Lady Patriots win second straight meet

The North Vermilion Lady Patriot track team won its second straight meet with a three-point win in the Patriot Relays Friday night.

North Vermilion squeaked by Kaplan, who had been in front of the pack for majority of the evening.

North Vermilion finished the night with 92 points followed by Kaplan with 89.

“I felt like we really fought to the end,” said North Vermilion head coach Mya Touchet. “We were in second place the whole way, down to the last race. We had one girl score one point in the two mile (race) and the one point made all the difference. They never gave up.”

The Lady Patriots claimed four first-place finishes in the meet: Simone Pillette in the shot put, Lunden Graham in the 800-meter run, Blayna Parfait in the 400-meter run and the 4x400 meter relay.

“They come out every day and work hard in practice,” Touchet said. “Every week our goal is to be better than we were last week and that’s what they’ve been doing.”

Kaplan’s Kendra Gums won the outstanding performer award with 32 points followed by Graham with 26.50.

The Lady Pirates posted four first-place finishes Friday, three of which were won by Gums: Long jump, javelin throw, triple jump and high jump.

Delcambre finished third with 67 points and Abbeville was fourth with 52. Abbeville’s Nadasha Valliere was named the outstanding field performer.

The Lady Patriots look to keep their win streak alive when they participate in the Cashen Relays in Delcambre April 1.

“In Delcambre, we are looking forward to having our team for once this year,” Touchet said. “This is the first time we’ll have our softball girls and our whole team from start to finish.”

On the boys side, Cecilia ran away with the meet, besting second place Abbeville by 59 points. The Bulldogs scored 142 to AHS’s 83.

Kaplan ended with 65, North Vermilion with 61 and Delcambre with 48 rounded out the rest of the local schools.

Cecilia swept all of the awards, with Jalen Bates coming in second place for the outstanding field award.