By Ron Brocato

Take your mark, Crusaders!

Track season gets the starting gun on Friday, March 13, with the Crusader Relays, one of two spring track and field meets Brother Martin will host at Tad Gormley Stadium.

Field events will begin at 3:30 p.m. with running events hearing the gun at 6 p.m.

Brother Martin has always been competitive in this spring sport, and its athletes have the records to prove it.

And now, young and aspiring new stars in crimson and gold will have the opportunity to compare themselves against the record-setting Crusaders, who set the standards over the past years.

Listed below are the fastest times and longest distances ever achieved by Brother Martin athletes. Not all are District 9-5A records because they did not occur in the district meet, but they are personal bests nevertheless.

Here are the standards today’s runners, jumpers, and throwers will want to aim for by the end of the season:

• 100 meters: 10.26, set by Easton Royal ‘27, at last week’s SJA Alumnae Meet.
• 200 meters: 21.32, also set by Royal last season.
• 400 meters: 48.3, Benny Burst ‘81 achieved this time at the 1981 state meet.
• 800 meters: 1:54.9, performed by Derrick Robertson ‘92 in 1992.
• 1,600 meters: 4:17.35 was the clocking of Kenny Schiffman ‘08 in 2008
• 3,200 meters: 9:18.64, Hunter Appleton ‘19 won the eight-lap event at the 2019 Class 5A state meet.
• 110-meter hurdles: 14.20, Morgan Cormier ‘12 set this school record time in 2011.
• 300-meter hurdles: 37.99, Cormier’s time in winning at the 2012 state meet.
• 4x100 meter relay: 42.32, Royal teamed with Kaeden Goodman ‘26, Jack Melancon ‘26, and Dale “Alex” Zauner ‘26 in 2025.
• 4x200 meter relay: 1:27.5, by the team of Lance Levy ‘81, Kevin Triggs ‘81, Steve Alfred ‘82, and Benny Burst ‘81 at the 1981 state meet.
• 4x400-meter relay: 3:19.24 run by Kevin White ‘91, Tommy Thibodeaux ‘91, Derrick Robertson ‘92, and Andre Bruni ‘92, in 1991.
• 4x800-meter relay: 8:02.16, a relatively new event; this was the school record, which was set by Jackson Anuszkiewicz ‘19, Hunter Appleton ‘19, Ethan Dupas ‘20, and Abe Bernstein ‘20 in 2019.
• Shot-put: 60-8½ by Eddie Jacobs ‘81 at the 1981 state meet.
• Discus: 172-3, a distance Daniel Obioha ‘09 threw at the 2009 state meet.
• Javelin: 202-10 by Thomas Peters ‘15 in 2015.
• Long jump: 23-1½, the school’s oldest record, set by Richard Briede ‘73 in 1973.
• Triple jump: 47-10, also recorded by Briede in 1973
• High jump: 6-7¼, achieved by Emmett Dupas ‘88 in 1987
• Pole vault: 14-2, by Dominic Casadaban ‘13 in 2013

Brother Martin will host men's and women's teams from (listed alphabetically): Abramson, Academy of the Sacred Heart, Archbishop Chapelle, Archbishop Rummel, Country Day, De La Salle, Holy Cross, Jesuit, Mount Carmel, Newman, Sophie B. Wright, and Walter Cohen in the Crusader Relays.