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SportsJune 4, 2006

Thinking back on her championship track season, Nicole Jackson has a hard time holding back the tears. And they're not all filled with joy. "I've had a rough season," Jackson said Thursday. That's not a word she throws around loosely. The 17-year-old Central junior was shot seven years ago and was a passenger in a car accident on Interstate 55 two years ago...

Thinking back on her championship track season, Nicole Jackson has a hard time holding back the tears.

And they're not all filled with joy.

"I've had a rough season," Jackson said Thursday.

That's not a word she throws around loosely. The 17-year-old Central junior was shot seven years ago and was a passenger in a car accident on Interstate 55 two years ago.

This spring, Jackson had to deal with the death of her mother, Cheryl Jackson, who suffered from lupus. She passed away on May 18.

"She was 33. Thirty-stinking-three," said Central track coach Lawrence Brookins.

The coach worried about Jackson. He worried that she wasn't eating well. Worried that she was very emotional. He wouldn't have blamed her for not participating in the state sectional meet that took place May 20, just two days after Cheryl Jackson's death and three days before funeral services.

Nicole, and her sister, sophomore Roxanne Jackson, ran.

And they excelled.

Nicole Jackson won the 100- and 200-meter sprints at the sectional. The following week, she captured the Class 4 state championship in the 200 -- Central's first individual title since 1999 -- while adding a fourth-place finish in the 100.

Team Jackson, as Brookins calls Nicole and Roxanne, also combined with Nadia Cox and Dani Gross for two top-five finishes in the 400- and 800-meter sprint relays at the state meet.

"I just kept going," said Nicole Jackson, who said the support from grandmother Verida Jackson and grandfather Joe Harris was crucial. "I pulled through it.

"I'm so used to seeing my mother at every track meet. I knew she was there, so I just kept going. She made me stronger.

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"I would like to dedicate this season to her."

The dedication has just begun.

Jackson has another year of high school track, which she vows will be better.

"I think I will have a better season next year," she said. "I learn something new every day."

Already the school's record-holder in the sprints, Jackson wants to lower the marks of 11.8 seconds in the 100 and 24.7 in the 200.

She wants to be a part of two state champion relay teams, and she wants to help the Tigers improve on their sixth-place team finish.

She wants to do all that and help her sister, who finished fifth in the sectional 200, reach her potential as well.

"I love that girl," Nicole said.

She and Brookins both believe Roxanne can be just as good as Nicole.

"For Nicole, being a leader comes from demonstrating her ability as opposed to being vocal," Brookins said. "But I've heard her get after her teammates, and I've seen her get in her sister's grill. I've seen her get into it with her sister where I've had to send them to neutral corners, so to speak, and it's because she recognizes the kind of talent Roxanne has."

Added Nicole: "You've got to push her. She'll judge herself by another girl and say, 'I can't beat her; she's quicker than me.' She'll want to trade me spots [in relays] and I'll be like 'You have to fight through this on your own.'"

Nicole Jackson said she's just as hard on herself, and that inner strength played a large role in her accomplishments this season.

"She has endurance," Brookins said. "I think that's why she won the 200," which was her fourth event of the day.

"She had more endurance than the other girls. It was hot and dry, and she was just stronger."

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