By Daniel Green | BWS Sports

BATON ROUGE — If you happen to drive through Vernon Parish over the next few days, there may be a little bit more shine than usual.

Why, you may ask? It’s because several Vernon Parish athletes came home sporting gold medals from the Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s State Outdoor Track and Field State Championships last week at Bernie Moore Stadium on the campus of Louisiana State University.

Six of the nine parish schools won at least one gold medal in competition this past weekend, beginning with Class C on Thursday. In Class C alone, 12 of the championship golds were won.

Simpson sophomore Ean Allain reeled in three gold medals individually as he won Outstanding Male Performer at the Class C meet. He finished in first place in the 800, 1,699 and 3,200-meter runs, while claiming fourth in the 400 meters. His 34 points was far and away enough for him to claim top male honors.

A couple of junior high students from Simpson also won gold in the Class C competition as Reagan Clutter, an eighth-grader, was the high jump champion, while Kodi Miller, an eighth-grader, was the 1,600-meter winner.

Hornbeck also brought home multiple gold medals. Senior Hannah Dahlhoff won first place in both the 400 and 800-meter dashed, while also running a leg on the winning 1,600-meter relay team, joining forces with Jayda James, Hailey O’Banion and Kayleigh Park to pull off the triple.

Additionally, Cali Wedgeworth came away with individual gold by winning the discus.

Hicks standout Connor Harper brought home a pair of golds, winning both the high jump and the triple jump and nearly got a third by taking silver in the long jump.

Rounding out the gold medal wins on Thursday in the Class C meet was Evans’ eighth-grader Reese Jeane, who won the 3,200-meter run.

During the Class 2A championships on Friday, the Rosepine Lady Eagles set a state record in the 3,200-meter relay, becoming the first girls’ team to complete the race in under 10 minutes. The members of the relay team were Sophia Jeffers, Hayley Calcote, Lexa Thompson and Alicia Kitchens.

On Saturday, Leesville freshman Keeton Johnson won the boys’ 1,600-meter run and took silver in the 800-meter run.