Albright ready to take control of 5A distances

    After running in the shadow of his St. Paul’s teammate, Scott Brewster, for most of the 2012 track and field season, Zachary Albright has emerged as one of the state’s premier distance runners.
    After finishing third in the 1,600-meter run at the 2012 state meet, Albright put in the time and training to make him the runner to beat in the 800- and 1,600-meter events. He turned in a 1:55.64 time in the 800-meter run at the Allstate Sugar Bowl meet on March 23 and a 4:16.55 for the 1,600-meter run at the March 16 Christian Brothers meet, both the fastest times run in southeast Louisiana.
    His 9:14.01 clocking in the 3,200-meter run at the Texas Relays on March 27 dwarfs the 9:20.07 time of Catholic High’s Cole Stafford, who won the eight-lap event in 2012.
    Jesuit senior Neal Fitzpatrick also has designs on winning the 3,200-meter run, an event in which he finished second to Stafford last year. But Fitzpatrick’s best time this season is 9:29.55, far off his 9:22.23 achieved last season.
    The next step for both is the Class 5A regional meet, scheduled for next week.         Cabrini’s Dominique Clegget is another senior who plans to trade her silver for gold. Clegget placed second in the Class 4A long and triple jumps last year.
    She has equaled her best long jump of 18-7 1/4 and has bettered her triple jump distance by leaping 36-7. Both were first-place efforts at  the Allstate Sugar Bowl meet.