"Trip of a lifetime."
That is how Parkway head coach Kent Falting described Parkway's performance at the New Balance Indoors in Boston, Massachusetts.
For Parkway, it started with Brennan Robin's performance in the two mile as Robin became only the first junior in La. High School history to break 9:00 in the event, and the second fastest all-time behind Iowa State's Aiden Monistere. Robin's time was 8:56.93.
The fun continued for the Panthers in the 4xMile where Aiden Onishea, Javaria Flournoy, and Ben Ruliffson set a school record of 18:12.02. That time ranks No. 2 in Louisiana this year behind Jesuit's 17:40.
Talk about the trip of a lifetime! West Ridge Middle eighth grader Rudyard West Jr. had one for the books as he went to both Nike Indoor Nationals and New Balance Nationals Indoors rewriting the record books at both. He showed consistency running a 6.79 at both meets. His team equals the fastest time time turned in by a high school sprinter this Winter. Rummel's Micah Green, who is No. 1 in Louisiana, ran a 6.79 at the 2026 LHSAA State Indoor Meet.
Jesuit head coach Nick Accardo left one of his most talented runners-junior David Quintana-home alone to run a fast 3200m in a loaded field at the Zachary Bronco Relays on Thursday night. Quintana (9:17.09) ran second to Catholic sophomore sensation Augustin Juneau's (9:13.27).
"The whole pack went nuts!!" Catholic distance coach Zach Capello said.
Jesuit's time in the 4xMile was good enough for third place in New York at the Nike Indoor Nationals. Members of the relay included Connor Fanberg (4:21), Rhys Grant (4:23), Joe Accardo (4:22), and Patrick Smith (4:33).
That was the first of two exciting relay races for Fanberg, who represented Louisiana on an elite DMR at the of the meet. Other members of the Louisiana all-star DMR included Hamilton Christian's Kaleb Bigwood, Highland Baptist's Tyler Blissett, and Episcopal's William Foster Lambert.
The DMR ran a 10:06.45 and finished fourth. Blissett ran the 1200m in 3:06.38. Bigwood's 400m split was 48.4. Lambert's 800m leg was 1:53.4, and Fanberg ran his 1600m leg in 4:18.3.
Another Blue Jay who had a great experience in the Big Apple was Louisiana's premiere hurdler--Ja'ir Burks, who-despite some adversity in the semifinals-slipped into the finals and finished No. 5 in the nation to earn All-American status.
Only a junior, Burks' time was the fastest time ever run indoors by a Louisiana high school hurdler. Burks bumps University of Tennessee's Broderick Davis (7.93) to the No. 2 spot.
The Louisiana girls got in on the history-making weekend as well.
John Curtis' Aaliyah Lane ran a 2:13.29 in winning the emerging elite 800m. That time is the fastest ever run by a Louisiana high school female indoors. Less than a second behind Lane was another Louisianimal-Metairie Park Country Day's Colette Alvarado (2:14.13). Alvarado finished fourth in the race. MPCD freshman Varenka Zhuk was also in the race. Zhuk finished No. 17 with a time of 2:16.27. This gives the Cajuns from Metairie Park Country Day the No. 1 and No. 2 indoor 800m performances all-time for Louisiana freshmen girls.
Metaire Park Country Day fared very well in the emerging elite relays. The 4x400m finished second with a time of 4:04.59 while the 4x800m ran a time of 9:49.46. Lily Galliano and Camille Thionville joined Alvarado and Zhuk on both relays.
Some Louisiana athletes are STILL enjoying themselves in New York. Who can blame Carter Rivet for hanging out in New York for a couple of days? The Alexandria Senior High Shot putter had an incredible throw of 63-10.5 at the Nike Indoor Nationals. Rivet, who finished fourth in the competition is ranked No. 8 in the country and is ranked No. 1 in the sophomore class by over three feet. All-time among sophomore shot putters in the US, Rivet is ranked No. 4.
And last, but certainly not least, were the Lafayette Lady Lions who were roaring in Boston at the New Balance National Indoor Meet. The relay team of Lyric Louis, Tay'Lee Crump, Riley Siner, and Shelby Burgin ran a 3:49.13 to finish seventh. It was a six second improvement for Lafayette, who had a previous season best of 3:55 at the McNeese Indoor No. 2. The Lady Lions were only .13 behind Run Fast Track Club's 3:49.00 on the same track at the same meet in 2024.
"Trip of a lifetime."
That is how Parkway head coach Kent Falting described Parkway's performance at the New Balance Indoors in Boston, Massachusetts.