NATCHEZ &045; Despite the hundreds of athletes, spectators and coaches that will descend upon Adams Christian tomorrow for the Kramer Fife relays, something will be missing.

Specifically, the Rebels’ coach, Bill Richardson, who is serving in the Army in Iraq, will be absent.

Warren Whitaker has stepped in to coach the team in Richardson’s absence.

&uot;I’m filling in for him. Somebody needed to do it, so I did,&uot; Whitaker said.

But though Richardson may not be there in body while he serves abroad, thoughts will most definitely be with him.

&uot;He needs our prayers right now,&uot; Whitaker said. &uot;We’re out here having a competition for fun, and he’s in a competition for life.&uot;

Richardson will probably be gone for about another year, Whitaker said.

&uot;I’ve heard from some of our people here that he’s doing OK,&uot; Whitaker said. &uot;He won’t be back until next spring sometime, so I’ll probably be here doing this again.&uot;

In the meantime, the sport goes on. Adams Christian has strong junior high teams and a few athletes in the varsity ranks that have performed well. Whitaker recommended the public come out for the field events, which will go from 10 a.m. until about 1 p.m., when the running events will get going.

The track meet, named in honor of former AC coach Kramer Fife, will bring in 12 schools from around the area. Each of those schools will bring four teams &045; junior high and varsity, boys and girls &045; so the action should be plentiful.

The events won’t begin until today, but if you thought that meant nothing was happening before then, you would most definitely be wrong. Wednesday was spent putting the finishing touches on the grounds and making sure everyone involved in putting the meet on knew their job.

&uot;I’m running around today, lining off fields for the shot and discus, getting the PA system in order and just making sure everything is ready to go,&uot; Whitaker said.

Those assignments are just part of the work involved in putting on an event for so many people.

Fife, the event’s namesake, was a well-known and well-respected coach at Adams Christian for many years.

&uot;We felt he should be honored in some way, so we started up this event,&uot; Whitaker said.

Proceeds from T-shirt sales at the event go to support scholarships in Fife’s name, Whitaker said.