Jada McDougle firmly established herself as Class 4A’s premier sprinter when she placed first in the 100- and 200-meter dash at May’s high school track championships.

Now, the Newton County junior hopes to expand her reign to the national landscape when she competes in USA Track and Field’s (USATF) Hershey National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, later this month.

Her success has surprised her most ardent fan.

“She just started running in high school this year,” said Frances McDougle, Jada’s mother. “I think her first track meet was in April. It was her first year ever running track and she’s won two state championships, and now she’s advanced to the national junior Olympics.”

The summer track circuit has taken McDougle, 16, to meets in Louisiana, Tennessee and the Magnolia State, where she said she’s collected new friends and enjoyed heated competitions against some of the region’s most skilled runners. 

“I’ve met a lot of (friends) from all over — a lot from Tennessee, a lot from Clinton, Louisiana,” she said. 

McDougle lists the USATF Southern Association Invitational in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as offering the most exciting experience after she set a personal and heat best in the 100-meter with a time of 11:99. She also finished first in the 200-meter that day by running 26:21.

She breezed past her competition at the USATF Southern Association Junior Olympic Championships in Monroe, Louisiana, when she placed first in the 100- and 200-meter, and she tallied first-place finishes in the 100- and 200-meter in the June 16 Clinton Summer Speed Invitational.

On July 8, McDougle placed third in the 200-meter with a time of 25:22, and she finished fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12:47 to solidify her trip to the national junior Olympics.

Although competitive running is still new to her, McDougle said she realized early that her decision to compete was the right one.

“The first track meet that I’ve ever been to, I was like, ‘Man, I should have been doing this,’” McDougle said. “If I was nervous, I knew I wasn’t the only one nervous, and I wasn’t the only one there.”

McDougle started running four months ago, and she’s still familiarizing herself with the sport’s more intricate techniques such as using starting blocks. Frances McDougle enlisted the help of New Way youth track coach Cornelius Thompson, who has 

won state championships in the hurdles at both Amite County High School and Hinds Community College. McDougle joined New Way in June, and she travels to Clinton on Tuesdays and Thursdays for two-hour practices with the club. 

“It’s unbelievable that you have a kid that has a lot of talent like that that actually just started running to be that fast,” Thompson said.”It was a good opportunity for the both of us. For me, I love coaching, and I love kids who have raw talent, and then for her to be one like that.”

Despite being with the club for just over a month, McDougle already holds New Way records in the 100-(11:99), 200-(24:84) and 400- (58:02) meter events.

“Some kids have natural raw talent and she has that, and man, it’s unreal,” Thompson said. “I have no idea where she gets that from.”

Thompson said McDougle’s slim, yet muscular frame lends itself to sprinting, but he also believes her talent to be hereditary. Frances McDougle played softball, basketball and ran track at Union High School before playing softball for a year at East Central Community College. 

“I ran in high school, but never on the level that she ran, and I was never as fast as she is,” Frances McDougle said with a laugh. “I was fast, but compared to her, I wasn’t. When I was 16, she would have beaten me badly.”

The USATF Hershey National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships are July 23-29 at North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro, North Carolina. McDougle said competing against the nation’s best runners can be intimidating at times, but once she steps on the track, those feelings of anxiousness disappear. 

“As soon as I get my blocks set, it’s like a gush of wind comes and the nervousness goes away, and I’m in focus mode to where I don’t hear anything but the official say, ‘Runners take your mark, set,’ and then popping the gun,” she said. “That’s all I hear.”

Frances McDougle has created a GoFundMe page to help cover expenses for the National Junior Olympics. To donate, please visit https://www.gofundme.com/usatf-regional-championship-in-tn.