Sacred Heart follows Schmidt to first title; Blenk's Fitzhenry wins
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
By Pierce W. Huff - - Times-Picayune
NATCHITOCHES -- It was a day of firsts for New Orleans-area girls teams and runners at the state cross country meet Tuesday at Northwestern State University.
Sacred Heart junior Meggie Schmidt won her second state championship in three years to lead the Cardinals to their first state title in Class 3A.
In Class 4A, Blenk sophomore Heather Fitzhenry won her first state championship, and St. Scholastica won the team title with 65 points.
The Class 3A race was the last of the day on a course in which eight championship races were run Tuesday. At first LHSAA officials awarded the team title to St. Louis, ruling that the Saints were first with 55 points -- and Sacred Heart was second with 65.
But Sacred Heart Coach Greg Caro told the officials that the original scoring was wrong. He had the Cardinals accept the second-place trophy and shake hands with St. Louis team members after the Saints were awarded the first-place trophy. Caro then appealed to the LHSAA that it failed to include Schmidt in the team scoring. The officials recognized the scoring error and corrected the point totals, with Sacred Heart having 50 and St. Louis 64. St. Louis and Sacred Heart then swapped team trophies.
"I let the results speak for themselves (in the situation)," Caro said. "(The LHSAA) missed the number and pull tab on Meggie and did not put her in the final results."
Caro said it was a bittersweet ending for him and his team.
"(Winning the appeal) does make it sweeter when you win the title, but the stands here were empty when it happened," Caro said.
Schmidt won the state title by 49 seconds over Redemptorist's Ciera Johnson with a time of 20 minutes, 58 seconds.
Sacred Heart had five girls in the top 15, including Ellie Quinn (eighth, 22:24), Margot Bienvenu (12th, 22:35), Emily Tixler (14th, 22:57) and Bethany Burst (15th, 23:11).
Depth also carried St. Scholastica to the team title in Class 4A. The Doves had four runners in the top 20 -- Melissa Hamel (fifth, 22:10), Kim Broadbridge (10th, 22:39), Lauren Fereday (12th, 22:43) and Savannah Jenkins (16th, 22:52).
Fitzhenry said she was shocked to win the state title in her first state cross country meet. She passed Parkway's Clair Clark at the first mile and won the race by 20 seconds in 21:05.
"It was a challenge today," Fitzhenry said.
Blenk, which soon will merge with Immaculata, finished fourth. Blenk had three runners in the top 20, including Brandi Blanchard (fourth, 21:52) and Megan Puyau (19th, 23:08).
In Class 5A, Mount Carmel (fourth) was the top local team. Ruston (44 points) was first and Barbe (65) second. Dominican was seventh.
In Class 2A, McGehee and Newman finished third and fourth. Baton Rouge Episcopal won the team title with 35 points, followed by Menard (93).
Pierce W. Huff can be reached at phuff@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3809.
