Robin Reynolds asked her parents for permission to run track when she was 7 years old.

By saying yes, they had no idea what effect their decision would have on the sport of track and field.

''Robin just ran out there and started running alongside some boys from a youth football team,'' her mother, Robbie Cunningham, said. ``The boys were running laps as punishment for breaking the rules. Robin was doing it for fun.''

On Friday night, Reynolds' joy carried over to the entire Jackson girls' track team. Reynolds begun what many expect to be a record-smashing track career Friday night by winning four individual events as a freshman.

Reynolds' 40 points, coupled with third-place finishes by seniors Juliette Normil (300 hurdles) and Danielle McDuffie (200 meters), and a second-place finish by its 1,600-relay team catapulted Jackson to its first girls' team state championship since 1980 at the Class 3A meet at Showalter Field. The Generals are the first Dade public school girls' team to win a state title during that span other than Northwestern and Southridge.

''We weren't coming here for anything less but a state championship and Robin played a huge part in that,'' Normil said. ``She has a tremendous heart and she's going to be great the next three years.''