Mt. Hermon’s Gerald Bunch captured two state championships in Thursday’s Class B LHSAA Allstate/Sugar Bowl Track and Field Meet at Bernie Moore Stadium on the campus of LSU.

“I was happy,” the junior said. “First time I went to the state title in anything and I was happy to win it.”

He said LSU is the biggest stage he’s ever competed on.

“I was nervous a little bit, but I had to do what I had to do to win. The nervousness went away when I was long jumping,” Bunch said.

The long jump was the first event of the two for him.

Bunch was victorious in the 200-meter dash and the long jump.

Bunch ran the 200 in 22.55 seconds. He won by 0.41 seconds over Simsboro’s Brendan Jackson.

Bunch wasn’t far off the Class B record. The mark is 22.11, which was set by Centerville’s Jason Mack in 1985.

The 22.55 is a personal best for Bunch.

“I was hearing them (the other runners) behind me when I was going into the curve,” Bunch said. “After the curve, I didn’t see them anymore, so I just ran my fastest speed all of the way to the finish line.”

Bunch was also victorious in the long jump with a distance of 21 feet, 9.75 inches.

“My long jump, I kind of figured I would win, but I wasn’t sure because they had one dude from Hathaway. He was the first one to jump 21-feet at the state meet (this year). I scratched on my first jump and then he jumped 21-feet. On my second jump, I jumped the 21-9.75. Nobody else jumped 21-feet after that, so it was just me and him competing against each other,” Bunch said.

Hathaway’s Trenton Guidry finished in second at 21-0.