This meet is hosted by Catholic High School at Highland Road Park which is very close to Louisiana State University. This park is used for many meets each season. It’s an ideal setting with an all-grass surface, several good hills and a couple of small bridges. It’s also spectator friendly with the start and finish close to each other and the route looping by this area several times. The prediction of heavy rains in the area came true and the course had mud and puddles in many areas.
Girls
The great line-up for this 3-mile race included most of the state large school top 10 as ranked by the Louisiana Coaches poll, the #1 ranked small school Episcopal, and the 2003 Alabama state champs from Mountain Brook. Note that Louisiana girls are making the move up from 2 miles this year.
As the race developed Lydia Woodward of Barbe and Jennifer Valley of Iowa were battling up front followed by a swarm of girls from Mountain Brook AL. Woodward and Valley were in contact through 2 miles, but then Woodward began to pull away. At this point Mountain Brook was visibly in command of the team race with their green uniforms and matching pink hair ribbons. Woodward finished in a fine 18:32 followed by Valley in 18:48. Mountain Brook was 3-4-5-6.
Mountain Brook was an easy team winner with 28 points which is believed to be the lowest score in meet history. It was surprising to learn that their top 5 consists of two 9th graders, two 8th graders and a 7th grader!
LA #1 ranked small school Episcopal was runner-up with 96 which left the top 7 ranked large schools in their wake. LA #1 ranked large school Barbe finished 3rd with 143 and was led by the individual titleist Woodward. St Joseph captured 4th with 199.
Top Teams - 31 total
1 Mountain Brook (AL) 28 2003 AL state XC champs
2 Episcopal 96 state ranked small schools #1, 2003 state B champ
3 Barbe 143 state ranked #1
4 St Joseph 199 state ranked #4
5 St Scholastica 221 state ranked #10, 2003 state 4A 2nd
6 Walker 230 state ranked #2, 2003 state 5A 2nd
7 Archbishop Blenk 238 state ranked #6
8 Choudrant 242 state ranked small schools #9
9 Dominican 265 state ranked #5
10 E. D. White 317 state ranked #12
Top Individuals
1 Lydia Woodward Barbe 18:32
2 Jennifer Valley Iowa 18:48
3 Leslie Boozer Mountain Brook 19:08 8th grade
4 Laura Loveless Mountain Brook 19:17 7th grade
5 Brigid Carey Mountain Brook 19:18 9th grade
6 Madeline Morgan Mountain Brook 19:19 8th grade
7 Katie Hemel St Scholastica 19:20
8 Mary Evelyn White Episcopal 19:29
9 Callie Picou Walker 19:32 state 5A #2 returner
10 Reed Ellis Mountain Brook 19:35 9th grade
11 Liz Hamlin Mt Carmel 19:55
12 Caitlin Hodges Episcopal 19:56
13 Courtney Schultheis Archbishop Blenk 20:00
14 Lauren Gilbert E. D. White 20:04
15 Morgan Oduen Alexandria 20:08
16 Mandy Ress Fountainbleu 20:11
17 Amy Guinn Barbe 20:12
18 Lila Balaman Dominican 20:13
19 Wiebke Volmari Episcopal 20:19
20 Jessica Gurley Barbe 20:21
Boys
This race also featured most of the state large school top 10 as ranked by the Louisiana Coaches poll as well as the top 2 small schools. Defending Alabama 6A state champ Mountain Brook also made the trip to Baton Rouge.
At the start Brother Martin took their traditional position at the far left. They got out well and were running 3-4-5 at the mile which the leader passed in 5:17. Mountain Brook was in good shape upfront in 6-7.
At the 2-mile mark St Paul sr Jonathan Thomas had seized control in 10:49. Brother Martin seniors Paul Aucoin and Mark Buchert were 2-3 in 10:52. Mountain Brook was still 6-7.
St Paul’s Thomas ran well the last mile to win in 15:52 in muddy conditions. Brother Martin’s Paul Aucoin held off Episcopal’s Sean Swanner for 2nd place 16:05 to 16:07.
The team title was in doubt until the awards ceremony. In a tight battle Mountain Brook, led by soph Nicholas Lepley in 4th and 8th grader Billy Matthews in 6th, took 1st by a score of 90-100 over runner-up LA #2 ranked large school Brother Martin. Third place went to state ranked #4 Baton Rouge with 141 followed by state ranked #5 St Paul with 193.
Top Teams - 43 total
1 Mountain Brook (AL) 90 2003 AL state XC champs
2 Brother Martin 100 state ranked #2, 2003 state 5A runner-up
3 Baton Rouge 141 state ranked #4, 2003 state 5A 4th
4 St Paul 193 state ranked #5
5 Newman 208 state ranked #10, 2003 state 3A 2nd
6 Choudrant 227 state ranked small schools #2, 2003 state B champ
7 Iowa 228 state ranked #12
8 Catholic 239 state ranked #9
9 Comeaux 264 state ranked #6
10 E. D. White 271 state ranked #8, 2003 state 3A champ
Top Individuals
1 Jonathan Thomas St Paul 15:52 state #2 returner
2 Patrick Aucoin Brother Martin 16:05 state #3 returner
3 Sean Swanner Episcopal 16:07
4 Nicholas Lepley Mountain Brook 16:08
5 Mark Buchert Brother Martin 16:12
6 Bill Matthews Mountain Brook 16:13 8th grade
7 Kasey Baker Choudrant 16:20
8 Thibault Holcombe Bolton 16:25
9 Hank Festerban Choudrant 16:26
10 Colby Preejeant E. D. White 16:27
11 Andy Florek Brother Martin 16:33
12 Brett Borne Covington 16:35
13 Taylor Morris Baton Rouge 16:41
14 Trevor Middleton Newman 16:44
15 Ted Nathanson Brother Sullivan 16:46
16 Wade Thahan Iowa 16:50
17 Jimmy Swanson Newman 16:55
18 Blair Joiner Walker 16:56
19 Wesley Wilson Baton Rouge 16:58
20 Bushy Nilson St Stansilaus 16:59
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