NATCHEZ — Natchez High School track coach Larry Wesley said he has every intention to put the school’s new track to use as much as possible.

This week, the school will do just that as the track is set to host two meets Friday and Saturday. The Natchez Invitational is up first at 3:30 Friday afternoon, and the Wordy Hicks Invitational will be at 10 a.m. Saturday.

The Natchez Invitational will play host to Cathedral, Port Gibson, Jefferson County and Hazlehurst high schools. The school’s first invitational that was scheduled for March 9 was canceled because of rain, and Wesley said this will be the first full meet the school will host this year.

“It feels good to unpack your suitcase and lay your head on your own facility,” Wesley said of being able to host a meet. “This is good for the children, good for the parents and good for the city of Natchez, really.”

Wesley said hosting a meet also has the advantage of giving the sport exposure to local athletes.

“A lot of people don’t know much about track because we were going out of town for so long,” Wesley said. “Most children think track is just run, run, run, and they don’t know there’s all sorts of different events. It’s amazing to me.”

Because NHS is known for having a top track program, Wesley said he wants to utilize home meets to help continue the success of the program.

“They invested a lot of money into that track, so we want to put it to use,” Wesley said.

The Wordy Hicks relay is an annual event hosted by Wilkinson County High School, but the school chose NHS as this year’s site due to renovations being done to Wilkinson County’s track.

Wilkinson County track coach Kenneth Brown said he chose Natchez due to it being a centralized location for all the schools they plan to invite.

“We didn’t want to cancel the meet, and we’re familiar with the area and coaching staff,” Brown said. “The location, the facilities, the restaurants, the shopping areas and our relationship with Natchez High make it a good location.”

Wordy Hicks was a former Wilkinson County High School football coach who coached in Woodville from the late ’50s until the late ’80s. At one point in his career, he won 11 state championships in track, and the meet was created in his honor.

Wilkinson County did not have a complete list of which schools will be competing, but NHS will be one of those schools.