NATCHEZ &045; Scott Hanson and his Trinity teammates were plenty tired by 8:15 Thursday night.

Hanson, Stevan Ridley, Kris Ford and Tripp Bryant had just won the mile relay to secure the team title at the Kramer Fife Relays over Copiah Academy, ending a long day of track and field events that started at 10 a.m.

&uot;This is the first team title ever for me,&uot; Hanson said. &uot;It felt like I almost died out there, but my leg was the same time as my 400, so I ran a good race.&uot;

Going into the last event, Trinity led Copiah by six points in the standings. First place gets six points, meaning all the Saints had to do was place in the top five to ensure a first-place finish.

Trinity won the meet with 58 1/2 points to Copiah’s 46 1/2. Briarfield Academy, Sharkey-Issaquena Academy and Rebul Academy rounded out the top five in the boys’ standings.

Hanson won the 400 in 55.86 seconds and the 300 hurdles in 45.38. Ridley won the 200 in 24.55 seconds, and Bryant took the triple jump with a mark of 37.8 feet.

Trinity boys’ track coach DavidKing said he was pleased with his team’s performance and the win.

&uot;We’re (Class) AA, so this is probably the only chance we have to win a meet,&uot; King said. &uot;Our girls also did a real good job today. Coach (Bubba) Griffey has done a real good job with them.&uot;

The Trinity Lady Saints finished tied for seventh.

The track meet also got some much-needed cooperation from the weather, with rain that had been predicted to come into the area in the evening holding off until after the meet was done.

&uot;We were blessed with good weather,&uot; Adams Christian track coach Warren Whitaker said.

Whitaker and AC hosted the second annual event, with 13 schools participating, making it one of the largest track meets for MPSA schools. Huntington, Tensas, Wilkinson County Christian Academy, Chamberlain-Hunt, Franklin, Tallulah and Porter’s Chapel all took part.

&uot;It’s a great track meet and a tribute to a great man. Kramer (Fife) was a real good guy,&uot; King said. &uot;We’re just glad to participate in it.&uot;

Huntington took the varsity girls’ title with solid performances in the distance events and individual event wins by Marie Miller in the 3,200 with a time of 16:03.93 and Julie Moak, who won the 100 hurdles in 18.47 seconds. The Hounds won with 54 points.

&uot;This feels good. It’s been a while since we won a meet,&uot; Huntington girls’ track coach Penny Moak said. &uot;The girls are finally coming together. I’ve been shuffling people around to see where I’m going to put them. Today I was able to see what’s going to work and what’s not going to work.&uot;

Tensas finished second in the girls’ event with 44 points. Kaitlen Emfinger won the 100 in 14.00, and Caity Rogers won the 400 in 1:07.04. The Lady Chiefs’ 400 relay team of Aubrey McEachern, Emfinger, Rogers and Jordan Lentz won in 56.75.

&uot;(Emfinger and Rogers) are usually just sprinters for us, but we don’t have enough girls for them to do just that,&uot; Tensas coach Chris Jacobs said. &uot;They did a little of everything for us.&uot;

Briarfield, Sharkey-Issaquena and Rebul rounded out the top five for the girls.

Adams Christian won the junior high girls title with 38 1/2 points behind a huge performance from Katie Givens, who won the 100 and 200 and was part of the winning 400 and 800 relays.

&uot;I felt pretty good today running,&uot; Givens said. &uot;I was supposed to do six events, but I pulled a muscle in my back at softball yesterday so I didn’t do the 300 hurdles.&uot;

Briarfield was second with 32 points and Tallulah, Trinity and WCCA were third through fifth.

&uot;Our kids ran well. We have a good group of young girls,&uot; Whitaker said. &uot;We don’t have much interest at the varsity level, but that’s how you change things that and get a program back to where it should be.&uot;

Whitaker also said AC track coach Bill Richardson, currently serving with the National Guard in Iraq, was in his thoughts during the meet.

&uot;We miss Bill Richardson,&uot; Whitaker said. &uot;That’s what freedom is all about. He’s there fighting to give them freedom.&uot;