The goal for track athletes in the Louisiana High School Athletic Association is to have their final meet take place at Bernie Moore Stadium, which is located on the campus of Louisiana State University, because it means they are going for a state title.

Today and tomorrow, Washington Parish will be represented in Baton Rouge, as 17 athletes over 13 events will be competing for state titles.

The Class 1A and 2A state meets are today with the field events getting under way at 1:30 p.m., and track beginning at 5 p.m.

Classes 3A through 5A are tomorrow. The field events are set for 10:45 a.m., and the track events are at 3:30 p.m.

To get to this point, the athletes had to get through two qualifying meets, the district meet and regional meet.

They had to come in the top four at the district level to reach regionals. At regionals, they had to finish in the top three to qualify for state.

Today, athletes from Class 1A Varnado and Class 2A Pine are competing for state titles.

Pine’s Derrick Dillon is in three individual events. He is in the 100 meters, the 200 and the long jump.

Last year, Dillon finished eighth in the 100 with a time of 11.11.

Teammate Tory Robertson made the state meet and is in the 100.

Both competitors are on the Raiders’ 4×100 team that reached state. Blake Nielson and Markell are also on the relay squad.

Class 1A Varnado had a pair of athletes reach state in D.J. Jefferson and Jaden Foster.

Jefferson reached this point in the javelin.

Foster is headed back to state this year in the 100-meter hurdles. Last season, Foster finished sixth in the 100 hurdles after running a 17.41.

Switching to Saturday’s action.

Washington Parish has LHSAA schools in Classes 3A and 4A.

In 3A, Bogalusa has one athlete in the state meet, Lulu Ball.

Ball goes for a state title in the discus.

Franklinton, a Class 4A school, has several athletes in the state meet. Eight Demons across five events are competing tomorrow.

Individually, Peter Williams, Tavion Partman, Deante Cotton and P.J. Burkhalter reached the state meet.

Williams made the event in the javelin. Partman will be competing in the triple jump. Cotton reached this meet in the discus and Burkhalter is going for a state title in the shot put.

The Demons also had a relay team make the state meet. The 4×200 squad made the event. The team features Azende T. Magee, Markus Conerly, Bryan Baham and Martavius James.