Brittany Fruge has asked her star long jumper at Port Neches-Groves to not remind her of senior year.

“Oh, my gosh,” Fruge exclaimed. “Ever since this season started, she said, ‘Coach, I can’t believe I’m a senior.’ I would say, ‘Jacie, please stop.’ I’m going to cry on the track.”

Fruge will gladly shed tears of joy if Jacie Droddy can cap a decorated high school track and field career with a medal Friday on her third appearance in 5A girls long jump at the UIL state championships at the University of Texas’ Mike A. Myers Stadium.

“I’ll be really excited just to get a state medal,” Droddy said. “A state medal would be extremely nice.”

Fruge, recently named PNG’s head volleyball coach, thinks its time for soon-to-be Texas A&M Aggie Droddy to stand on the podium on the Texas Longhorns’ infield. Droddy was fifth in 2017 and sixth last year.

“We’ve been training for this for four years,” Fruge said. “Time to bring back a medal.”

Droddy realizes the bitter in the bittersweet feeling of being a senior athlete.

“Part of me is sad because I’m going to miss high school,” Droddy said. “Another part of me is that I’m excited to see what the next level has in store for me, being an adult and training with other people.”

Droddy has improved her distance each outing from the District 21-5A meet, when she leaped 17 feet, 7.25 inches, to three-peat as a champion in that round. She did the same in the area round with a 17-10 jump, and improved by more than a half-foot (18-5.25) for a third straight silver medal in the 5A Region III contest on April 27.

“She’s coming off a great job in regionals,” Fruge said. “I think she understands when she’s relaxed and understanding, she jumps a lot better than when she puts a PR in her mind.”

The region champion, Fort Bend Hightower’s Destini Lomnard, jumped 19-3, just 0.25 inch shy of Droddy’s personal record from last year. Lomnard’s jump is the best out of all the region jumps in 5A, while Droddy’s is tied with two others for fourth. (Riley Floerke of Gregory-Portland jumped 18-8 and Sanye Ford of Frisco Liberty went 18-7.5.)

“Knowing that I’ve done that before, just like [Lomnard] had a good day, that could be me,” Droddy said. “I’m going in like this is my week. I’m going to go in and do my best.”

Droddy had the day off from practice Wednesday and will travel to Austin today for Friday’s event, which starts at 11:30 a.m.

“She’s been focused and relaxed,” Fruge said. “She hasn’t gone too heavy in practice. She’s just got jumps in and worked on springboarding to maintain height and length. I’m excited to see what she does.”

First things first: Droddy has to get to Austin, pick up her packet and get warmed up, Fruge cautioned.

That’s all Fruge has tried to do in her final year coaching her most decorated athlete, as she reminisces on the type of person Droddy is.

“She’s everything a coach asks for,” Fruge hailed. “She takes care of biz in the classroom. She takes care of the underclassmen. This week, we’re just going to stop and slow down the moment.”

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews