No matter what the Acadiana Renaissance boys track and field team accomplished earlier this season, it was not content with the achievements.
In the Eagles' mind, the season was a mere steppingstone to where they ultimately wanted to be 鈥 No. 1 in Class 2A at season鈥檚 end.
On Friday, the Eagles arrived at their destination, winning the school's first Class 2A track and field state championship at LSU's Bernie Moore Track Stadium.
"This time, it absolutely doesn't seem real," Eagles coach Travis Scott said. "When I think about how much these kids have grown this year and this journey we've been on, it just doesn't feel real. We have come so far and all the things these kids have done to put our school on the map, is really special."
The Eagles won the state title with 64 points, while runner-up Northlake Christian scored 49. Episcopal placed third with 45, East Feliciana was fourth with 44 and Newman rounded out the top five with 38.
"I don鈥檛 do speechless often, but (Friday) I'm close to being speechless," Scott said. "The way we coach, we preach it all of the time that track is a team sport. Everybody was fantastic."
The Eagles won first place in three events 鈥 pole vault (Lucas Owens, 14 feet, 4.75 inches), 4x100 relay (42.83) and 4x200 relay 鈥 but finished in the top six in other events to ultimately pull out the win.
"We don't have kids who are going to go out and score 36, 38 or 40 points," Scott said. "We have a couple in the hurdles, distance races and sprints. There were 19 events and we won three. But it's about doing what you need to do for each other, and we are going to build around that."
It was a day to remember for the Galyean of the Eagles, who signed a national letter of intent with the UL Ragin' Cajuns track program in the morning before leaving for 香港六和开奖历史记录 on Friday.
"Overall, it's just such a blessing," Galyean said. "It was such a great day to be able to sign with UL and then go out and compete my heart out one last time for ARCA. I'm feeling great."
Galyean finished second in the 300 hurdles and third in the 110 hurdles while also contributing to both the 4x100 relay (Terry Matthews, Galyean, Zahaurey Roy, Esmond Barker) and 4x200 relay (Matthews, Galyean, Alexander Lopez, Barker) teams for the Eagles.
"I was upset by the 110 hurdles," Galyean said of his third-place finish. "But I had to shake it off.鈥
Galyean couldn鈥檛 help but reflect on how far the Eagles have come in such a short amount of time.
鈥淭wo to four years ago, this would have been unheard of or impossible to think about,鈥 Galyean said of winning a state championship. 鈥淚 know the new facilities are almost done, but we have limited facilities. We have been training in a parking lot. But here at ARCA, we persevere through all hardships.鈥
In addition to the relays, Barker provided the Eagles with points in his two individual events, finishing second in the 100 (11.05) and the 200 (22.09).
鈥淭hose guys (Galyean, Barker and Owens) are the spine of what we do,鈥 Scott said. 鈥淭his is the first time that we can talk about having veteran leadership. They have all been through the ups and downs here, so they are deserving of the recognition.鈥
While he is going to need time for his team's accomplishments to sink in, Scott couldn鈥檛 be happier about the Eagles鈥 journey.
鈥淓verything that we do, we do together,鈥 Scott said. 鈥淭o win a state championship feels amazing. It is fantastic and I can鈥檛 think of a better senior class, a better group of athletes or a better coaching staff to have help us out on this stage.鈥
