BATON ROUGE–Highland Baptist Christian School juniors Tyler Blissett and Justin Suire made history on Thursday evening, claiming the Class 1A Runners-Up trophy at the LHSAA State Track and Field Meet despite being the only two athletes competing for their team. 

Blissett, a distance running phenom with multiple cross country, indoor and outdoor state titles to his name, once again picked up gold medals in the 800-meters, 1600-meters and 3200-meters events. 

Suire also impressed, nabbing first place in discus event and a silver medal in the shot put. 

According to Blissett, the duo knew that they had a chance to make the podium following last year’s third-place finish. 

“We’ve known it was possible since we got third at the state meet last year. The two teams that beat us had quite a few seniors leaving, so we knew that we had a shot to make the podium,” he explained. “Getting second with two guys is great and hopefully next year we can get a few more guys out there and go for the win.”

Despite knowing that taking second place was a possibility, Suire still couldn’t contain his excitement as the meet began to wind down. 

“We knew that we could put up enough points to have a chance to win it, but when I saw those last few races happening I was jumping out of my seat, just waiting,” he said. “When they finally said ‘Highland Baptist come down and get your award’, I couldn’t believe it. This hasn’t been done before, so it was an awesome moment. Tyler and I worked so hard for that and we did it.”

The hard work began almost immediately after last year’s state meet. For Blissett, the cross country, indoor track and outdoor track seasons are seen as one long series, with each state meet requiring a different peak performance. 

Suire’s training is slightly different. With no shot put or discus competitions in the fall, he instead focuses his mental and physical preparation for the winter indoor competition. Strong showings in December prime him for a tough five-month training period where he focuses on continual improvement through the district, regional and state meets. 

The biggest difference in Suire’s training this season has been his mental preparation. 

“Honestly, my mentality plays a big part,” he said. “I’ve been in my hard for the past few years and recently I’ve broken through that. It’s been up from there.”

With his eyes on a team state title next season, Suire is already planning to add the javelin to his list of events. That, combined with a strong core of returning underclassmen, should be enough to see the boys take home the trophy next year. 

That drive to win is also present in Blissett, who has shifted his focus away from awards and towards challenging himself each day. With 12 state titles to his name across the three seasons, it would be easy for an athlete to lose focus. That isn’t happening with Blissett, especially as he looks ahead to his senior season. 

“I just try to continue to keep growing myself and chase the times, get as fast as I can,” Blissett said. “It’s all about consistency. Next year, I want to go back (to the state meet) and win all three events again. We also want a team title, but I’m not sure about my time goals just yet. I’d also like to go to a few national meets.”

In addition to talented athletes, the HBCS track and field team also has an advantage in coaching. Tyler’s father, Toby, is the head coach for both cross country and track and field and has led the program to several state titles and new school records during his tenure. According to Tyler, his father’s coaching excellence doesn’t just show itself on the track.  

He’s the best there is, I love him,” Tyler said. “He’s a great coach and he always pushes us every day to be better than we were yesterday. He’s always supportive of us, always proud of us, and he’s a great coach in the running but also outside of that. He cares about us as people and loves us.”

Several other Teche Area teams will compete at the state meet this weekend, with classes 2A and 3A taking the field on Friday and Classes 4A and 5A competing on Saturday. 

A full list of local performers from the Thursday event is included below. 

 

Episcopal School of Acadiana

Finishing Position, Name, Time/Distance

Girls 100m (B)

4 Kelsey Broussard 13.45

Boys 400m (B)

5 Colby Huffman 54.67

Girls 400m (B)

5 Kelsey Broussard 1:04.88

Boys 800m (B)

1 Cain Meche 2:07.25

Girls 800m (B)

2 Sara Grace Hoggatt 2:22.03

Boys 1600m (B)

1 Anderson Frank 4:25.91

6 Cain Meche 4:55.00

Boys 3200m (B)

1 Anderson Frank 10:09.13

Girls 3200m (B)

3 Sophie Wilson 12:26.96

Boys Discus Throw (B)

6 Paxton Leger 30.16m

Girls Long Jump (B)

8 Kelsey Broussard 4.33m

Boys Shot Put (B)

4 Paxton Leger 11.36m

Boys 4x400m Relay B

4 C. Huffman, P. Monteleone, C. Meche, A. Frank  3:43.09

Girls 4x400m Relay B

4 K. Broussard, C. Martin, S. Wilson, S. Hoggatt 4:34.02

 

Hanson Memorial

Finishing Position, Name, Time/Distance

Boys Discus Throw (1A)

5 Ty Brasseaux 38.90m

 

Highland Baptist

Finishing Position, Name, Time/Distance

Boys 800m (1A)

1 Tyler Blissett 1:59.70

Girls 800m (1A)

3 Madalynn Salsman 2:28.85

Boys 1600m (1A)

1 Tyler Blissett 4:27.92

Girls 1600m (1A)

3 Madalynn Salsman 5:19.87

Boys 3200m (1A)

1 Tyler Blissett 9:48.40

Girls 3200m (1A)

4 Ella Blake 12:03.41

Boys Discus Throw (1A)

1 Justin Suire 46.83m

Girls Discus Throw (1A)

4 Kyla Charles 27.26m

Girls Pole Vault (1A)

1 Sophie Morris 3.08m

2 Makenzi Davis 2.88m

Boys Shot Put (1A)

2 Justin Suire 14.33m

Girls Shot Put (1A)

4 Kyla Charles 10.52m

 

Jeanerette

Finishing Position, Name, Time/Distance

Boys 400m (1A)

4 Jaidon Ward 51.54

Girls Javelin Throw (1A)

1 Trea’lyn Frederick 37.44m

Boys Long Jump (1A)

7 Dominique Lewis 6.03m

Boys Shot Put (1A)

1 Javonte Williams 14.52m

Girls Shot Put (1A)

3 Trea’lyn Frederick 11.14m

Boys 4x100m Relay 1A

2  K. Gage, D. Duhon, N. Jackson, R. Jack  43.39