Sports - High School

Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009

OLA runners make school history

BAY ST. LOUIS — After many close calls, Our Lady Academy was able to celebrate its first state championship in cross country on Saturday.

The Crescents won the Class 2A crown at Mississippi College, amassing 19 points as OLA won the first four places in the hilly race. A perfect score is 15.

Harry Hull, who coaches the team with Darren Raybourn, said the Crescents had finished second at least 10 times over the last 22 seasons on the statewide stage. But this youthful Crescent team dominated the hilly Clinton course.

“We knew from all the training that we could do it and win,” Lindsay Raybourn said. “I wanted to pace behind the frontrunner and take them close to the end. But they cut off on the wrong course and I took the right course.”

The Crescents ran as a pack, and Raybourn, an eighth-grader, took first place with a time of 17:14.6. Seventh-grader Sofia Taconi was second, followed in order by junior Denise Powell and freshman Anna Taconi. The 1-2-3-4 finish encouraged the OLA girls, and when eighth-grader Brittany Laurent took ninth place, they figured they had won the team title.

Raybourn runs in USA Track and Field as well as AAU meets in the offseason from high school cross country and track,

At the state meet, runners are greeted by a steep hill as they close in on the finish line.

“I saw a lot of teammates cheering me on, and I sprinted up the hill,’’ Sofia Taconi said.

Since 1987, OLA has enjoyed some outstanding individual performances at the state meet from girls like Amie Geary, Melissa McPhail and Jennifer Asper.

That made the first team championship even more meaningful.

“I knew they had worked hard all year,’’ Coach Darren Raybourn said.

Raybourn played football at Gulfport High in his prep days. “We’ve run enough meets and the times were there,” he said.

“The question was if they could handle the pressure and stay focused and run the game plan. They were able to accomplish it.’’

OLA earlier won the state volleyball championship, and the high school gym has a wall that recognizes the school’s numerous titles in soccer and volleyball. Now there is a new entry to be etched on the board.

“This will be something they will remember the rest of their life,’’ Darren Raybourn said.

“No matter how many state championships are won after this, they will be the first one and they set the precedent.’’

With only two juniors on the team and a wealth of youth, this could be the first of many titles.

“I think we can definitely do this next year,’’ Sofia Taconi said.