Standard of Excellence: Claney Duplechin Begins 40th Cross-Country Season with Episcopal Taking Aim at State Titles

by: William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

The 40th season of coaching cross country for Claney Duplechin really won’t deviate from the expectation he’s created at Baton Rouge’s Episcopal High School.

The Lady Knights are looking to extend their winning streak of five consecutive state championships in Division III, while the boys have been third the past two seasons and runner-up the year before after compiling a stretch of 25 straight state titles – second-best nationally.

“It’s going to be an uphill battle for the girls to get that sixth with Parkview (Baptist) being so loaded,” said Duplechin, who’s in his 49th year of coaching at the school. “It’s going to be interesting. Our girls are always up for the challenge. I hope we can be there when the dust settles.”

Episcopal’s boys return three of the top 20 finishers at last year’s state meet, led by a trio of juniors in Jacob Johnson-Hutchinson, Aiden Grassman, and Lambert Foster.

Unlike the girls, who lost a top returnee who chose to focus on another sport, depth won’t be an issue for the boys to remain in the state-title conversation in November.

“For a couple of years, we’ve been trying to get there, and we’ve been close a couple of times,” Grassman said. “This year, since we have the depth in our junior and sophomore classes, hopefully we’ll be able to get the victory this time.”

Episcopal makes its debut this season, hosting its annual Roundtable Run at Baton Rouge’s Highland Road Park. The competition begins at 8 a.m. with the boys’ race followed by the girls.

The two teams are scheduled to take part in the St. Joseph Academy’s Cross Country Invitational (Oct. 5), and Catholic High Invitational (Oct. 12) followed by the East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Championships to conclude the regular season and the state meet in Natchitoches (beginning Nov. 18).

“We don’t really talk about last year,” Episcopal freshman Neva Lambert, the team’s top finisher (18 minutes. 27.5 seconds) at last year’s state meet. “We want to be where we can win another one.”

Episcopal crossed the finish line first for the fifth successive year on the shoulders of a pair of eight-graders in Lambert and Ada Mere (18:56.1) who were second and third overall. Sarah Beth Cagley, a freshman, was fourth in the race followed by sophomore Lauren Bradford (19:43.5) who opted to play soccer this fall for the Division III state runner-up Lady Knights.

Bradford’s loss has created a bit of uncertainty for an Episcopal team already challenged by small roster numbers.

“Neva, Ada, and Sarah are solid, hopefully, top 10 material,” said Duplechin, a member of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and holder of 66 state championships that also includes indoor and outdoor track at the school. “We’re trying to develop our 4-5 runners and hope they can come around. We only have six on varsity.”

Lambert, Mere, and Cagley were also selected to the Baton Rouge Advocate’s All-Metro Cross Country team along with Bradford. 

“We’re a very small team, I’m very nervous about,” Lambert said. “I think we’ll be fine in the long term. I think we’ll do well.”

Lambert points to a successful showing in the team’s preseason scrimmage, coupled with improved times in practice, as a barometer for her optimistic prospects this season.

“I think the search for our three, four, and five runners and their times have dropped,” Lambert said. “They’ve gotten faster than they were last season. I hope to give the team a really good placement so that we can win once again.”

Senior captain Anna Yale and sophomore Olivia Graham are looking to complement Episcopal’s lineup and potentially have the Lady Knights contending for another team title in more than two months.

“Those three are going to have to carry us wherever we go,” Duplechin said of Lambert, Mere, and Cagley. “We’re going to have to really score high with them.”

Parkview Baptist, led by overall winner Aiden Monistere, won its second straight Division III state crown by 22 points over Newman and 49 over Episcopal. 

Johnson-Hutchinson led Episcopal’s trio of top 20 finishers at last year’s state meet with an 11th place showing (16:41.1) followed by Grassman (16:55.1) in 13th and Foster (17.09.1) in 16th.

“Jacob had a little knee problem and had walking pneumonia and ran last week,” Duplechin said of the team’s scrimmage. “Once he gets back into the flow of things he should be our leader. Aiden hangs with Foster in practice and Foster had a great (outdoor) track season (2:01 in the 800). He could be a pretty good runner by the end of the year.”

The team’s strength could be in their depth with a pair of juniors, Akachi Mere and Daniel Piazza, competing with sophomores, Mason Kelly and Conrad Pullian, pushing the top of the team’s lineup in Johnson-Hutchinson, Grassman, and Foster.

“It’s pretty competitive, that’s how it normally is,” Grassman said. “It’s really a dogfight for all of us. We shuffle in rankings in our workouts. It’s whoever can keep it up until the end.”

Based on the gap times, or the distance between his runners in practice, Duplechin likes the direction his boys are headed.

“It could be a battle for anyone of those to be in the top five,” he said. “And the great thing is they’re all back. It’s been a fun time with them. They look good. They should be competitive.”