Campus Prep speedster takes aim at state crown|[5/04/06]

Published 12:00 am Thursday, May 4, 2006

Because she likes to go fast, Campus Prep eighth-grader Samantha Raner had no problem in running sprints for the Lady Warriors’ track team.

At the MPSA Academy A North State meet in Greenville Saturday, Raner won the girls 400 meters in just over 63 seconds. The win marks the sixth straight time she’s won the 400-meter run this spring.

&#8220A lot of people don’t like to run it, but I love that race,” Raner said. She also ran the 100 meters, finishing third and the 200 meters, earning a second place ribbon.

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Raner’s combined 13 points in the events was enough to give Campus Prep a sixth place finish in the team event, its best performance in any sport in the Fisher Ferry Road school’s first year competing in the Mississippi Private Schools Association.

For Raner, running sprints helps provide training for her two favorite sports, soccer and equestrian speed events.

At 13, Raner is one of the state’s top youth soccer players having earned a spot on the state’s Olympic Development Team. She also starts at outside midfield on the Jackson Futbol Club’s 14-and-under select team.

In between the six track meets she ran in this spring, Raner also managed to play in 15 soccer matches for JFC.

&#8220We won the Premier League. That means we’ll be ranked No. 1 in the South Region and we’ll ranked in the Top 25 in the nation,” Raner boasts.

Before she goes back to soccer, and her American Quarter Horse Association show schedule, Raner will run in the MPSA Class A state meet on Saturday at Robinson-Hale Stadium at Mississippi College in Clinton.

Though qualified in three events, Raner may just concentrate on the 400 on Saturday.

Raner’s season includes wins at Chamberlain-Hunt, Madison-Ridgeland, and two meets at Jackson Academy.

&#8220My best time in the 400 is 1:02 something,” she said. &#8220I thought the North State race was going to be my toughest because there was a girl from Tunica who’s good.

&#8220But I run the 400 a little weirder than most. A lot of the girls just kind of jog out there and then turn it on. I like to go out really fast, get a good lead and then hold on. I also run right on the edge, really hugging the lane.”