Episcopal boys No. 1 in cross country poll

St. Paul’s, Episcopal, Dominican and St. Thomas Aquinas held down the top rankings in the final regular-season high school cross country polls from the Louisiana Track and Field Coaches Association.

Covington-based St. Paul’s received all 10 first-place votes and 100 points in the large schools boys polls. Jesuit-New Orleans (81), West Monroe (79) and Catholic-BR (68) completed the top four.

Brother Martin-New Orleans (fifth), Walker (sixth), St. Thomas More (ninth) and Dutchtown (10th) are teams from either Baton Rouge, New Orleans or the Acadiana area in the poll.

New Orleans-based Dominican also got all 10 first-place votes and 100 points in the large schools girls poll.

Baton Rouge’s St. Joseph’s Academy (90), Ruston (73) and Mandeville’s Fontainebleau (67) round out the top four. Mount Carmel-New Orleans (fifth) St. Scholastica-Covington (sixth), Mandeville (eighth) and St. Thomas More (ninth) were other notable teams.

Episcopal-BR also claimed all 10 first-place votes and 100 points to lead the small schools boys poll. John Curtis (84), Hammond’s St. Thomas Aquinas (81) and Ascension Catholic (67) were the other top teams. Metairie Park Country Day (eighth) and two Baton Rouge teams, Runnels (ninth) and University (10th), also made the top 10.

St. Thomas Aquinas is No. 1 in the girls small schools poll with five first-place votes and 95 points. Menard-Alexandria (85) got four first-place votes, while Episcopal (81) garnered one first-place vote to sit in third place.

Sacred Heart-New Orleans (fourth), Louise McGehee (fifth), Newman (sixth), Catholic-Pointe Coupee (seventh), Ascension Catholic (eighth) and John Curtis (10th) were other teams of interest.

Beckwith among finalists

East Feliciana High football player Kendell Beckwith is one of three Baton Rouge area players among the 20 finalists for Louisiana’s Wendy’s High School Heisman award for 2012.

Beckwith, considered to be one of the state’s top football prospects, is one of 10 boys finalists.

Lutcher High’s Kassidy Zeringue and Donaldsonville’s Kayla Hernandez are two of the 10 girls finalists. A total of 991 Louisiana athletes were nominated. Nationally over 45,000 were nominated.

Hernandez is a volleyball and softball player at DHS. Zeringue competes in soccer, softball and swimming.

Louisiana’s boys and girls winners are scheduled to be announced Monday, according to a Wendy’s news release.

Volleyball playoffs

Port Allen High is one of two Baton Rouge area teams scheduled to play bidistrict volleyball playoff contests on Wednesday.

PAHS, seeded 16th in Division IV, hosts No. 17 West St. Mary at 5 p.m. Also, No. 23 Springfield travels to Catholic-New Iberia for another Division IV game.

Most teams have set their bidistrict contests for Thursday. In Division I, No. 15 Woodlawn will host No. 18 Dutchtown in a all-local matchup. In Division II, No. 10 McKinley hosts No. 23 Broadmoor at 6 p.m. Also hosting a Division II contest is No. 11 St. Michael, which plays No. 22 Pearl River at 5 p.m.

One Baton Rouge Division II team plays on the road. Tara, making its first playoff appearance since 1999, travels to Leesville for a 5 p.m. game.

In Division III, No. 10 Brusly hosts No. 23 Loyola-Shreveport also at 5 p.m. Thursday. Two other Division IV contests are Thursday: No. 19 Dunham at No. 14 Northlake Christian at 5 p.m. and No. 21 Redemptorist at No. 12 St. Thomas Aquinas at 6 p.m. In Division V, No. 16 White Castle hosts No. 17 Patrick Taylor at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Zachary and Episcopal got a jump-start on the competition, picking up bidistrict wins on Tuesday.

Zachary (23-8) defeated Hahnville 3-1 (25-16, 25-18, 21-25, 25-17) in a Division I game. Meanwhile, Episcopal (14-17) blanked Fisher 3-0 (25-10, 25-17, 25-11) in Division IV.

Leaders for Zachary were Keandra Williams (nine kills, three blocks), Tia Coleman (seven kills) and Dreona Clayton (28 digs). Hahnville leaders included Rebecca Robert (seven assists, five digs, three blocks), Erin Hargis (17 assists) and Marissa Oucoin (six digs).

Zachary will play Dominican next in a regional playoff game.

Episcopal leaders were Charlotte Russell ( four kills, nine assists, ine digs, three aces), Ashley Augustus (11 assists, five digs, Erika Grant (three kills, 11 digs, nine aces). Fisher leaders included Allie Halley (three digs, two blocks), Jamily Lacross (two kills, four digs), Courtney Pellegrin (three assists, two digs).

Episcopal goes on the road next against University High.