The Jesuit track & field team have been going strong this season. District and regionals were no exception with the Blue Jays grabbing a second-place team finish at district and third-place team finish at regionals.

On Thursday, April 21, at the District 9-5A Championships the Jays had an excellent showing with 7 first-place finishes mainly in the field and long-distance events. Sophomore Michael Vocke led the way taking top spots in both the 800m (1:56.29) and 1600m (4:42.45) with junior Jack DesRoches grabbing first in the 3200m (9:35.88) to cinch the final long-distance event. Also out pacing the competition was the 4x800m relay team—juniors Aeric Wender, Patrick Dowd, Robert Buisson, and freshman Brady Mullen—who finished with a first-place time of 8:19.11. In the field events, sophomore Jody Barber claimed first with a great PR (beat his personal record) of 20-5.25 in the long jump and senior Logan Daigle scored first with a whopping 135-2.5 throw in discus. Wrapping up the first-place field events was Jack Larriviere with a 186-6 throw in the javelin.

Jesuit fought a hard battle for the top spot at district but Brother Martin was able to edge everyone out by nabbing points from almost every event for a total of 141 points. Jesuit and John Curtis finished closely to each other with a 126 and 123, respectively.

Following district on Wednesday, April 27, the 17 regional qualifiers moved on to compete at the Region 3-5A Championships in Thibodaux, LA. Seven of those Blue Jays managed to repeat their success at district with another round of first-place finishes—DesRoches with a 9:36.60 in the 3200m; Vocke with a 4:29.30 (PR) in the 1600m; Wender, Dowd, Buisson, and Mullen with a 8:14.62 (PR) in the 4×800 relay; and Larriviere with a 220-0 in the javelin. A first-year javelin thrower, Larriviere is one to watch for at state. He currently holds the nation’s best javelin throw for 2022, with a stellar throw of 220-6. The mark is also a school record.

Even with the many successes at regionals Jesuit (74) was outpaced by both first-place finisher Brother Martin (96) and second-place finisher John Curtis (86). However, the top 3 finishers of each regional event will advance to the LHSAA State Outdoor Track & Field Meet, which will take place on Saturday, May 7 at LSU’s Bernie Moore Track in Baton Rouge. Other Blue Jays who will be competing on Saturday are Daigle in the discus, junior August Berner in the long jump, freshman Leland Crawford in the 1600m, and sophomore Lucas Sampedro in the 3200m.

Qualifying Results from the District and Regional Meets below:

District

Regional Qualifiers:

Event	Place	Athlete	Time or Distance	Points Earned
Long Jump	1	Jody Barber (So.)	20-5.25 (PR)	10
Discus	1	Logan Daigle (Sr.)	135-2.5	10
3200 Meter Run	1	Jack DesRoches (Jr.)	9:35.88	10
Javelin	1	Jack Larriviere (Sr.)	186-6	10
800 Meter Run	1	Michael Vocke (So.)	1:56.29	10
1600 Meter Run	1	Michael Vocke (So.)	4:42.45	10
4×800 Meter Run	1	Aeric Wender (Jr.), Patrick Dowd (Jr.), Robert Buisson(Jr.), and Brady Mullen (Fr.)	8:19.11	10
High Jump	2	Caleb Tolbert (Sr.)	6-2 (PR)	8
3200 Meter Run	2	Lucas Sampedro (So.)	9:38.60	8
Pole Vault	2	Caleb Keister (Sr.)	10-6 (PR)	8
1600 Meter Run	2	Leland Crawford (Fr.)	4:42.61	8
Long Jump	3	August Berner (Jr.)	19-10	6
Pole Vault	4	Luke Barbara (Sr.)	9-6	4
800 Meter Run	4	Zack Blanchard (Jr.)	1:59.27 (PR)	4

Team Results

1. Brother Martin 141, 2. Jesuit 126, 3. John Curtis Christian 123, 4. St. Augustine 64, 5. Archbishop Rummel 49, 6. Holy Cross 42, 7. Archbishop Shaw 40

Regionals

State Qualifiers:

Event	Place	Athlete	Time or Distance	Points Earned
3200 Meter Run	1	Jack DesRoches (Jr.)	9:36.60	10
Javelin	1	Jack Larriviere (Sr.)	220-0	10
1600 Meter Run	1	Michael Vocke (So.)	4:29.30 (PR)	10
4×800 Meter Relay	1	Aeric Wender (Jr.), Patrick Dowd (Jr.), Robert Buisson(Jr.), and Brady Mullen (Fr.)	8:14.62 (PR)	10
1600 Meter Run	2	Leland Crawford (Fr.)	4:32.75	8
3200 Meter Run	2	Lucas Sampedro (So.)	9:39.50	8
Long Jump	3	August Berner (Jr.)	21-10.5 (PR)	6
Discus	3	Logan Daigle (Sr.)	134-7	6

Team Results

1. Brother Martin 96, 2. John Curtis 86, 3. Jesuit 74, 4. St. Augustine 49, 5. H.L. Bourgeois 47, 6. Destrehan 46, 7. Thibodaux 36, 8. Hahnville 35, 9. Central Lafourche and Holy Cross 28 (tie)