CAIRO – Cairo’s girls track and field team had a small but effective presence at last weekend’s Class 4-A championship meet in Albany, Georgia.

Freshman Zykierra Hightower finished eighth in the 400 meters, improving the school record to 59.16 seconds. She was also part of the 4×200-meter relay team, along with Anna Spencer, D’Laesha Spencer and Robyn Conyers that finished fifth en route to a school record of 1:43.05. The two race performances helped provide the Syrupmaids enough points to finish 20^th in state.

Cairo’s relay team finished fifth during last Thursday’s preliminary qualifying. Spencer helped spearhead Cairo’s showing at the state championships with a fourth-place finish in Thursday’s long jump event.

Cairo’ performance last weekend provided a glimpse into the bright future of the Syrupmaids program, though it will lose a couple of key athletes to graduation.

“Anna and Robin are seniors, so we’re going to have to replace them on the 4×200-meter team that was fifth in 4-A. It’s going to be a hard task, but we’re always up to the challenge,” Hightower said.

“Of course, the standard is to get better. I feel like with the eighth grade group of girls that are going to be freshmen next year, along with the seventh grade girls, once they make it to the high school and this current freshmen class will be juniors, I think our girls team will be the best,” Cairo coach Chester Hightower said.