CAIRO – Cairo’s AnnaMae Spencer had a strong showing at Thursday’s Class 4-A state track and field meet held in Albany. She finished fourth in the long jump and was also part of the 4×200-meter relay team that qualified for Saturday’s final.

“She was about four inches off of her PR (personal record). Just going in to compete and being able to place fourth overall is something that Cairo hasn’t had in a while,” Cairo coach Chester Hightower said. “It was a good competition.

“She got third last year, but she jumped farther this year than she did last year. We were happy with her performance.”

The top eight relay teams advanced to Saturday’s championship race. Cairo finished fifth during Thursday’s preliminary qualifying. Hightower is excited to see how his girls compete in the final.

“One through eight, everybody is within a second of each other,” Cairo coach Chester Hightower said. “Westover did pretty well. They had the No. 1 time going in at 1:41, but everybody else, from sixth place on up, everybody is either 1:42 or 1:43. It’ll be a good competitive race. Whoever has the smoothest handoffs, smooth transitions going in; hopefully we can be in one of those top three spots going into the home stretch.”

Spencer’s teammates on the relay team include D’Laesha Spencer, Robyn Conyers and Zykierra Hightower.

The relay final is set for Saturday at 12:50 p.m.