VIDALIA &8212; The operative word Saturday morning was &8220;tired.&8221;

But with $189,666 collected for the 11th edition of the Miss-Lou Relay For Life, volunteers can sleep in Sunday knowing they made a difference in the fight against cancer.

&8220;It was a great turnout, and everyone enjoyed it,&8221; committee co-chair Julia Drews said. &8220;It was an awesome night.&8221;

It was a night made all the better for what it didn&8217;t bring: rain.

&8220;Considering it was supposed to rain at 1 a.m., we were blessed,&8221; Drews said.

For the second straight year, Supermarket Operations, owners of the Markets and Piggly Wiggly, took home the award for the most money raised, collecting $14,460.

United Mississippi Bank was second with $11,365 and Concordia Bank and Trust came in third at $10,880. Miss-Lou Team Extreme, a combination of the Natchez Pathology Laboratories and the Vidalia Women&8217;s Club, received an honorable mention for its $10,605 haul.

The Mid-South district will also recognize all groups that raised more than $10,000 as well.

Mabel Lee of UMB was recognized for bringing in more than $2,500 individually.

&8220;Mabel Lee of UMB. Hey, that rhymes,&8221; Relay co-chair Janice Holder said in a moment of sleep deprivation-induced euphoria. &8220;Let&8217;s say it together.&8221;

The crowd, equally affected, lustily complied.

LaShea Riley of Mt. Carmel Baptist Church and Andrea White of Cellular South were second and third, respectively.

The awards were presented at 6 a.m. after almost 12 hours of games, music, food and walking.

Lots of walking.

While official results were unavailable as of press time, only a handful of the 40-something teams that started the relay made it to the conclusion.

Of those, the anchor of the Mt. Carmel team, Elnora Loretta Riley, took the individual honors for the most laps walked with close to 240.

Riley, the defending champion, got stiff competition from the 2004 winner, Sammy Lewis, who kept pace until falling back sometime after 1 a.m.

Both Lewis, who walked for the Natchez Moose Lodge, and Lewis said they won their previous titles with then-record setting 112s.

Lewis posted 129 laps and philosophized during a cool-down lap with his dog.

&8220;She deserves it, she&8217;s in a lot better shape than I am,&8221; he said.

Thanks to people like Riley, Lewis and the estimated 5,000 attendees at the relay, so is the American Cancer Society.

&8220;That&8217;s the most important thing here,&8221; Concordia Bank and Trust President Pat Biglane said. &8220;The money that we all raise to help fight cancer.&8221;

Although the group didn&8217;t reach the $225,000 goal it set for itself, they still have until the end of August before the end of the fundraising year.

Upcoming fundraising events include a Team Nemo-sponsored co-ed flag football tournament to be held at Vidalia High School. The date has not been finalized, but organizers said it would be in the next several weeks.

And while the fundraising competition between the groups was in good spirit, the competitive spirit was definitely present after the final totals were announced.

&8220;We&8217;ve got to have one more fundraiser,&8221; was heard muttered by one group eager to push its total higher before the end of the summer.