Spring sports provide a bonanza of titles to locals

    Sure signs of spring:
    Jesuit wins a record 18th Division I high school boys’ state tennis championship…
    The Academy of the Sacred Heart coasts to the Division IV girls’ tennis title…
    And St. Paul’s takes home a Division I boys’ golf team championship.
    Now all that’s left for local Catholic schools to complete the 2012-13 athletic school year is the Class 5A baseball championship tournament, scheduled for Tulane’s Turchin Stadium May 10-11.
    And if you’re a prep baseball fan, you might want to be there whether Brother Martin and Jesuit make the final eight or not because this may be the last time the tournament is held in New Orleans.
    Tulane will host the Conference USA tournament next year and cannot bid on the high school tournament. The only bid the LHSAA has received is from the Sulphur Recreation Department, which has built a multi-field baseball complex, similar to the softball layout at Frasch Park. The city fathers used their revenue from the casinos wisely.
    Keith Alexander, an assistant executive director for the LHSAA, told me that Sulphur would like have a multi-class championship tournament much like softball has.
    If that happens, you can bet that city (some 220 miles from New Orleans) will be its permanent home.
    But back to the business at hand.
    Led by four-time singles champion Hobie Hotard and a doubles combo of Trevor Lew and James Sampognaro, Jesuit scored 20 points to easily win the title at Louisiana-Monroe last week.
    Caroline Brinson of Sacred Heart went one better when the junior captured her fifth consecutive Division IV singles title by beating New Iberia’s Heather Mixon, 6-2, 6-1.
    The Cardinals also had the   doubles champions when the team of Nicole Rueb and Lizzie Hotard (the sister of the Jesuit medalist) defeated a duo from University High, 6-1, 7-5.
    Facing a two-shot deficit going into the final day of the state golf tournment, St. Paul’s Brandon Pierce (73), Thomas Ruli (76), Ryan Martin (78), Peter Yager (78) and Beau Briggs (78) combined to fire a two-day score of 595 to give the Wolves a team victory by eight strokes.
Track has 9 gold medalists
    Outstanding individual performances were the order of the week at the state outdoor track and field championships in Baton Rouge.
    Nine local athletes  brought home gold medals, including St. Paul’s junior Zachary Albright, who was dominant in both the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs.
    There were a few unsung heroes throughout the three-day event.
    Sporting the fastest qualifying time, St. Augustine’s 400-meter relay team was counting on showcasing football standout Leonard Fournette as a sprinter. Unfortunately, Fournette’s day ended abruptly when he suffered an injury to his left hamstring in the 800-meter relay. He had to be pulled from the 100- and 200-meter dashes and the 400-meter relay.
    In stepped younger brother, Lanord Fournette, to join  Dejan Murray, Graegg Holmes and Felix Farinas. The makeshift foursome reeled off a time of 42.38 seconds to win the event. 
    Archbishop Shaw sophomore Kyle Soulant outran the field to win the Class 5A 1,600-meter run, then nearly collapsed on the sideline after completing the four-lap event in 4:32.54. He was rushed to a Baton Rouge hospital where he was treated for dehydration, then returned later to cheer for his teammate, Scott Vedros, who was competing in the 3,200-meter run.
    Representing Xavier Prep for the final time, the team of Shannon Ray, Ijerna Donaldson, Kennedy Palmer, Kohi Brignac, Mykia Scott, Christianne Baulden, Maya Evans, Marquita Cunningham and Kaitlyn Tunks carried the school’s black-and-gold colors to a fifth-place team finish.
    The school will re-open in August as St. Katharine Drexel Prep.
    Ray finished second in the girls’ Class 3A 100- and 200-meter dashes and ran legs on the 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams.
    And Reid DiMaggio scored 22 of Holy Rosary High School’s 24 points by himself in the Class C boys’ meet. DiMaggio, a junior, won the 800-meter run, placed second in the 1,600-meter event and was fifth in the 3,200 meters and 300-meter hurdles.
    St. Augustine finished third in the boys’ Class 4A team totals, and St. Scholastica had the highest finish among girls’ Catholic school teams, placing third in Class 5A.
    Ron Brocato can be reached at [email protected].   

We are the champions

Graegg Holmes, Dejan Murray, Lanord Fournette and Felix Farinas carried St. Augustine to the boys’ Class 4A 400-meter relay championship.