US #5-ranked pole vaulter Armand Duplantis did not have a walk in the park at the LSU High School Qualifier on Saturday, January 24. The Lafayette freshman still cleared 16-4 in the competition, but so did Walker's Kyle Baudoin. Duplantis won with a better track record on the day as Baudoin moved up the national leaderboard to US #9.
James Willingham (Pineville) tied for US #20 in the boys high jump with his 6-6 clearance. Austin Walker of West Monroe was runner-up with 6-4.
Chelsey Jones of Mandeville, the Louisiana state record holder for 800m outdoors at 2:12, won the half mile in a US #23 clocking of 2:18.00. She anchored the Skippers to a 10:08.15 win in the 4x800m along with Kylie Touchard, Olivia Murphy and Ally McCulley over Class 5A rivals St. Joseph's Academy, runners-up in 10:22.40.
Janie O'Connor (Zachary) ran 7.65 to win the 60m, just behind her US #19 7.64 mark from two weeks ago. She also anchored the winning 4x200m in 1:46.35.
Edward Davis (Edna Karr) and Dontrelle Allen (East St. John) went 1-2 in the 60m with identical 7.00 clockings. Kam Cummings (Catholic-BR) took top honors in the 60H in 8.30.
In the Boys 1,600m, Eric Coston (St. Paul's) - the New Balance Nationals freshman mile champion in 2014 - broke away from the field to win in 4:25.44, as Hayden Kingfisher (Parkway), Zach Capello (Ascension Catholic) and Jeffrey Kelley (Catholic-BR) also broke 4:30 for the distance.
For full meet results, click here.