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Westgate, led by Porter and Boutte, seek third consecutive state title

The sprinter duo will be joining the Ragin' Cajun track and field team next season
BOUTTE PORTER.jpg
Posted at 10:41 PM, May 03, 2023
and last updated 2023-05-03 23:41:28-04

NEW IBERIA — As the race to the end of the school year continues, so could the reign of the defending state champs.

This weekend, the Westgate track and field team looks to nab their third consecutive state title.

"We're just one big family. Everybody has the same mind track and we all just want to win", says senior Amare Porter. "We're all competitive."

"What" or better yet, "who", helps anchor the Tigers are seniors Amare Porter and Mekhi Boutte, Both record breaking sprinters with the team.

"Amare was pretty much an underdog coming in this year. He ran a 12.2 in the 100m last year and then he dropped that down to a 10.86 this year", says head coach Philip Guidry. "Mehki is just a very talented kid and he finally began to believe in the process and once he did that, the times started really improving."

But it's their leadership that's made leaps and bounds during their running career.

"Amare is a leader in the classroom, outside of the classroom and on the track getting the other guys. I would say he's more learn by doing and Mekhi is more of the vocal leader of the two."

"I set standards for myself and when I realize I shot at those standards by more than I thought I was going to do, I have more potential than I really thought I did", says Boutte.

As Porter and Boutte prepare to add to their collection of medals — clinching one last piece of gold would be the perfect hand-off into their next step of joining the Ragin' Cajuns.

Last year, some of the UL track athletes came and talked to us and those guys got to me and made me start thinking because at first I wasn't really looking at colleges because I wasn't as good as I thought I was but those guys opened my eyes"

"Somebody that's going to work hard to get my times lower than they are. I just want to go out there and contribute to the team ."

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