If the Class 2A state track and field meet runs true to form, St. Katharine Drexel’s opportunity to repeat as the  team champion may depend on the result of the 400-meter dash.

Saturday, May 4, is a signature day for two events: the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby, and the Allstate Sugar Bowl/LHSAA State Outdoor Track and Field meet for the best athletes in Classes 3, 4 and 5A.

For LSU, it is a home run hire. Scott Woodward, an LSU and Catholic High graduate, comes home to be the new director of athletics.

Fire up the maroon bus. Set the GPS to a point 215 miles due west of 5300 St. Charles Ave. De La Salle is headed for Sulphur and Frasch Park to compete in the Allstate Sugar Bowl/LHSAA State Softball Tournament, its first after 13 years of trying, but failing, to make the tournament field.

Maybe it is only a coincidence. Within days, the following happened in SEC basketball: •LSU head coach Will Wade was reinstated. • Kentucky offered a lifetime contract to John Calipari.

Twice state champion Archbishop Hannan and 2008 titlist St. Charles Catholic were scheduled to meet at Hannan April 20 in a match that will send the winner to Sulphur  for the Division II state semifinals on April 26.

When the Louisiana High School Athletic Association holds its annual convention in January, nearly one-third of the member principals will be “newbies.”

So much for the rejuvenation of the fabled football rivalry between Jesuit and Warren Easton high schools. And you can place a period at the end of the brief series of games between Brother Martin and Easton as well.

The 2019-20 school year may be Frank Monica’s last as athletic director and head football coach at St. Charles Catholic High School, but he will leave the athletic program he has overseen for the last 21 years in a memorable way.

If only his running backs could sidestep defenders like the LSU football coach did with reporters on the final question of his post-Spring Game press conference.

The rule change is for one year, but it’s hard to see the NFL going back after upgrading what can be reviewed in instant replay. Saints head coach Sean Payton pushed for the change, one that would have allowed the obvious “no-call” on pass interference against the Rams in the NFC Championship Game to be reviewed and reversed.

Louisiana is beginning its season of spring and summer festivals. That also means the 2018-19 high school sports calender is running out of dates. This is also the time of the year that various sports halls of fame are either taking shape or about to hold their inductions. I have been fortunate to be affiliated with five as a member of the selection committees or as an inductee in four.

Three years ago, when Tulane hired its new men’s basketball coach, Riverside Academy head coach Tim Byrd sounded prescient. “Lots of question marks,” Byrd said of Mike Dunleavy. “You need someone who is high energy, hungry and understands Louisiana players. You need a coach with a college work ethic. This (college) is a totally different game than the NBA.”

Competing against some of the top teams and individuals in the sport of outdoor track and field from the southern region of the U.S., three athletes representing their local Catholic high schools excelled against the stout competition in the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Track and Field Classic on March 23 … just as they did in the 2018 LHSAA championship meet.

The most recent baseball power ratings show that Brother Martin has the No. 1 team in Division I for Select schools.  Those same rankings, conducted by Louisiana Sports­line, lists Dominican No. 2 and Mount Carmel No. 3 behind the top-rated softball team in Division I John Curtis, even though Dominican has a better record than the defending Division I champion.

One of the toughest jobs in college basketball is open again, for the fifth time since Perry Clark left Tulane for Miami in 2000. If you don’t think the job is daunting, history tells you otherwise. Tulane’s last double-digit winning seasons in conference play were under Clark in 1996-97 and under Cliff Wells in 1953-54.

Bye bye, Lake Charles. Adios, Burton Coliseum. The select schools’ Division I basketball championship  will see no more of you.

When it comes to hitting the reset button, the Pelicans may never get a better chance. A summer trade of Anthony Davis could yield a harvest in young talent and draft choices.

If Paul Kelly was contemplating the 2018-19 prep basketball season for his De La Salle team following losses to Dunham and Holy Cross over the first five days of the season, the Cavaliers’ veteran coach soon discovered the answer.

Minor league baseball in New Orleans will soon be long gone, and it may be gone longer than any home run ever hit at Zephyr Field. The Baby Cakes are headed for Wichita, Kansas, likely at the end of the 2019 season, and there appears to be no replacement club warming up in the bullpen.