Like most coaches who have a successful season, West Hall girls track coach Cindy Herford gives all the credit to the members of the team.

Through their desire, hard work and talent, the Lady Spartans raced to a Region 8-AAA championship and a seventh-place finish at the state meet, but those three things are just a minor portion of their recipe for success.

"I can't say enough about staying injury free," said Herford, who has been coaching track for 10 years. "I can't remember a year when we went injury free from the start of the season."

The ability to stay healthy plus the young duo of sophomore LeNiesha Kearse and freshman Maia Booker propelled West Hall to first-place finishes in every meet except for the state meet and the Flowery Branch Invitational, where it placed second.

Kearse and Booker each won two region titles - Kearse in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, Booker in the 100- and 200-meter dash - and both placed in the top three at the state meet in at least one of their two events.

"Obviously they made a whole lot of impact on the team," Herford said. "But everyone on our team did well.

"From Day 1, all the girls practiced hard," she added. "We set a goal to win region, and we never looked back. I had 100 percent support from the girls, and they never complained about anything I asked them to do."

West Hall's athletic director Scott Justus said that is a "testament to the type of person Herford is."

"Cindy works hard and we appreciate what she does for West Hall High School, not only on the track, but in the classroom," Justus said.

Herford started her coaching career at West Hall, and after moving to Dawson County to coach basketball with former Lady Spartans coach Steve Sweat, she returned to Oakwood for two simple reasons.

"I just loved it and missed it," she said. "We don't have a huge pool to chose from, but the ones we do have are amazing athletes."

Only two of those athletes will be graduating off this year's team, but with Kearse, Booker and sophomores Haley Haynes and Taylor Long all returning, the Lady Spartans are setting their sights on a better finish in 2012.

"We had a much better year than expected," Herford said. "We're not losing too many people so hopefully we'll be in contention next year."

And Herford's not just talking about being in contention for another region championship.

"Hopefully it'll be more than that," she said.