By JERRY BYRD, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE — Benton’s Miller Malley was busy jumping over crossbars at the LHSAA State Indoor Championships at LSU’s Carl Maddox Field House on Saturday. On the track, Airline’s Zion Smith was jumping over hurdles. Both north Bossier Parish seniors left Baton Rouge with state championship titles under their belt.
So did Calvary Baptist senior Jackson Burney, who will return to LSU in the fall to compete for the Tigers. Burney took the Division Ii boys 800 meter run in 1:56.56.
For Malley, who won the 2024 LHSAA State Outdoor Championships, it was his second-straight state championship in the pole vault as he won the DI boys’ event with a jump of 14-5.25.
Smith, who has earned All-American honors during national championship meets in summer age-group competition, picked up his first state championship in the D1 boys’ 60m hurdles. Smith’s time in the finals was 8.22.
Yet another north Bossier jumper –- Airline sophomore Shelby Ledet –- finished tied for second in the D1 girls high jump competition. Ledet cleared 5-3 and had the same number of misses as Covington senior Julia Jenkins. John Curtis junior Addilyn Dufrene won the event with a jump of 5-5.
Parkway head coach Kent Falting was excited about the performance of junior Ben Ruliffson in the D1 boys 1600m. In his first individual state race, Rulffson just missed the podium with a time of 4:28.
“He set himself up really, really, really well,” Falting said. “And he went for it on that last lap. I was proud of him.”
Yet another local standout who just missed the podium, Huntington’s Landon Gibbs finished fourth in the D1 boys high jump with a jump of 6-2.75.
Two weeks ago, C.E. Byrd’s 4x800m team of Mallory Swint, Anna Lake Watts, Pressley Lockey, and Emma Burney broke the school record in the event with a time of 10:13 at the LSU Last Chance Qualifier. The same four girls lowered their own school record by seven seconds.
“So proud of our girls as the relay improved 38 seconds from five weeks ago when they opened the season at the University of Arkansas,” C.E. Byrd head coach Juan Plaza said. “That is a testament to them and their dedication to our program and understanding that the goal is always to peak when it counts.”
Watts, a sophomore, came back and ran a personal record of 11:38 in the 3200m. She finished seventh in the event.
Now, athletes and coaches will turn their attention to the outdoor season with the first major local meet taking place at Benton High School on Thursday, March 6.
Contact Jerry at sports@journalservicesllc.com