In 2000, Bossier High won the Class 4A state championship in the 400-meter relay with a 41.44 clocking. The Bearkats’ fastest regular-season time was 41.3 seconds. They had the fastest two times in the state for all schools, regardless of size.
In 2003, Airline ranked second in the state in the 400-meter relay with 41.6 seconds.
Nearing the end of the 2012 season, Haughton’s Bucs rank among the state leaders with 41.49 in the 400 relay by the quartet of Javonte Woodard, Micah Larkins, Kyonz Smith and Ty Shilling. Airline ranks second in Bossier Parish with 42.72. Haughton also ranks No. 1 in Bossier Parish with a 1:27.58 in the 800-meter relay foursome of Jermichael Bell, Larkins, Smith and Shilling.
Haughton’s boys have the top Bossier Parish performances in nine of the 18 track and field events, followed by Airline with five, Benton with three and Parkway with one.
Mitch Landry and Larkins of Haughton lead Bossier Parish in two events apiece. Landry has the best performances in the 1,600-meter run (4:19.47) and 3,200-meter run (9:18.43). Larkins leads teammate Ty Shilling by one-hundredth of a second with 10.41 in the 100-meter dash. He also leads Shilling by two-hundredths of a second with 21.59 in the 200-meter dash.
Larkins, Shilling and Smith (21.66) give Haughton a 1-2-3 sweep in Bossier Parish 200-meter performances.
As usual, longer races aren’t that close. Parkway’s Corey Hamilton leads Airline’s Jaquavis Hart by nearly two seconds in the 400-meter dash, 48.31 to 50.24. Airline’s Jack Wilkes leads Landry by nearly three seconds in the 800-meter run, 1:56.71 to 1:59.53. Landry leads Wilkes by more than 10 seconds in the 1,600, and Landry leads Parkway’s Hayden Kingfisher by more than 71 seconds in the 3,200.
While Haughton has a healthy lead over parish rivals in both the 400 relay and 800 relay, Airline (3:25.92) and Parkway (3:26.55) are the only Bossier Parish teams that have broken 3:42 in the 1,600 relay.
In 1976 and 1977, Haughton’s Joe Delaney won state championships in the Class 3A (then the second highest class) 100-yard dash. In 1976, his 9.6 at the state meet was the fastest time in any of the six classifications. In 1976, Delaney also won the 220-yard dash with 21.6, which equaled the winning time of New Iberia’s Mike Bonan in the top class (4A) and was faster than any of the others.
Delaney went on to break school records in both football and track at Northwestern State, and gained 1,121 yards rushing in his rookie season with the Kansas City Chiefs to set an American Football Conference rookie record. He was selected AFC offensive Rookie of the Year. In June of 1983, he drowned attempting to help several boys who were in trouble in a downtown pool in Monroe.
Delaney was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997. The only other Bossier Parish product in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame is Gary “Big Hands” Johnson, a football lineman at Charlotte Mitchell High, Grambling State and throughout an 11-year National Football League career.
In addition to the two relay teams, Haughton’s parish leaders this season are Micah Larkins with 10.41 in the 100-meter dash and 21.59 in the 200, Landry with 4:19.47 in the 1,600 and 9:18.43 in the 3,200, Jermichael Bell with 15.10 in the 110 high hurdles, Javonte Woodard with 41.02 in the 300 intermediate hurdles, and Shilling with 185-5 in the javelin throw.
Airline’s Cameron Rice leads in two events with 6-10 in the high jump and 21-4 in the long jump. Rice is third on the Bossier Parish all-time high jump list behind 7-0 by Benton’s T.K. Fleming in 2010 and 6-10 ? by Haughton’s J.C. Cook in 2007. Benton’s Kenny Minton set the parish record in the long jump with 24-1 in 2000, breaking the previous record of 23-6 1/2 by Bossier High’s Kelly Corkern in 1967.
Jerry Byrd is the former sports editor of the Bossier Press-Tribune and an award-winning columnist. Check out a few hundred of his columns on www.jerrybyrd.com. You can contact him by E-mail at
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