Like any other teenager during the summer months, Taji Dorsey has visited other areas of the country and made some new friends.

These friends, however, are ones who are just like the sprinter from Natchez High &045; they can do some pretty impressive things when you put them in a block and get ready to fire a stopwatch.

Dorsey’s and her three new friends &045; Gabrielle Dixon of Liberty, Latrice Banks of Liberty and Kenyatta Brooks of Jackson, La. &045; will get one last chance to spend time together starting Thursday at the National Junior Olympics on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene.

And they can’t spend too much time together. The quicker they run the 400-meter relay, the better their chances of getting a medal.

&uot;Everybody does their part and what they’re supposed to do,&uot; said Dorsey, who will also go in the 100- and 200-meters. &uot;(Brooks) is real good, but to say all of us put together &045; all of us really make the team faster. The first leg has to get out, the second has to keep the lead, the third leg has to make the curve and fourth leg has to bring us out.&uot;

Dorsey and the relay team will represent the Southern Association of Track and Field, the group of Mississippi and Louisiana track clubs that put together an all-star relay team of the best sprinters in the association.

Dorsey will also represent the Natchez Track Club in her three events along with Ke’Airra Jones, who will compete in the high jump at the 400-meter.

&uot;They are elite athletes and can run with the best in the nation,&uot; Natchez TC coach Henry &uot;Doc&uot; Woods said. &uot;All they have to do is train and apply themselves. With the competition in the Southern Association, all it could do was help.

&uot;It is more or less the Southern Association Elite Team. We put them together and give the Southern Association an opportunity to put their best on the track at the Junior Olympics. Texas and California do it all the time.&uot;

It’s a new concept, really, in the association, Woods said, and something coaches want to do to compete against those two states who perennially dominate in track and field. The four represent the association and their host schools, but in the meantime they have formed a bond that’s getting pretty strong with or without a baton.

Dillon runs the opening curve out of the block, Dorsey is the second leg in the first straightaway, Banks runs the second curve as the third leg and Brooks is the anchor.

The team won it last week at the regional meet &045; against associations from Alabama and Tennessee &045; in 57.21 seconds to win in the young women’s division.

&uot;We had to become friends,&uot; Dorsey said. &uot;We had to know girls we did not know. Before we started running together, we ran against each other. We were very competitive and nobody wanted anybody to win. But now we’ve become friends and do everything for the best.&uot;

The competition, as it turned out, may have been tougher in the Southern Association, Woods said. All four are outstanding sprinters, including Dorsey and her times of 11.82 in the 100 and 24.72 in the 200 to qualify for the national meet for the second straight year.

Anchor Brooks is idea for the anchor position &045; her long legs are also valuable in her long jump event where she went 19-11.

&uot;(Dillon) is a tremendous starter,&uot; Woods said. &uot;And she has to run the curve. Taji is probably the first- or second-fastest on the team. It gives Taji an opportunity to run the straightaway, and she’s good at running a straight line.&uot;

Dorsey is the first person from Natchez to go to the national meet in three events, and the senior-to-be at Natchez High is really working on that 200-meter time. That was the race she qualified for the state meet back in May, and she’ll go in the 100 as well.

&uot;I feel my 200 is my best race,&uot; Dorsey said. &uot;I run my curve real well. I’m faster in the 200 than in the 100. I’m not really shooting for a time, but I’d like to run a 23. I’ve been so close, but I’ve never been able to get it.&uot;

Then there is Jones, the sophomore-to-be at Natchez High who already has people talking. She qualified for the state meet last May as an eighth-grader, and this May she won a state title in the 400 at 57.02 seconds.

Last week Jones ran 56.7 seconds to finish in third place in the intermediate division and qualify for her first National Junior Olympics.

&uot;There’s a lot of competition,&uot; she said. &uot;To be the best, you’ve got to work hard. My main focus is to just maintain. In the third 100, you’ve got to go hard in the curve. Everybody wants to be the best. I’m working hard, and everybody else is going to be doing the same thing.&uot;

Jones won the high jump at 5-6 but will go against others who have jumping 5-10. The focus for her is making the finals of the 400, which would be an accomplishment in itself on this grand of a stage.

&uot;She’s got the potential to run a 55 in the quarter,&uot; Woods said. &uot;I’m glad she’s going to the Junior Olympics so she can see what it’s all about.&uot;