BATON ROUGE — Bogalusa’s Raheem Roberts and Clydeterrious Thompson made the podium by coming in the top three of their event at the Class 3A state meet held Saturday at LSU.
Roberts made the podium for the triple jump while Thompson made the podium for the long jump and O’Layazha Morris nearly made the podium for the high jump and was not that far from winning the event.
Roberts had decision to make on Saturday.
The morning’s rain forced a schedule change in times and/or place for many events at the meet.
The weather made it a tough situation when it came to the schedule. There were plenty of championships being decided on Saturday, as Classes 3A-5A outdoor state track/field championships were taking place, and all of the events were scheduled in Bernie Moore Stadium.
Roberts qualified for the Class 3A state meet in the javelin and triple jump. To reach state, athletes must come in the top four at their district meet to advance to regionals and then finish in the top three at regionals to make it to state. Roberts won the triple jump at both meets and was third in both meets for the javelin.
Roberts was originally scheduled to throw the javelin at 1:15 p.m. and to triple jump at 3:45 p.m.
The schedule change had both events at 3:45 p.m. and the triple jump was moved to the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse — LSU’s indoor track facility— and the javelin at the outdoor stadium.
The logistics of Roberts competing in both events, going from one to another would have been nearly impossible. The indoor and indoor stadium are separated by a sidewalk behind the outdoor stadium, but the javelin was on the opposite side of Bernie Moore Stadium from the Carol Maddox Fieldhouse.
Roberts chose to compete in the triple jump.
“I had to do what I knew I was best at,” Roberts said.
Roberts said he just started throwing the javelin at district, but he had been doing the triple jump the whole season, so he stuck with the triple jump.
It was a good choice.
Roberts, a sophomore, hit the podium with a second-place finish.
Roberts triple jumped 44 feet, 8.25 inches. Westlake’s Xavier Goodly won the title at 45-11.5.
“I did the best I could,” Roberts said. “Coach always pushes me to strive hard and I just put God first.”
Roberts said he could have done better.
“Just got to continue to work hard and come out strong for next year,” Roberts said.
Roberts’ javelin throws in district and regional were 132-6 and 145-0. Had he competed in the javelin and been in that 145-0 range, that would have put him around sixth place. Sixth place was 145-2 and fifth was 157-7.
Thompson and Morris’ events were also inside.
Thompson capped off a solid year of track/field with a podium finish in the long jump.
Thompson was third in the event with a distance of 21-5.25. Washington-Marion’s Michael Taylor won the title with a jump of 22-0.5.
“It wasn’t the best, it was alright,” Thompson said. “I mean, I had fun doing it, but I didn’t touch the board at all like at all. I didn’t like it. If I would’ve touched the board, I believe I would’ve came in victorious.”
The board is where the athlete jumps from and where the jumps are measured.
Earlier this year, Thompson won the indoor state championship in the long jump.
Morris nearly made it to the podium in the high jump.
Morris high jumped 4-10 and was just two inches from second place and three inches from first.
Iota’s Madison Ardoin and Academy of the Sacred Heart of New Orleans’ Sara Spinosa tied for second with each going for 5-0.
West Feliciana’s Destiny Mitchell won the championship with a 5-2.