Raven Thompson had the best girls’ high jump mark in the Mississippi High School Activities Association this season. She has the gold medal recognizing her as the Class 6A champion, and a scholarship from Mississippi State that shows her future potential.

What she doesn’t have, at least in her own mind, is a feeling that she’s the best.

“I still don’t think I’m the best. I’ve got a long way to go. When I say a long way, I mean a couple of feet to go. I’m still a work in progress. So the best? No. For right now, the best for this year,” Thompson said. “I don’t think it’s hard to take, because I know what I can do. But I also know that there’s others that can beat me. That’s just reality. That’s the way I think.”

The fact of the matter, however, is that Thompson is the best girls’ track athlete in Warren County. The state high jump champ also reigns supreme as the 2018 Vicksburg Post girls track and field Athlete of the Year.

Thompson is the first Warren Central athlete — boy or girl — to win the award in its five-year history.

“I don’t know if I’ve gotten any before this, but I’m excited about this,” Thompson said of receiving an Athlete of the Year award.

Thompson competed in a few other events. She ran with the 4×100 and 4×200 meter relay teams a few times, reached the Region 2-6A meet in the triple jump and bowed out of the long jump competition at the Division 4-6A meet. She also reached the Class 6A state meet in the triple jump in 2015 and 2016.

Thompson said she had the speed to run occasionally, but simply preferred the jumping events.

“I’ve always liked to jump. I started jumping in junior high. It’s just fun. It’s like who can jump longer?” Thompson said. “Some people don’t have speed, but they can jump. I just like to jump more. I don’t mind running, but I jump more because I like it. You’re basically sitting there playing in sand and seeing how high and how far you can jump.”

The answer, for Thompson, was really, really high.

She posted the best height in the state this season with a mark of 5 feet, 10 inches at a meet at Clinton High School in March. She won at four meets in all, which helped her earn a track scholarship from Mississippi State, but hit a roadblock in the postseason when Madison Central’s Asia Poe came on the scene.

The fellow Mississippi State signee beat Thompson on tiebreakers at the Region 2-6A and Class 6A North State meets. The same scenario played out again at the state meet, with both clearing the bar at 5 feet, 4 inches before crashing out at 5-6.

After a few anxious moments, Thompson was declared the winner on a tiebreaker. It was her first championship in four trips to the state meet in the high jump. She’d gotten a bronze medal in 2016 and tied for third — officially finishing fourth on tiebreakers — in 2015 and 2017.

Remarkably, after coming up just short for so long, Thompson downplayed her breakthrough victory.

“It means a lot. It’s a title. It’s a great title to have,” she said. “Of course there are others that are going to have the title and that have had the title. But it’s good to say you’ve had it.”

Her attitude stems from the knowledge that she beat Poe on that given day, although they were essentially equals in the grand scheme of things. It also comes from having an eye to the near future, when she’ll face world-class competition in the Southeastern Conference with Mississippi State.

It’s also an attitude, Thompson said, that keeps her levelheaded and pushing to match whoever she’s competing against.

“It drives me to push harder, because I know there’s more that can beat me,” Thompson said. “I know there’s competition to come. I just have to keep pushing and don’t get a big head. That’s why I don’t talk about my accomplishments like that, because then I feel like I’m coming off cocky or arrogant.”

PAST ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
BOYS
2018 – Connor Bottin, St. Aloysius
2017 – Donald Woodson, St. Aloysius
2016 – DeMichael Harris, St. Aloysius
2015 – DeMichael Harris, St. Aloysius
2014 – Terrell Smith, Vicksburg
GIRLS
2018 – Raven Thompson, Warren Central
2017 – Dede Apenyo, St. Aloysius
2016 – Tymesha Nabors, Vicksburg
2015 – Keiyana Gaskin, Vicksburg
2014 – Alyssa Engel, St. Aloysius