RIDGELAND — Midway through the long jump competition at Saturday’s Class 1A girls South State meet, Alyssa Engel decided she’d had enough and called it a day.

She’d taken four of the six jumps she was allowed, but she didn’t need another to win. She might not have even needed a second or a third.

Engel jumped 16 feet, 7 inches, nine inches better than her nearest challenger, to win the South State title and advance to the Class 1A state meet.

“I stopped on the fourth jump. I was so far ahead. I didn’t feel like jumping anymore,” said Engel, who will defend her Class 1A championship May 12 at Pearl High School. “It’s good to feel that way.”

Engel also qualified for the state meet in the triple jump, 200 meter dash and 4×400 meter relay. She was one of four Lady Flashes to qualify in individual events.

Tori Thomas finished fourth in the discus and shot put to advance, and Madalyn Burke was third in the 1,600 meter run. Burke was in fifth place with 300 meters to go, but a strong finishing kick sent her on to Pearl.

Mary Ranager, Grace Burnett, Dede Apenyo and Laura Phillps qualified in the 4×200 relay.

Burnett, Apenyo, Engel and Claire Jamison qualified in the 4×400 relay.

Maggie Waites also won the pole vault and will try to reclaim the state title that eluded her last year.

Waites set the Class 1A record as a freshman in 2012, but didn’t make a qualifying height at last year’s state meet. She blamed the bad performance last year on a back injury, but said she’s healthy now.

Waites cleared 11 feet Saturday, two feet better than runner-up Chelsey McDaniel of French Camp.

“I was thinking too much about my injury (last year). But I’m good now,” Waites said.

St. Al’s Josh Price finished second in the shot put and discus to advance to the boys state meet.

Meanwhile, up the road at Madison Central, Warren Central’s track team was enduring an up-and-down day at the Class 6A North State meet.

Cretesha Kelly won the girls triple jump with a leap of 36 feet, 10 1/2 inches — a foot and a half better than second-place Daneva Arana of Clinton.

“It was a really good day,” said Kelly, who finished second at last year’s state meet.

Khadijah Qualls finished third in the long jump and 100 meter hurdles to advance in both events, and Deja Ivory was second in the shot put.

Warren Central’s boys had a much less memorable day.

Jacorey Turner finished fourth in both the boys triple jump and high jump, but didn’t make a legal jump in the long jump and failed to advance. He still was the only member of WC’s boys team to advance to the state meet.

The Class 6A state meet is Saturday at Pearl.

At the Class 5A North State meet in Oxford, Vicksburg High’s boys team won four events and qualified for the state meet in 10.

Terrell Smith finished first in the 100 meters with a time 10.71 seconds. He won the 200 meters in 20.79 seconds, and the long jump with a leap of 22 feet, 11 inches. He also joined Greg Lewis, TeDarius Brown and Sharquez Houston on the 4×100 meter relay team that finished second.

Leon Miles won the 300 meter hurdles and was fourth in the 110 hurdles.

Other qualifiers were Tavares Johnson Jr. in the 300 and 110 hurdles; Jaylin Smith in the 400 meters; Ben Blue in the triple jump; the 4×200 relay team of Jaylin Smith, Brown, Houston and Miles; and the 4×400 relay team of Jaylin Smith, Darius Tucker, Johnson and Miles.

Vicksburg’s girls team qualified for the state meet in nine events.

Tymesha Nabors won the 300 meter hurdles and joined Keiyana Gaskin, Mikayla Banks and Destiny Allen on the winning 4×100 meter relay team. She also qualified in the 4×200 relay with Allen, Jamia Sanders and Tyra Prentiss.

Other qualifiers were Lakeria Tubbs (high jump); Breanna Foy (long jump, triple jump); Gaskin (100 and 200 meters); and the 4×400 relay team of Sanders, Lily Brown, Jade Douglas and Jamiracle Williams.