On track? In field? St. Paul’s has it all

    St. Paul’s final tally of points in the Christian Brothers Relays read:
    Ninety-two points on the track. Seventy-three and a half points in field events.
    Are the Wolves ready to compete for a Class 5A state track and field championship  on May 4?
    Could be.
    Coach Al Nastasi’s team showed its superior balance by winning five track and three field events at the March 16 meet at St. Paul’s.
    Now they take their show to Tad Gormley Stadium on March 22-23 against strong competition in the Allstate Sugar Bowl Track and Field Classic (4 p.m. on March 22 and 10:30 a.m. on March 23).
    Although the Christian Brothers’ meet is one of the season’s early competitions, it produced a handful of outstanding performances.
    St. Paul’s senior Cameron Robichaux set a personal best height of 15 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault.
    Just below him was Archbishop Rummel’s Matthew Trammel winning the long jump competition with a winning leap of 6 feet, 7 inches.
    The Wolves ruled the track events, scoring first-place points in three distance events, one sprint and one relay.
    Senior Zachary Albright was untouchable.
    He won the 1,600-meter run in 4:16.55, nearly 25 seconds faster than the No. 2 finisher, Michael Maldonado of Brother Martin.
    And with just two events to cool his heels, Albright added the 800-meter run to his victory list with a winning time of 1:59.72, which was nearly three seconds faster than the second-place finisher’s time.
    Perhaps the shocker of the
meet came in the 3,200-meter run in which defending Class 5A champion Neal Fitzpatrick of Jesuit finished second to St. Paul’s Don Lipani after leading for six of the event’s eight laps. Lipani had raced against Fitzpatrick in 2011 but had never beaten him.
    Marcus Gaines also was instrumental in the Wolves’ dominance. Gaines won the 100-meter dash in 11.37 seconds, anchored the winning 400-meter relay and placed second in the long jump.
    St. Paul’s scored first- and second-place points in two field events.
    Thomas Klechak (127-2) and Brandon Charitat (125-3) were 1-2, respectively, in the discus throw, and Derek Drago (21-3) and Gaines (21-0) took gold and silver medals in the long jump.
    Other individual event winners were Jacob Campos, Jesuit, in the shotput (45-10); Thomas Peters, Brother Martin, javelin (150-1); Joshua Brumfield, Archbishop Rummel, triple jump (41-7 3/4); Ryan Smith, Holy Cross, 110-meter hurdles (15.91); Matthew Guidry, Brother Martin, 400-meter dash (51.37); Kristian Fulton, Archbishop Rummel, 300-meter hurdles (40.73) and Jerome Bazile, Holy Cross, 200-meter dash (23.15).   
    Brother Martin, which finished second with 137.5 points, won the 800- and 1,600-meter relays.