Bowling Green’s Melissa Crowe will defend her Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class AA state title in the 300 hurdles Saturday at Jackson Prep.

The senior needed to finish in the top four of the Class AA South State Meet this past Saturday at Silliman Institute, and she accomplished that in the best way possible.

Crowe captured the 300 hurdles, running it in 49.44 seconds, beating out Park Place Christian Academy’s Elizabeth Miller (50.25).

Crowe took over a second off of her time from the April 17 District 6AA meet, which she also won. She completed the district meet in 50.62 seconds.

The Class AA girls’ 300-meter hurdles race is scheduled to get under way at 10:54 a.m. Saturday.

In the girls’ team competition at South State, Centreville Academy won with 76 points. Silliman was second with 57, followed by Adams County Christian School (32.5), Park Place (31) and Hartfield Academy, with 13 teams scoring. Bowling Green finished eighth with six points.

The field portion of the meet took place Wednesday.

For the state meet, the field events are set for Friday at Jackson Academy.