Four Vernon Lions qualified for the Class 3A Region Track & Field Meet in five events and all three Lion relays also advanced to regionals, while the Lady Lions qualified one relay and three Lady Lions in five events following their performance Thursday at the Area Track & Field Meet in Jacksboro.
The top four finishers in each event earned the right to move on to the regional meet.
Vernon claimed four Area titles in individual events. For the Lions, Julius Dawkins won the Triple Jump with a leap of 44-feet, 9-inches, and Jackson Aydelott won the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.03 seconds. For the Lady Lions, Key’Maria McBride won the Girls Triple Jump with a leap of 37-feet, 7.25-inches, and Klancy Sherrill won the Girls 300-meter Hurdles with a time of 48.13 seconds.
Sherrill also qualified for regionals in two other events. The freshman finished third in the high jump after clearing 5-foot even, and fourth in the 100-meter Hurdles with a time of 16.79-seconds.
McBride finished third in the long jump with a distance of 16-feet, 6.25-inches to move to regionals, and Mari Johnson was third in the shot put with a throw of 36-feet, 11.25-inches to qualify.
Aydelott also qualified for regionals in the 200-meter Dash, taking second with a time of 21.64 seconds, and Case Fleming got out by finishing third in the 100-meter Dash with a time of 10.74. Kameron Plyler cleared 6-feet, 2-inches, to take third in the High Jump and qualify for regionals.
The Lions 1600-meter relay team of Ty Scott, Plyler, Dawkins and Aydelott finished second with a time 3-minutes, 25.52-seconds, and both the 400-meter and 800-meter relay teams finished third to also advance to regionals.
The 400-meter relay team of Fleming, Plyler, Jerick Weaver and Scott turned in a time of 43.46-seconds for third place, and the 800-meter relay team of Fleming, Plyler, Weaver and Dawkins took third with a time of 1-minute, 30.03-seconds.
The Lady Lions 800-meter relay team of Ka’Liyha Fanner, Sherrill, Zaleigh Sweet and McBride finished second with a time of 1-minute, 46.92 seconds.
Placing in their events, but not advancing to the regional meet were Beau Gearld, who finished fifth in the shot put, and T.J. Thomas, who finished sixth in the triple jump.
The Lions finished third in the team standings at the Area Meet with a total of 83 points. Brock won the Boy’s Area title with 113 points, while Breckenridge was second with 108 points.
The Lady Lions finished fourth in the team standings with 58 points. Holliday won the Girls’ Area crown with a 147 points, while Breckenridge was second with 79 points, Henrietta was third with 71 points and Vernon had 58 points.