2012 Clarion Herald Elite Track and Field Team

Photos by Ron Brocato | CLARION HERALD

OUTSTANDING TRACK (FEMALE)
Kayla Quincy, Xavier Prep

OUTSTANDING TRACK (MALE)
Cyril Grayson, Archbishop Rummel

OUTSTANDING FIELD (MALE)
Lionel Ellison, Archbishop Shaw

OUTSTANDING FIELD (FEMALE)
Dominique Clegget, Cabrini

    If opportunity is the breeding ground for greatness, the 2012 LHSAA State Track and Field Championships yielded  Herculean performances out of one team and one individual athlete.
    Holy Rosary High School, competing in Class C, the lowest order of Louisiana high schools, rose from the bottom to finish in second place by scoring 66 points.    
    Coach Nick Accardo’s small squad accomplished this feat with just four athletes competing.    
    The big scorers were sprinter Dathennile Parker, who won the 200- and 400-meter dashes and finished second in the 800, and Michael Alphonse, who placed second in the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs.
    The two also ran legs of the Bulldogs’ winning 1,600-meter relay team, five seconds faster than their nearest competitor.
    Individually, Archbishop Rummel’s Cyril Grayson pulled a hamstring in the 100-meter dash and finished second, but came back later in the day to win the 800-meter run and 400-meter dash.
    For their achievements, Holy Rosary, which is also a candidate for the Eddie Robinson Award, presented by the Allstate Sugar Bowl Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame, is the Clarion Herald Team of the Year, and Grayson the Outstanding Male Track Athlete.
    The Outstanding Male Field Athlete is Archbishop’s Lionel Ellison, whose Class 4A winning 6-10 high jump earned him a gold medal.
    The Outstanding Female Track Athlete is Kayla Quincy of Xavier Prep. A stalwart among  sprinter and middle distance runners over the past three years, Quincy won her second 400-meter dash title and helped the Yellowjackets to finish third in Class 3A.
    The Outstanding Female Field Athlete is Cabrini’s Dominique Clegget, a versatile performer who finished second in the triple jump in the Class 4A meet. Clegget also ran legs on the Crescents’ 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams.
    Special recognition also goes to Brother Martin’s Morgan Cormier, who won the 300-meter hurdles in a class record 37.99 seconds.