Carey paces Gents at Oil City Relays

LAFAYETTE - One of Crowley track coach Eric Rekieta’s main objectives when the 2008 prep track season began was to find someone to fill the shoes of graduated quarter miler Cy Quebedeaux on the Gents’ district and regional 4 x 400 championship relay team.

Friday night, he found that person.

Senior Tory Carey, who mainly spent the 2007 season as a high jumper, turned in an impressive performance on the track in Lafayette High’s Oil City Relays, winning the 400-meter dash (52.73) and blowing away the field on his leg of the 4 x 400 as the Gents chalked up yet another victory.

“Tori did a great job,” said Rekieta. “He’s been working hard and I think this gave him some confidence. He needs to continue to work and work even harder. So do the other guys on our 4 x 400.”

The two victories sparked the Gents to an impressive fourth-place finish in the 11-team meet which included all of Lafayette Parish’s 5A teams, along with St. Thomas ore, Teurlings, Breaux Bridge, New Iberia Senior High and others.

The Gents finished with 60 points. Breaux Bridge won the boys’ title with 90 points; Lafayette High was second with 86 and St. Thomas More was third with 66. Notre Dame, the only other Acadia Parish team in the field, finished ninth with 25 points.

Notre Dame’s Lady Pios, meanwhile, finished sixth in the girls’ division with 32 points. Crowley High’s Ladies were 12th with 6. Lafayette High won the division with 165 points.

For Rekieta, the sight of Carey performing was no real surprise. He had projected Cary as the person to replace Quebedeaux - a district and regional 400 champion - and join returnees Brittian Nolan, Kyron Benoit and Keith Pierson long before the track season ever began.

“He’s a talented athlete,” said Rekieta, who watched the lanky Carey blossom into a standout wide receiver last fall in his first season of football. “I had a feeling he could run a quarter (mile).”

Carey, who also finished third in the high jump Friday with a 6-4 leap, edged out New Iberia’s Marcus Daniel in a dramatic stretch run to win the open 400 by two-tenths of a second.

That was impressive enough, but in the 4 x 400, he literally blew away his competition.

Taking the baton from Nolan in second place, he immediately bolted to the lead and continued to extend it on the backstretch. By the time Beniot, running the third leg, got the baton, the Gents had a lead of about 30-40 yards. Benoit maintained the cushion and Pierson, who had pulled his groin earlier in the long jump, did likewise to complete a 3:35.29 victory.

Lafayette High was second, three seconds back.

“It wasn’t a great time, but it was good for this time of the year considering that we haven’t been able to practice like we need to,” said Rekieta. “Keith has been sick and Kyron’s been limited because of baseball. We’ll need to work harder and get better.”

The 3:35.29 clocking was well off the 3:24.44 time the 2007 unit posted in finishing fourth in the Class AAA state track meet, one-100th of a second out of third place and two 10ths of a second out of second. But on Friday night, in just their second outing of the season, it was more than good enough to top the other 11 teams in Friday’s meet and to give Rekieta reason to smile.

“I thought we did well considering everything,” he said.

Another Gent contributing heavily was junior Stephen Boulet. Boulet was second in the 300-meter hurdles with a career-best 41.08 and was third in the 110-meter hurdles (16.33).

Sam Johnson also turned in a top three finish, placing second in the discus (126-4), five inches behind winner Joe Dave Petitjean of Notre Dame.

Michael Casanova was Notre Dame’s only other finisher in the top three, placing third in the shot put (48-10).

In the girls’ competition, Hayley Gossen was Notre Dame’s top performer, finishing second in the 1,600-meter run (5:52.23). Mayme Cook was third in the javelin (90-10) and Amber Domingue was third in the triple jump (34-3).