St. Paul's wins Class 5A Cross Country State Championship; Eric Coston and Zachary Albright finish 0ne-Two for Wolves

Pictured at left, members of the St. Paul's Class 5A Cross Country State Championship team receive their championship trophy. At right, the Wolves proudly raise the hardware signifying them as state champs..

St. Paul's Wolves cross country team accomplished what they set out to do this season by capturing the Class 5A state title in classic fashion yesterday at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches.
St. Paul's continued its dominance with sensational freshman Eric Coston out dueling senior teammate Zachary Albright finishing one-two leading the victorious Wolves to the team title with 34 points as they blew away the 10-team field with Catholic of Baton Rouge a distant second with 121 points.
Coston, who has excelled, showing loads of maturity after transferring to St. Paul's from the Hammond area, set the pace finishing with a time of 15:15.79. Zachary Albright, who only lost one previous race this season, capping off a brilliant career, made his mark, taking second at 15:20.66. St. Paul's had two other runners finish in the top 10 with Kraemer Jackson finishing eighth, 15:56.86 and D. C. Lipani, 16:08.62 was tenth.
St. Paul's coach Terryl Chatham talked about his Wolves' dominant performance.
"What a great group of kids. We have been through so much together and for our seniors to go out this way with a state title is really special," Chatham said. 
Chatham talked about Coston being a really special runner. "Eric is an incredible talent. I am really proud of how extremely hard he worked. He certainly has a chance to win more state titles in the future," Chatham added.
Ponchatoula's Isiah Gilbert finished ninth in the Class 5A race. St. Paul's Spencer Albright came in 13th 16:16.07. Other top 25 local finishers included Northshore's Noah Martin in 15th place 16:26.15 followed by Mandeville's Dylan Heck 16:26.16 and Northshore's John Neal was 17th 16:27.55.   

St. Paul's Zachary Albright and Eric Coston finish one-two at Walker Shootout

St. Paul's Wolves cross country team remained undefeated winning it sixth event this season. The Wolves rode a one-two finish by Zachary Albright and Eric Coston to win the 11th annual Walker Shootout with  43 points. Photo by Angele Albright.

The 11th annual Walker Shootout took place Saturday at the Walker Recreation Park in less
than ideal conditions with runners battling the mud and a touch course.
St. Paul's senior Zachary Albright continued his domination as he and his freshman teammate Eric
Coston finished one-two in the 261-runner field to keep the Wolves unbeaten.
Albright, tied the St. Paul's school record set by Jimmy Wiggins back in 1999, with a time of
15-minutes and three tenths of a second.
Albright continues his excellent campaign, helping to lead the Wolves, who are unbeaten in six meets this season. Coston took second, just 12-seconds back at 15:12.09 with Hahnville's Bryce Robinson third
at 15:23.15.
The Wolves had three other runners finish in the top 25 including DC Lipani, taking sixth at 15:54.17. Spencer Albright, a sophomore, the younger brother of Zachary, earned an 11th place finish at 16:13.35. Their St. Paul's teammate Kraemer Jackson finished 23rd at 16:28.96.
St. Paul's coach Terryl Chatham was excited about his team's performance. "They ran on a very difficult, and muddy course. It was definitely a great team effort on their part," Chatham said.
Other local area finishers included Mandeville's Dylan Heck, who came in ninth place at 16:11.45.
Northshore's Noah Martin was 15th, 16:19.05, while Mandeville's Spencer Hollander took 20th
at 16:26.14.
St. Paul's kept its winning streak in tact and continued its dominance, winning the event in the 30-team field with 43 points over Catholic High, 96 points followed by Jesuit at 132.
Other local schools included, Mandeville sixth with 238 points, Fontainebleau 12th 332 points, while Northshore came in 14th place followed by St. Thomas Aquinas with both teams totaling 382 points with Northshore having the higher finisher. Ponchatoula was 20th with 468 points and Slidell was 23rd at 695 points.
For a complete look at race results, you can visit
la.milesplit.com and click on meet results. There is also a photo gallery by Angelle Albright, featuring some excellent race shots of both the boys and girls competition at the Walker Shootout.