The Northeast Middle School track team has claimed the title of best in district and best in East Baton Rouge Parish for the second year in a row.

The 16 boys are coached by Northeast's Jarvis Turner and Darrin Wicker who recently led the 7th and 8th-graders in the district championship meet where they ran against schools such as Capitol, Westdale, Park Forest and Sherwood.

Most of the young men will return to compete next school year as freshmen at NHS and already there are standout runners, said coaches Turner and Wicker.

Stefan Williams performs the long jump at 20'9" and the triple jump at 42'.

Darryl Adams runs the 400m dash in 55 seconds, and Jamal Jones does well in the sprints and relays.

Upon returning to NHS next year, the runners will be excited to find a brand new track only recently completed for them to perform on and train.

"We'll be able to host our own track meets now," said NHS athletic director Wayne Spears. "This is very exciting for us."

The track was built with funds from the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board and was built by Texas Sport Builders out of Texas.

Spears said when Northeast moved to its current location, the track's foundation wasn't laid correctly, and the school board came out to inspect it. "They agreed we needed a new track," said Spears. "We are most appreciative of it!"

Spears, Turner and Wicker are all excited about the new track and the prospects it will bring for the school, the team and the community.

"The track team practiced on it only once before they finished their season, so they got a little taste of how nice it is," said Wicker.

Northeast High School has been at its current location at 13700 Port Hudson-Pride Road since 2003. Prior to that it was located in Pride on Jackson Road.

That site is the future home of a new East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's substation set to open in 2011.