As the light rain fell between lightning strikes, the scene outside LSU’s Carl Maddox Field House resembled an anxious crowd eager to snap up the final tickets for a concert or event.
Only, there was no tickets for what this crowd waited nearly four hours to see — the start of field events for the LHSAA outdoor track and field meet.
Yes, lightning delays that began before 1:30 p.m. forced meet officials to move the long jump, triple jump, high jump, pole vault, shot put and a portion of pole vault competitors inside.
Parents lined up and watched as field event athletes and coaches made their way inside to begin warmups for a competition that began at 5:20 p.m. Ultimately, one side of the facility was roped off and parents were allowed in.
The other field events and the bulk of running events went on in order starting at 7:45 p.m. — nearly four hours late, at LSU’s Bernie Moore Track Stadium and were completed even later Saturday night.
“Oh, gosh yeah … I am glad they (LHSAA) decided to do this,” Zachary throws coach Amanda Woosley said of moving some field events inside. “Back in 2019 we had to bring field indoors because of weather but we started at 2 p.m. and I wish we had started this earlier.
“But … this was the best you could do on this day. The important thing was giving these kids a chance to compete. This may be the only state meet some of them will ever compete in.”
Indoor competition was old hat for some and completely new for others. Parameters also were different for shot put specialists, who had to throw the indoor shot put instead of the outdoor one they have been using since March.
“I got here around 10:30 a.m., so there was a lot of waiting around,” Denham Springs’ Porter Gibson said. “I sat in my truck mostly.
“It was hard to go back to indoor shot put since I have not been training with it. Definitely … I am glad we I got to compete one last time today.”
Gibson, a senior, finished second in the Class 5A boys shot put in 51 feet, 6 ¼ inches. Sam Houston’s Bronson Williams (52-6 ¼) was the winner.
There was a touch of irony when the result of a 5A held outdoors, the javelin, came in before the indoor results were completed. Catholic’s Paul Catalanatto won that one in 201-9.
Keeping an eye on the prize — team points — was the focus for Scotlandville’s Broderick Davis, who was the Division I indoor long jump champion in February.
He won again Saturday with a leap of 23-6, which was seven inches shy of his outdoor best. Teammate Ferzell Shepard jumped indoors for the first time and was second at 23-0.
“I wasn’t sure what to do, because I had never done this,” Shepard said. “The first couple of jumps felt strange. I am pretty sure I was in last place. As I made more jumps, I got comfortable.”
Both Hornets left the field house quickly to prepare for their outdoor running events.
Davis noted, “I really wanted to jump outside and I was mad at first. But I jumped, got the points we needed for the team … time to move on.”
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