Tallulah Academy sprinter Caroline Windham is looking forward to a big reward when she finishes her races at the MPSA state track meet at Mississippi College on Saturday.

A state championship? A medal? A possible state record? No.

If you go

MPSA state track meet

Mississippi College,

Robinson-Hale Stadium

Saturday, 8:30 a.m.

Windham is looking forward to when she can get to eat her favorite dish: fried okra.

The junior sprinter won the MPSA Class A South State championship 100-meter race on April 25 with a blazing 13-second run and has already dipped below 13 seconds with a 12.9-second dash earlier this season.

Now she just needs a medal to enjoy a delicacy she hasn’t enjoyed since she began her training regime in November.

The life of a sprinter is one of monk-like self denial as Windham has been on a diet with no get-of-jail-free cards. No soft drinks. No fried anything. No fat. Just carbs, a practice called carb-loading, to provide the body with maximum energy. 

According to her coach John Weaver, Windham could be the subject of a good book.

“She’s got a lot of guts,” Weaver said. “It’s a success story that I’m going to be talking about to my football players for the rest of my career. Hard work, you can’t replace it. She’s the definition of hard work and proof that if you want something bad enough, you will go get it.”

It took guts for Windham, who won the 100-meter state title as a freshman, to face the reality that looked her in the face after a subpar 2008 campaign, when she didn’t even make it out of the district meet as a sophomore.

The strain of matching her splash onto the state track scene got to the youngster.

“It was definitely the pressure,” Windham said. “It was a lot of crowd pressure, people pressure and I just couldn’t take it. I didn’t know how to get back to where I was. I just started talking to God before every race and I just prayed, not to win, but just asking Him just to be with me.”

It was a literal sophomore slump, but Windham went to Weaver afterwards to let him know that the situation was not going to stand, but she needed his help.

“I told her that it’s not going to be easy,” Weaver said. “High school athletes sometimes aren’t willing to put forth the effort. But she did. She worked hard and gave 110 percent on everything. I told her ‘whatever it takes, you’re going to have to do,’ and she’s done that very well.”

Weaver took her out for a run at the Warren Central track. Her time? Over 14 seconds, an eternity in the 100. Tears streamed down Windham’s face. But a steely resolve took over. She hit the weights. She pulled sleds. She worked out with bands. She ran harder than ever. She attacked her diet with reckless abandon. And soon her time started to drop. And drop. And drop some more.

“It was a lot of dedication and hard work,” Windham said. “Disappointment, you’ve always got to work through it. Coach Weaver just kept telling me, ‘you can do it, you can do it, you just have to work.’ I’ve never trained like I trained this year at all.”

Then the times dropped. 13.9. 13.5. 13.2. Then in the district meet, she hit the jackpot. She ran a personal-best 12.9 and took the meet by storm. She was truly back and better than ever. Then she won the 100 at South State and qualified with a third-place finish for the 200-meter race.

Now she’s on the cusp of winning a second medal in the 100 and a possible first medal in the 200 as well.

“I’m just going to run it like any other race,” Windham said. “I know I have the strength to just run my race. I’m not going to worry about who’s in the other lane.”

As for the meet, she won’t be the only area athlete running in the race. Tallulah’s Neil Watkins will race in the 300-meter hurdles.

Watkins’ best time at the South State meet in Clinton, La. was 41.61 seconds.

“I’m really excited to go and it’s even a great experience just to make it to South State,” Watkins said.

PCA’s Jacob Rachal, better known for his exploits as the Eagles’ man in the middle on the hardwood, picked up a shot put only three weeks before and finished fourth in his first trip to South State to qualify for a berth in the state meet. His first competition was the district meet.

He threw 40 feet, 11 inches in Clinton, La. but has thrown farther in practice with a heavier shot, so the sky is the limit for Rachal.

“I’m pretty excited about it,” Rachal said. “It’s just something I’m good at it. It came naturally.”

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Contact Steve Wilson at swilson@vicksburgpost.com