Jack Reding took the awards stand late Saturday, clinched both fists and extended arms into the air in victory as a loud South Lafourche contingent roared from the corner of LSU’s Bernie Moore Stadium stands.
The junior thrower, fresh off his discus gold to go with an earlier shot put silver, would return to the podium before long, but this time with plenty of company as the Tarpons celebrated their first outdoor track and field team championship in program history.
“It’s great, man,” he said. “It’s a feeling like no other. I won (the discus) last year, and to do it again, it really does mean a lot — for my family, my friends. It has a place in your heart, especially for the team. That’s all that matters. For the team, I made my points, and that’s all that really matters: the fact that I could produce that for my team.”
Reding was among the stars with unusual, but successful day as he finished second in the Class 4A shot put (51-07.25) inside neighboring Carl Maddox Fieldhouse because of the afternoon’s lightning storm and then moved outside for the discus victory (163-04).
“Coming out of regionals, it was really rough,” he said. “I came out third. It was just a rough day. I couldn’t find the finish. And today, through God’s grace, I was able to get a strong finish in and keep it in. I trained really hard this week. It’s very unfortunate I wasn’t able to produce that and show everybody (higher distances), but I’m only a junior, so I’ve got all of next year too.”
Senior Joshua Guidry led the way on the track with a 1600-meter win (4:20.14) and 800-meter silver 1:58.78.
Senior Yair Torres-Aguilar capped his prep career with 400-meter gold (48.50 seconds).
“I knew going into this race I was projected first, so throughout this week, it was a visual game, just: ‘Look, I’m projected first. I’ve just gotta finish strong and do what I’ve got to keep doing,'” he said. “When I was inside warming up, I felt great. I knew that for me the most important part of the race was gonna be the back stretch and making sure I was relaxed.
“And the other thing that helped was mental cues. The first 80 meters, I was telling myself, ‘Drive, drive, drive, drive.’ I entered the back stretch, and I was like, ‘float, float.’ The last curve, I knew I had to speed it up, and the last 100 meters I knew I had to give it everything I’ve got.”
Sophomore Jacq’ues Billiot (171-00) and freshman Lakin Fillinich (164-06) finished second and fifth in the javelin.
And junior Jacob Galliano chipped in a sixth-place point in the pole vault (12-05.50).
The team effort was critical, tallying 57 total points, in a dog fight decided by the smallest margin of any classification on the day — edging West Ouachita (46) and Northside (29) in the standings — and one of the three smallest of the three-day weekend.
“It means a lot,” Torres-Aguilar said. “I want to appreciate my coach, everybody, my family and friends. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here… It means everything. I knew that every person here had to play a role, and I came here and did my part, and I know my team’s gonna do well.”
Multisport star Ashton Stark from nearby Lutcher earned the Class 4A boys’ Outstanding Performer honors with victory in the long jump (22-03.50), second-place in the 100-meter dash (10.64 seconds), fourth in the 200-meter dash (22.15 seconds) and a leg of the seventh-place 4×200-meter relay (1:30.81).