fayette — The Jefferson County High School track team wanted to send its lone senior member out on a high note this season, and the Lady Tigers did just that at the region meets in Natchez.

Shykeysha Earls has been a fixture for the Lady Tigers’ track team for the past five years, and with the help of her leadership the team brought home its first MHSAA Region 7-3A track title in April.

“It was a real good feeling,” Earls said about winning the region title. “After all these years we’ve been running and it’s only happened once in history. That will be something to look back and reflect on.”

Jefferson County’s championship did not come easy, however. The Lady Tigers edged Wilkinson County High School by one point in the meet.

“It was a tough competition against Wilkinson County,” Earls said. “We were keeping up with the score. I was very nervous, and when we were getting ready to do our last relay I told my teammates, ‘We have a chance to get it,’ and we got it together and made something happen that had never happened.”

Jefferson County girls’ track coach Flora S. McKnight said her team’s success has come from a lot of hard work, and the Tigers have had to overcome a lot of adversity to train.

“We don’t have a track, so we have to improvise in many ways,” McKnight said. “We run on the football field a lot and run a lot of hills. We just try to improvise and make the football field like running on a track.”

The Lady Tigers went on to the South State meet after winning district, and although the team did not fair as well as it did in region, several athletes qualified for the state meet Friday.

“As a whole we dropped off like teams do,” McKnight said. “We didn’t advance, but the competition gets harder. I’m proud of the eight young ladies moving on to state and the ones that didn’t make it also.”

Ninth-grader Rachel Shelvy is one of the athletes that qualified for the state meet. Shelvy won the South State Championship in the 100-meter dash and will also participate in two relays and the 300-meter.

“To get first place in South State was great, because I’ll be going to state with a first place under my belt,” Shelvy said. “I think I’ll do good in relays and individuals, and maybe I’ll do good enough to be a state champion.”

Shelvy, Earls, Azaria Smith and Keiana Earls are the four members of the Lady Tigers’ relay team that will vie for a state title. Destiny Young, JarQuyia Doss and Jokeitha Snyder will be alternates on the relay team.

Derryin Stampley will participate in the discus, and Smith will compete in the triple jump.

Shykeysha said she has mixed emotions about the state meet Friday.

“I’m kind of nervous about going to state in relay,” she said. “After all it’s the first time we’ve ever gone in relay. It’s going to be tough because each time you advance the competition gets harder and you have to work for it.”

Although the Lady Tigers will lose Shykeysha to Alcorn State next year, where she hopes to try out for the track team, McKnight said she thinks the future is bright for Jefferson County girls’ track.

“It’s something you can see coming to the school,” McKnight said. “I just hope the young ladies continue to work. The future is so bright, and it’s there for them. They just have to stay disciplined.”