life," Langley said. "They did that on Saturday. We knew it was going to be close. I told them in our team meeting that it was going to come down to who wanted it. I thought it was important for us to invest in winning early in the meet."
Of the three events SJA was able to win, most notable was senior high jumper Kennedy Papillion, who tied a Division I meet record and La. championship composite record with her winning jump of 5-9.25. Papillon joins Denham Springs' Abigail O' Donoghue, who cleared the same height at 2017 state indoor championships.
SJA sophomore Amalia Terry-Lee edged out Liberty Magnet's Destiny Harrison, who is also a sophomore, in the 60m. Both sprinters were credited with a time of 7.60. Louisiana high school track and field fans are going to be in for a treat watching these two sprinters, who both rank in the No. 15 in the nation in the sophomore class, go head-to-head for the next two years.
The only SJA relay to make the podium was the Sticker's 4x800 team of Cate Barbier, Tiana Khuri, Noella Fields, and Audrey Manda. The winning time was 9:42.18--a season best and No. 2 all-time for SJA.
Barbier picked up some crucial points in the 1600m finishing fifth with a time of 5:24.48. Like other runners in the girls Division I 1600m, Barbier was swept up in the wake of Northshore's Grace Keene, who broke the fieldhouse composite record, Division I meet record, and La. championship composite record with a time of 4:54.09. It's the fastest time ever run by a Louisiana high school girl, moving ahead of Malia Cali's 4:57.03.
SJA freshman Emoiree Rogers had a big day in the jumps scoring 16 points with her runner-up finish in both the long jump (18-1.75) and triple jump (37-5.75). Alexandria senior Noelle Williams was a double winner (18-3.25/39-2.25).
Every point mattered for the Stickers and Wesly Lipari's fifth place finished in the girls' long jump was certainly important. Lipari, only a sophomore, jumped 16-10.5.