Central Speedsters Win District 5-5A Titles, Prepare for Regional

April 22, 2011 0 Comments

Akil Bennett lining up for 110-meter hurdles

BATON ROUGE — Central High’s newly-revived track and field program began to hit its stride Wednesday afternoon at the District 5-5A Championship Track and Field Meet at the Catholic High track off S. Acadiana Throughway in Baton Rouge.

Defending State 100-meter dash Champion Trevor Sansone of Central won his second straight District 5-5A crown in the event with a time of 10.74. To see Central City News Editor Woody Jenkins’ photos of the meet CLICK HERE.

In fact, Sansone also won the Gold in two other events — the 200-meter dash, which he won at 22.06, and the 4×100-meter relay, which Sansone ran with James Richardson, Lamonte Janueau, and Gray Triplett for a time of 42.77. This relay team appears to be a serious threat for the State Championship.

Central won 3rd Place in the 4×200 relay, in what was a dogfight with Catholic and Zachary. Catholic won with a time of 2:28.22, Zachary was 2nd with a time 2:28.57, and Central was third with 2:28.85 — hardly a whisker among the three of them.

In the 200, Sansone, the Central Flyer, had his hands full with freshman star Gary Tripplett, also of Central. The pair finished 1-2 in the district.. Triplett ran the 200 in 22.27, just bit behind Sansone.

Another real bright spot for the Wildcats was the performance of Akil Bennett. Bennett won 1st Place in the long jump with a leap of 22-4-1/4 inches — the best jump in the state this year. Bennett distinguished himself in the 110-member hurdle, which he won 3rd place in with a time of 16.35. Akil was 4th in the triple jump with a leap of 41-2.

Central’s John Davis won 4th Place in the shot put with a throw of 43-10-3/4ths, and Blake Welborn won 3rd Place in discus with a throw of 130-9.

Coach Brad Cook is making creditable progress with this new Central team.