Jae’la Smith jumped over all of the competition to win the latest Vicksburg Post Athlete of the Week contest.

The Warren Central track and field athlete received 256 of the 487 votes cast in an online poll of The Post’s readers to take the weekly award.

St. Aloysius golfer Will Keen finished second, with 158 votes. Porter’s Chapel Academy tennis player John McGee was third and Vicksburg High track athlete Layla Carter fourth.

Smith, a junior, won the girls’ high jump at the MHSAA Division 5-6A meet on April 17, and finished second at the Region 3-6A meet on April 22.

Smith cleared a height of 5 feet, 2 inches at the division meet and 5 feet even at the region meet. She will compete in the Class 6A South State meet this Saturday, April 29, at Biloxi High School.

The top four finishers in each event at South State advance to the Class 6A state meet May 6 at Pearl High School.
Congratulations to Jae’la and the other nominees, and thank you to our readers for voting.

The nominees for the Athlete of the Week award are announced each week on Sunday, and voting is open until midnight Tuesday. Links to the poll will be posted on our Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as at vicksburgpost.com.