There were milestones connected to the Southland Conference titles that McNeese State's Jarrett LeBlanc, Sam Vidrine and Joshua Sawe won during the past week's league track and field championship meeet in Natchitoches.
LeBlanc, who won both the 10,000 meter run on Friday and the 5,000 meter run on Sunday, became the first double event winner for the Cowboys since the 1991 season when Tom McGrath took titles in both races.
“It's kind of intimidating when you think about it as 15,000 meters total,” he said of his double win. “That's 37 and a half laps. At first, its overwhelming.
“I took out nice and conservative and slow,” he said about the start of his race in the 5,000 meters. “My legs felt pretty decent. I knew there was something left in my legs (at the end). Sure enough, when they took off, I waited to make my move after the wind right behind David (teammate Rooney) and with 150 to go, I just closed my eyes, gritted my teeth and hoped for the best. I tried to catch Brandon (Chiumminetta of UTSA) and Brandon has more speed than I'll ever have, so it means a lot to me to have caught him at the end of the race. This is amazing. I'd have never predicted this, not today, anyway.”
He ran 14:55.30 in winning the 5000 meters and 31:45.74 when he claimed the 10,000 meter race.
With 20 points the Cowboy junior was his team's leading scorer.
In winning the javelin title for the second year in a row, Vidrine became the first McNeese athlete to do so since Craig Andrus did such in 1983 and 1984.
Last year he had become the first McNeese conference javelin champion since Andrus and only the eighth in school history when he took the title.
Vidrine threw 218-6 to win this year's javelin title. He posted that mark in the qualifying round and passed in the finals after he suffered a slight injury to his throwing arm.
Sawe became only the third Cowboy to ever win a SLC championship in the 800 meters and the first since Andy Blackmore in 1999. Robert Messer won back to back titles in 1973 and 1974.
Said the Cowboy junior following his victory, “It is a surprise because my best event is the 1500 and I was ranked seventh in this one. I was not expecting to do that good but with 200 (meters) left I was in a good position and I gave it my best effort.
“I have run faster this year but I felt very good about the way I ran. It was the smartest one (race) I've ever run, bot have enough to come from behind in the end.”
Sawe's winning time in the 800 meters was 1:52.34.
All three will now await word on their qualifying for the NCAA regional meet which will be held May 27-28 in Bloomington, IN.