Destrehan High School track and football standout Kirk Merritt won two events on his own and anchored a third to help his team win the Region III Class 5A championship last week with an overall score of 56.
Merritt burned up the track in the 100 meter relay with a time of 10.45. He crossed the finish line in the 200 meter in 21.67 and anchored the Fighting Wildcats to a first-place finish in the 4×100 relay with a time of 42.63. Merritt was awarded the boys’ track MVP award of the meet.
Destrehan’s Will Matthews shoved the shot put off his shoulder far enough to take first place with a distance of 49-08.90, and he threw the discus 121-02 to capture fifth place.
Fighting Wildcat Patrick Ryan helped the team place seventh in a field of 12 with a 53.35 time. Matt Vanamburg also placed seventh in a similar filed in the 3200 meter race, finishing at 11:08.48.
The team ran the 4×200 in 1:30.60 to capture fourth place and the 4×400 in 3:37.90 to take fifth.
“The kids work so hard all year,” coach Tim Taffi said.
“Track is so important to the bayou teams’ region, and for us to even be in the meet with them says something about their work ethic. But for us to go there and win it, that is something special.”
Several Destrehan track and field team members advance to the state championship Saturday on the campus of Louisiana State University.
Taffi said he’s proud, but he’s going to miss the “twos” and “fews” who didn’t qualify for the state competition.
“There were guys who helped out the team by scoring points for the team that individually only did well enough for fourth and fifth place and didn’t qualify for the next level,” he said.
“We’ll miss them.”
Be the first to comment