NATCHEZ — The summer track and field season has just started, but by the end of it, coach Henry “Doc” Woods hopes to have a couple of his runners competing in the United States Track and Field Association’s Junior Olympics.

The Natchez Track Club competes in the USTFA against other clubs in Mississippi and Louisiana.

They recently competed in their first event, in Alexandria, La., even though they didn’t have a lot of practice time.

“What happened in our district, is we got out of school late and many teams start running earlier,” Woods said. “When we went to Alexandria, a lot of the teams we were facing had participated in five track meets already.”

Despite the disadvantage, the Natchez runners held their own, placing in four events.

Anthony Jones finished third place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.42 seconds, while Pam Selmon finished third in the 800 meters with a time of 2:22.

Alicia Wimley placed in two events, finishing third in the 200 meters in 25.72 seconds and third in the 400 meters with a time of 59.71 seconds.

A total of eight runners from Natchez competed in the meet.

While the invitational meets are important, they are basically a warm up for the regional qualifying meet.

The top four finishers advance to regionals in Nashville, Tenn., and the top four finishers at regionals advance to the Junior Olympics in North Carolina.

A top four finish at the Junior Olympics puts runners in the U.S. International team, which will compete in Europe. That is something only a few select runners have advanced to, Woods said.

“In the time I’ve coached, I’ve only had four runners to excel in the international arena,” Woods said. “In order to advance, you’ve got to be elite.”

The Natchez Track Club practices at Trinity Episcopal School from 8 to 10 a.m. each day, and will participate in a meet in Baton Rouge this weekend.

“We’ll go down there and hopefully get some medals,” Woods said. “This week we’ll do better (than in Alexandria).”