BATON ROUGE — Scotlandville High School's girls' track and field head coach Ursula Harris has become the second person from Louisiana to be named National High School Coach of the Year by the United States Track and Field Coaches Association.

Throughout her tenure, the school has won numerous state championships in both indoor and outdoor track. Harris said after being awarded the girl's state coach of the year, she was told to apply for the national award, which she thought was only a long shot.

"I said, 'I'll just fill it out,' knowing I was going against 50 other coaches, you know. I'm like, 'Well, I'll just do it,' and then when I got the call, I was ecstatic, it was just unbelievable," Harris said. 

A part of those championship-winning teams is Harris's daughter, Makeriah, who is now a part of LSU's track and field team. She says she is proud of what her mother has achieved.

"Seeing from when she first became an assistant coach, so unexpected. She didn't know what to do. To being the head coach, let alone getting an award for it, it's a blessing seeing how she grew," Makeriah said. 

Harris says she hopes bringing the award back to Scotlandville not only motivates the athletes but students as well. 

"Even though it says coach's award, it is still a representation of the kids who ran and did all of the hard work, and all of the other coaches that coach here at the school, to be able to get some recognition for them as well," Harris said.

Harris says she looks to repeat the success the school has had in previous years this track season.