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Sugar Bowl meet clears high hurdles
Event will be held at Jacobs Playground
Friday, March 24, 2006
By Pierce W. Huff
Staff writer
The past year has been rough for the Nokia Sugar Bowl Track & Field Classic.

First, Hurricane Katrina tore through New Orleans last August. Sugar Bowl organizers wanted to have the annual meet at its usual site at Tad Gormley Stadium, but the facility took on 4½ feet of water because of the hurricane and doesn't have any power. That aside, most of the grounds outside the stadium have been rented to contractors and workers with trailers. Meet organizers looked at other sites in New Orleans, but the facilities were too damaged to host a meet.

Sugar Bowl organizers moved the meet to Johnny Jacobs Playground on the West Bank, but the facility wasn't ready to host a meet of this size, and they had to bring in a new public address system, add a new discus ring and make other minor changes to get it ready.

But Sugar Bowl meet director Mike Corn said organizers were determined to have the meet this season despite the damage of Hurricane Katrina. And the show will go on, beginning at 4 p.m. today. The meet concludes Saturday with most of the final running events.

"We've gone to a pretty great extent to have the meet this year," Corn said. "We wanted to keep the meet at the standards that we had set when it was at Tad Gormley before the hurricane."

Corn said he and the meet officials are thankful to the Jefferson Parish Recreation Department for allowing them to host the meet at Johnny Jacobs. He said the meet hopes to return to Gormley as soon as it's available, but it's good to know there is a solid alternative site.

"The people in Jefferson Parish have been very accommodating," Corn said. "They've done a lot for local track and field."

Katrina's impact will be seen at the Sugar Bowl meet, which is half the size it was prior to the storm. It has averaged 70 schools and 1,400 to 1,500 athletes the past five years. This year there are 40 schools and 700 athletes.

Despite the decrease in the number of schools and participants, there are plenty of talented athletes scheduled to compete, and plenty of meet records could fall.

Dominican's Katelyn Rodrigue has a pole vault of 12 feet, 4 inches, which is two feet more than the record of 12-2 set by Rhiannon Jaet of McGill-Toolen (Ala.) in 2003. West Jefferson's Richo Wilson has a shot put of 59 feet, which is three feet more than the record of 55-7½ set by Brother Martin's Damien Tullier in 1995. St. Paul's Preston Chatham has a javelin throw of 210 feet, which is more than two feet better than the meet record of 207-1 set by Jesuit's Nathan Junius in 1997. Alex Bentley of Tomball (Texas) has a pole vault of 16 feet, which is four inches better than the mark of 15-9 set by Michael Hoque of Houston (Tenn.) in 2003.

The meet also will have athletes on teams from Tennessee and Alabama.

"I'm looking for a very competitive meet this weekend," Corn said. "It's not going to have the extensive out of state teams that we've had in the past, but we're still going to have a good cross section of schools."

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Dominican's Rodrigue settles for win
Pole vaulter misses record by two inches
Saturday, March 25, 2006
By Billy Turner
Staff writer
The sun was going down, the wind was fighting to continue its cold gusts as Dominican pole vaulter Kaitlyn Rodrigue gathered herself to attempt a record 12 feet, 3 inch vault in Friday's first day of the Nokia Sugar Bowl Track and Field meet.

She already has won her heat in the 400-meters in 1:04.31, qualifying fourth overall.

She had been given a few minutes to get herself together, then two minutes of warm-up without the bar. Her first attempt was at 10-6. When she cleared it easily, she won the event, the nearest being the 8-6 vault of Rachelle Melancon of Belle Chasse. But the record was in her sights. She would have to go it alone.

"It's always easier when you're jumping with someone," she said.

Rodrigue easily cleared 11 feet, then 11-6, then the bar was raised to 12 feet. She missed on her first attempt, then cleared at 12.

That left the record. She moved the bar to 12-3, which would have eclipsed the 12-2 Rhiannon Jaet of McGill-Toolen vaulted in 2003. Rodrigue had a 12-4 this season.

But she was short on all three attempts, knocking down the bar on her way down each time. Her winning vault, thus, was 12 feet.

"I did different things each time," Rodrigue said. "On the first, I wasn't good in the air; the second, I was good in the air. I did good today, but I would have liked to have made the record."

Nokia Sugar Bowl Classic
Mar 24-25, 2006 at Johnny Jacobs Playground, Marrero LA