Best of the best on land and air finally recorded

By Ron Brocato
Sports Editor

There must be a corner in heaven reserved for the diligent souls who keep history perpetuated for the benefit of those who follow, because, whether considered good or bad, the events that have taken place during the march of time will always be a learning tool for posterity.

Three men I know of have earned their wings as historians. Two are already reaping their final reward for their labors of love that have benefited others and for lives well spent.

The Louisiana High School Athletic Association keeps no formal record book of statistics. Trying to find the names of schools and individuals who have won state championships is an arduous task for the researcher. And, in many cases, the information is non-existent.

But in the sport of high school track and field, the baton has been passed from Jerry Byrd of the Bossier Press-Tribune to St. Bernard historian Jim Bickford, and now to Nico Van Thyn, a track enthusiast and former sportswriter from Shreveport.

Over the decades, these dedicated men maintained a list of team and individual state champions that date back to 1911. And though Byrd and Bickford are gone and will never know the fruits of their labor, Van Thyn is putting together a record book for the LHSAA. I have been honored to contribute to the final version.

In looking through the numbers and making minor corrections, I have been able to update my own history log of the outstanding high school track and field leaders from the tri-parish New Orleans area. I discovered when the javelin balance was changed to affect the distance the spear could be thrown, and when running times were converted from yards to meters.

With their invaluable help, I am comfortable and confident enough to share with you the names of the fastest, farthest and highest marks achieved by a high school track and field specialist from the New Orleans area. The total statewide list likely will be published by the LHSAA when its record book is ready.

Swiftest of the swift

By event, these are the fastest men in New Orleans prep track history:

• In 1986, East Jefferson’s Harlan Davis became the fastest runner in Louisiana prep history when he turned in a 10.20 time for the 100-meter dash. That time solidified Davis’ claim to the 200-meter event for which he was clocked in 20.9 at the 1985 state meet. Those two times have yet to be equaled in the state meet.

•  The fleetest sprinter from local Catholic high schools is St. Augustine’s Aikeem Jolla, who ran a 10.30 hundred in 2002, and a 21.10 in 2001. And, as you will see, St. Aug holds more Catholic school speed records.

• The fastest 400 was recorded in 1995 by St. Augustine’s Desmond Johnson, a 45.99, which still stands as the only time under 46 seconds logged at the state meet. Another Purple Knight – Karjuan Williams – holds the fastest 800-meter time of 1:50.14, set in 2005.

• The oldest 1,600-meter run mark, set by Archbishop Rummel’s Keith Iovine in 1982, still stands as the fastest time 38 years later.

• The 3,200-meter run record was set just a year ago when Brother Martin’s Hunter Appleton’s 9:01.49 (run in Arcadia, California) obliterated the state meet record time of 9:12.0, set by Bonnabel’s John Ratcliffe in 1982.

• The top hurdlers are D’Artanien De Jean of Douglass (a 13.78 in the 1988 110-meter event) and Brother Martin’s Morgan Cormier, who ticked off a 37.99 in the 300-meter hurdles in 2012. The fastest from a local Catholic school is St. Augustine’s Harry Jones, who ran a 13.9  for 110 meters in the 1994 state meet.

• Edna Karr’s team has the top local time of 40.54 in the 2013 state meet’s 400-meter relay, but St. Augustine owns the other two relay superlatives. The team of Lawrence O’Neal, Craig Kelly, Willie Bell and Aikeem Jolla is the local leader with a time of 1:25.5 at 800 meters, set in 2001.

• Another foursome of Purple Knights holds the city’s 1,600-meter relay record time of 3:14.20. That team of Shyron Champagne, Karjuan Williams, Theodore Jonson and Mark Spooner won that event at the 2005 state meet.

Playing the field
• The longest-standing record in field events belongs to Jesuit’s Steve Meyer, who won the shot put at the 1970 meet with a winning toss of 63-5 1/4, another standard that has stood the test of time and distance.

• Andrew Pack of Holy Cross leads the local discus flingers with a 178-2 winning throw in 1995. And the longest javelin throw was recorded by Zechariah Blake of John Curtis, whose 208-6 won the 2018 Class 5A meet in that event. But prior to 2002, when the national high school federation changed the balance proportions of a javelin, the local record of 233 feet was owned by Nathan Junius of Jesuit, set in 1996.

• The longest horizontal jump record by a local athlete is held by East Jefferson’s Robert Thomas, whose 24-11 landing won the 1991 long jump event. The Catholic school mark is 24-2 1/2 by Archbishop Rummel’s Ja’Marr Chase, set in 2017.

• Thomas also holds the longest triple jump, a winning distance of 51-3 3/4 feet, set in 1991, while the local Catholic school record belongs to St. Augustine’s Brandon Atkinson with a distance of 50 feet even.

• The high soarers are Brandon Cooper of Higgins with a 7-foot high jump measured in 2010, and a 6-10 mark set by Archbishop Shaw’s Lionel Ellison in 2012. John Curtis’ Dylan Duvio tops the local pole vault group with a 17-3 1/2 foot height, and Kyle Rose of Jesuit’s has a summit of 15-8, set in 2007.

Next: The local women’s track and field records.

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