PEARL &045; Look out Ms. Cleo, Dionne Warwick and the Psychic Friends Network. Natchez High track coach Larry Wesley could give all three supposed soothsayers a run for their money.

The fourth-year coach revealed an event-by-event sheet he had outlined before Saturday’s Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A state meet, predicting where the competing teams should finish.

The total points he had listed for his Lady Bulldogs? One hundred one.

And darn if Natchez didn’t oblige with that exact number on its way to its fourth consecutive 5A title, blowing away the rest of the field with Vicksburg placing second with 78 points.

With the victory, the Lady Bulldogs proved that, yes, Mississippi there is more to Natchez High track than Janice Davis, who led her school to three straight state crowns before leaving for Stanford University.

&uot;No Davis, no problem,&uot; Wesley once again repeated his mantra for this year’s Lady Bulldogs. &uot;This program is built for everybody. Janice did a lot to help build it up, but everything else is history. We had to re-energize them.&uot;

Much was made leading up to Saturday about the strength of Natchez’s girls resting in the lap of its relay teams.

True to form, the Lady Bulldogs trailed Gulfport by half a point after 10 events, including the 800-meter relay that Natchez won in 1:41.71, nearly a second and a half ahead of second-place Hattiesburg (1:43.05).

Despite a bad exchange between freshmen Candace Frye and Ke’Airra Jones, Jones, the second leg made up ground prior to handing off to senior Tanieka Hill.

Hill flew to the front of the pack before placing the baton in the right hand of anchor Taji Dorsey, who had no trouble crossing the line first, much to her surprise.

&uot;It felt like someone was behind me. That’s what gave me the motivation to run,&uot; said Dorsey, who managed a second-place later during Saturday in the 200 behind Vicksburg’s Courtney Prentiss. &uot;I heard steps. I also wasn’t going to let anybody take this relay. Relays mean a lot because they help us out the most. That’s the main thing that counts for us.&uot;

The Lady Bulldogs never looked back after getting their engine running in the 4×200. Hill, as game and gritty as ever with a pulled hamstring, ran to the tape first in both the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, defending her state championships for a third time.

After the 300, where her 44.84 edged Starkville’s Dominique Rogers’ 45.24 and teammate Frye’s time of 45.81, an exhausted and dehydrated Hill crumpled into a ball for a few seconds before she mustered the strength to stumble to the winner’s podium, which she crawled on top of before begging anybody and everybody for some water.

&uot;I didn’t expect to get first,&uot; Hill said due to the strained hamstring. &uot;It made me feel real good. I wasn’t going to let anybody beat me in my last year.&uot;

Hill won the 100 in 14.83 with Frye again on her heels, this time in second, at 15.53.

Her coach expected nothing less from his star, who has routinely run under difficult circumstances throughout her career, he said.

&uot;Hill has been solid for us the last two years,&uot; Wesley said. &uot;Right now I’m quite sure they’re all tired, but (Saturday) Tanieka ran with pain.&uot;

Suddenly after 14 events, the Lady Bulldogs were coasting to the finish line, assuming nearly a 30-point lead, with 87 to Vicksburg’s 58.

Jones, who placed second in the high jump at 5-06, gave her team another first-place medal in the 400 when she stormed to the front and never looked back in a time of 57.02, almost three seconds ahead of Greenville-Weston’s Lashay Barksdale, who crossed in 59.93 for second place.

&uot;I tried a new way to run it. Usually, I sprint into the first curve and on the backstretch,&uot; said Jones, who finished fourth as an eighth grader to Davis last year. &uot;This time, though, I relaxed in the backstretch. I felt like I had the energy, so I ran for it.&uot;