March 6, 2008

JACKSON, Miss. - - Jackson State head indoor track and field coach Pauline Banks recently accomplished a feat that had not been done at JSU in 23 years.

When the Lady Tigers women's indoor track and field team won the 2008 SWAC Championship, Banks became the first female head coach at the institution to win an outright SWAC championship since Sadie Magee's Lady Tigers won the 1985 SWAC Basketball Tournament.

Banks, who is in her fifth season as head track coach at JSU, is very excited about winning her first conference title and being linked with JSU's legendary women's basketball coach.

"I feel great, said Banks. "When you first start out at a place you want to win right off the bat, but I guess everything happens in time.

"To be mentioned in the same sentence with Sadie Magee is an honor. It means so much to me that I am first woman coach at JSU to win a championship since she did is something that I can't put into words," she said. "Who would have thought that a girl from Greenwood, Miss. would come to a great place like Jackson State and have this kind of success?"

Banks believes her team will ride this success into the outdoor season.

"For us the indoor season helps prepare us for the outdoor season, so I think we will do really well."

Jackson State will open the 2008 outdoor season on Mar. 15 when the Lady Tigers travel to Hattiesburg, Miss. for the USM Outdoor Invitational hosted by Southern Miss.