West Feliciana senior track and field athlete Tristen Washington was succinct in describing the final day of the LHSAA outdoor track and field championships at LSU’s Bernie Moore Track Stadium.
“It was crazy,” she said.
And that was before the running events began.
Rain and lightning forced the start of Saturday’s Class 4A meet to be delayed. Once it did get going, it was a shaky start with some field events being moved indoors to LSU’s Carl Maddox Field House.
Washington was one of the athletes who competed indoors, and she made the most of her opportunity.
Expected to be the Saints’ top scorer after dominant performances in district and regional meets, Washington got West Feliciana started with a win in the long jump. The win carried a higher difficulty factor than expected after the event was combined with the Class 5A competition.
“It was a lot to deal with because of training outside, not knowing and then coming inside to jump,” Washington said. “And the way they did the long jump was different than they normally do, so it was messing with me, but I knew I had to keep my head in the game. I knew I had what it takes to be a state champion.”
Another casualty of the unexpected move inside was the ability to keep up with individual marks. After accepting her medal for winning the long jump, Washington was initially unsure how far she had leaped. It was later confirmed she had a winning jump of 18 feet, ¼ inch.
“I don’t know what my winning jump was,” she said. “The way they ran it, they didn’t really tell us. They just put the mark down, so I have no clue as to what my jump was.
“It was different and new. I came out today ready to jump outside. I had to prepare to jump inside in a short amount of time.”
Brusly thrower Lawryn Sampson also had to deal with the unexpected change. She came into the meet with the top qualifying throw for the outdoor shot put. After the event was moved inside, she had to adjust to the different shot that is used on an indoor surface and finished third.
“It was challenging, but I didn’t shy away from the challenge,” Sampson said. “I was ready to throw outdoors using an outdoor ball. I was prepared to go at 1:30, and then they said, ‘Rain delay. Rain delay.’ So it gave me an opportunity to lock in more, to be more comfortable and get third place like I got.”
Like Washington, Sampson was unsure of how far her third-place throw went, but felt it came up short of her best outdoor toss.
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