St. Al’s Brister finishes fourth in discus at MAIS Class 5A meet

Published 2:26 pm Friday, May 5, 2023

JACKSON — On his first throw of the discus, St. Aloysius senior Jake Brister set the mark for the rest of his opponents to top.

Unfortunately, several of them did.

Brister led through two rounds of the MAIS Class 5A boys’ discus at Friday’s state track and field meet. He wasn’t able to better his initial mark of 135 feet, 1 inch, however, and wound up in fourth place.

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“That’s how it usually is. You have to be the best one, and it comes down to a couple of feet,” Brister said. “When you really think about it, I lose by three feet and it sucks. It’s a tough ride home thinking about it. It always comes down to the little things.”

Bayou Academy’s Alex Lopez won the Class 5A discus championship with a mark of 142 feet, 6 inches. Lopez’s teammate Aslan Buckner was second at 141-9, and East Rankin Academy’s Brayden Warner was third at 137-10.

Warner fouled on four of his six attempts, and got his number on his third attempt. It was the only one he had that beat Brister’s mark, and was the difference in a bronze medal for Warner and a pink fourth-place ribbon for Brister.

Lopez and Buckner both hit their numbers on the fifth of their six attempts. Lopez fouled on three consecutive attempts before unleashing his winner.

“I was in first place through the second or third round and then they started getting used to the circle and some guy hit a big throw. I tried to battle back from that,” Brister said.

Although it was a disappointing end to his senior track season, Brister said he was happy with his high school career. He reached the state meet for the second year in a row — he finished seventh in the discus in 2022 — and won the District 3-5A championship two weeks ago.

“Definitely wanted better, but the past two years have been fun because of trying something new and being kind of good at it, and working with Coach (Michael) Fields. I’ll take it. It takes a lot to get here,” said Brister, who has signed to play football at Louisiana Tech. “In the moment you want to do better, but when you really look back at it getting here is the most important thing. So I’m happy and grateful for that.”

Brister was the only St. Aloysius athlete competing on the first day of the MAIS Overall Track Meet. Field events and some of the 3,200 meter heats were contested Friday at Jackson Academy and Canton Academy, and the rest of the running events are Saturday at Jackson Prep beginning at 9 a.m.

St. Al will have two runners competing Saturday — Megan Theriot in the 100 and 200 meters, and Hendrix Eldridge in the 1,600 meters. Eldridge is scheduled to run at 2 p.m., and Theriot at 1:15 and 4 p.m.

Porter’s Chapel Academy will also have several athletes competing in the Class 3A meet on Saturday.

Daniel Llopis will try to defend his state championship in the 400 meters, and add titles in the 300 meter hurdles and 200 meters as well. He medaled in the latter two events in 2022.

Llopis will also join Jase Jung, Taylor LaBarre and Lawson Selby on the 4×400 meter relay team.

Henry Slayton will run in the 800 meters, while Jase Jung finished third in the high jump on Friday. Jung cleared 5 feet, 4 inches to finish behind Desoto School’s Jack Pillow (5-10) and Lee (Ark.) Academy’s (Ark.) Nathan Coe (6 feet).

Llopis will run in the 300 meter hurdles, the day’s first event, at 9:45 a,m. and then he and the rest of the Eagles will have a long break. Their next event is not until Llopis runs again in the 400 meters at 3 p.m.

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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