THURSDAY

POKES ADVANCE WITH 10-5 WIN OVER NORTHWESTERN STATE

A 7-run second inning sparked the McNeese baseball team to run away from the Northwestern State Demons and advance to a 4pm matchup with UIW in Round Two. The first day of the tournament was highlighted by three of the four seeded teams getting beat. Late night games last night had Nicholls blowing out A&M-CC 14-2 in seven innings. In the nightcap, #6 SLU defeated UNO 10-2 to advance to the 7PM game tonight against Nicholls. I think the winner of this game will win the tournament.

Today’s schedule begins this morning with #1 seed Lamar playing #4 seed Northwestern State in an elimination game. At noon, UNO will attempt to stay alive with a win over A&M-CC. McNeese takes on UIW at 4PM followed by the SLU vs Nicholls matchup at 7PM.

POKES TRACK AND FIELD DISAPPOINT IN LEXINGTON

More times than not, McNeese track and field tends to peak at the Southland Conference meet in regard to individual PR’s (personal records). There are exceptions over the years, but too often the regionals get less than their best. Today, Friday, and Saturday serve more opportunities for the athletes to have PR’s and possibly advance to Eugene. Oregon.

Wednesday did not serve the athletes well as all four fell substantially short of their season best.

Hunter Longino -best of 223’6, threw 192’8 for his worst performance of the season.

Marcus Francis- best of 59’11.5 “, threw 57’4

Jalon White -best of 46.2 in the 400, ran 46.93 on Wednesday

Jaden Powell-best of 51.3 to win the SLC, but ran a 53.03 on Wednesday

LSU ADVANCES IN SEC TOURNAMENT

LSU won for the second consecutive day with a blowout win. A 11-0 win over #3 Kentucky was decided early in the game. The Tigers, much like McNeese, got a break in the bracket when a favorite (Arkansas) was upset yesterday which allows the Tigers to face South Carolina. McNeese expected to play #1 seed Lamar but caught a break with UIW winning. Of course, who is to say that USC and UIW are not playing better than the other teams. UIW defeated McNeese three games in a row in Lake Charles earlier in the year.

As Bobby Knight preached, “It is not how good you are, but how good you play”. Amen.

LSU plays South Carolina today at 4:30pm.

NO MORE EXCUSES

Fans/parents love to stereotype young athletes in believing this sport or that sport is not for them. I cannot tell you how many parents over the years have told me that basketball and track are sports that are for black athletes. White athletes just cannot compete due to biological shortcomings from genetics, etc. Do you remember what got “Jimmy the Greek” fired from CBS? Blacks are better athletes because they were bred to be slaves.

I won’t list the many stereotype remarks that I have read over the year such as blacks can’t hit the curve ball in baseball, whites cannot run, jump, or have quickness. Golf is for whites, not blacks, at least until Tiger Woods showed up. Gymnastics are for white girls because their bodies are more streamlined for this type of competition. So on and so forth.

My only point is that I grow tired of excuses. There are plenty of examples of determined young people doing in life what they want bad enough to work and train for it. Five or six years ago I posted a mile relay by Celina High School (north of Prosper in DFW) that was in 2A classification and had four white kids breaking a state mile relay record. I think they ran around a 3:12 at state. They won state titles in every sport over the years (12 state football titles) because they trained and worked hard with what they had on campus. No excuses. Highland Park has won state titles in many sports and been good in basketball and track over the years with no black athletes. Their first black football player just played in 2020-2021.

Oh, by the way, the stereotypical thought that rich kids can’t win is also a lie. Find me a program that works harder than athletes at Highland Park and Southlake Carroll. They win and they win big!

Prior to the early 1970’s, there were few black athletes playing sports in Calcasieu Parish due to slow integration. In the late 1960’s, LaGrange and Lake Charles High had some epic battles on the track in the mile relay. Imagine four white kids at LaGrange and four white kids at LCHS both cracking 3:20 in the mile relay, LaGrange ran a 3:19.6 which was over a 440-yard track on cinders. There were no turfed tracks in SW Louisiana prior to Sulphur pouring their all-weather track sometime in very late 1960’s.

All 8 runners in these mile relays between LGHS and LCHS were white. To run a 3.20 you must have four runners average 50 seconds per lap. Can you image having eight or nine runners running 50 seconds are better?

Kids knew no different. You either started young, ran/played in elementary/junior high school, or you stayed on the sidelines. I was one of those guys on that mile relay and I can remember running against those guys in elementary meets on Saturday morning at Wildcat Stadium as well as Junior High meets at Gator Stadium or Sulphur High. It is all you knew and those built in excuses did not work.

This kid (pictured)is still wearing braces, His counterpart in Newcomer of the Year in DFW is a 9th grade white girl who ran a 2:08 800 meter which is best in the nation for her age group. Cooper trains hard and is determined to be the best he can be. No excuses! Yes, he did run an open 400 meters in 47.33.

Twenty plus years ago I saw a white kid running for Arlington Lamar against Garland. He was super-fast and ran a 20.4 200 meters and under 46.0 in the 400 meters. It was not unbelievable because I had seen a kid at Skyline High School run a 46 400 meter. It is not a coincidence that these two high school kids now own three of the fastest 400-meter times in the world. Michael Johnson was the black runner from Skyline who went on to become the world’s best 400 runner. The other kid was Jeremy Warner who owns the third fastest 400 of all time (43.5). Jeremy ended his career with four Olympic medals including three gold. Just a local white kid who had no excuses and had the determination to be the best.

Justin Northwest freshman Cooper Lutkenhaus

Lutkenhaus broke the national high school record for freshmen by winning the Class 5A state title in the 800 meters with a time of 1:49.84. (This would have won the Southland Conference 800). He went from fifth place to first on the last lap with a 54.43-second final 400 meters, and he won by nearly four seconds. It’s the fifth-best time in the nation for 2024 and is only a second off the state record of 1:48.21 run by Olympian Jonathan Johnson for Abilene in 2001. Lutkenhaus was undefeated in the 800 as a freshman, and he ran a personal best of 47.33 in the 400 that ranks 17th in the state.