Championship mode going into high gear

• Advocate staff report
• Published: Apr 13, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Championship season for spring sports shifts into high gear this week with several Louisiana High School Athletic Association events.

A series of district track meets begins with the 6-4A meet scheduled for Monday at Belaire High. Eight district meets will be held Wednesday, led by the District 6-5A meet at Dutchtown High.

Softball playoffs also begin  Monday for some teams. Two Class 1A games involving local-area teams, East Iberville at Ascension Catholic at 4 p.m. and Christian Life at Catholic-Pointe Coupee at 5 p.m., are set for Monday. Most teams will play Tuesday.

The LHSAA’s Division I and Division II State Girls Golf Tournaments are set for Tuesday and Wednesday. The Division II-Classes 3A and below tourney will be played locally at Zachary’s Copper Mill Golf Course. Alexandria Country Club is the site of the Division I-Class 5A and 4A tournament.

The Boys Metro Golf Tournament is set for 11 a.m. Wednesday at Santa Maria Golf Course.

Nominations needed
The Advocate is seeking nominations for its Athlete of the Year awards. Schools in the eight-parish metro area can nominate one girl and one boy for the two awards that will be presented May 20 at the Star of Stars/Athlete of the Year awards banquet at Ashley Manor.

Nominees should preferably be juniors or seniors and should have at least a 2.5 grade point average. Nominees should also be on track to meet other NCAA qualifying requirements.

All nominations should include complete statistics for each sport the athlete has played in 2007-08. Statistics from past seasons should not be included. Nominees can come from schools in East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Ascension, Livingston, Iberville, West Feliciana, East Feliciana, Pointe Coupee and St. Helena parishes.

Send nominations by fax to Robin Fambrough at (225) 388-0318 or send e-mail to rfambrough@theadvocate.com. The nomination deadline is April 23.

Signees
The Dunham School’s Ryan Darling has signed to compete in track and cross country for Division II Northwest Missouri State University.

Darling has won seven state championships in cross country and track during his career. Most recently, he was the indoor Division II-Classes 3A and below 1,600 meters champion.

In 2006, Darling was the Class 1A cross country champion and last spring won the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meters in 1A at the LHSAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Former University High football player Marc Parker is set to play at Division III Hiram College located in Hiram, Ohio. Parker was a three-year letterman and played offensive guard for UHS.