Championship Coach Michael Fields has been leading successful track & field programs at Utica, Raymond, Hinds AHS, and St. Aloysius for 36 seasons.  Born in Vicksburg, Michael was raised in Utica and was a two-time All-Capital Athletic Conference football star at Utica High.  He captured the Class BB state long jump championship in 1981.  He continued his football and track career at Hinds Community College where he won the state titles in long jump and triple jump in the 1984 Mississippi Community College track meet.  Michael then again played football and participated in track for Mississippi College where he was a division 2 All-American and two-time All Gulf South Conference first team kick returner in 1984 and 1985.  He led the nation in punt return average with 21.4 yards a return in 1984.  He was also selected as a division 2 All-American long jumper in 1985.  Coach Fields holds the distinction of being voted to the Gulf South Conference’s 1980’s Football Team of the Decade.  Upon graduation, he launched his 36-year career at Utica High in 1988 where he returned to his alma mater as head track coach.  Michael’s Utica track squads claimed 6 district and 5 South State crowns with a state runner-up finish and 4 state championships.  He moved to Raymond in 1994 and paced the Rangers track squad for 8 years.  Michael guided the Rangers track team to 7 district crowns, 5 region titles, 6 South State championships, three state Class 3A runner-up finishes, and 2 class 3A state championships plus one indoor state title.  Coach Fields returned to Hinds AHS in 2002 and spent the next 12 seasons churning out championship track squads while coaching football, powerlifting, and cross country.  Michael guided the Bulldogs to an astonishing 11 district titles, 11 region crowns, 10 South state titles, 4 state runner-up finishes, 2 Class 2A state championships, and 3 Class 1A state championships.  He led the Hinds AHS football team to a perfect 10-0 regular season in 2005.  Michael then coached at St. Aloysius in Vicksburg from 2014 through 2020 pacing the Flashes track team to a district, region, South State, and Class 1A state championship in 2015.  He returned to Raymond in 2021 where he coached through the 2024 season.  Coach Fields’ overall track record is phenomenal as his teams have won 25 district titles, 17 region crowns, 22 South State titles, finished state runner-up on 8 occasions, and claimed 1 indoor state title plus 12 state championships.  He has the amazing distinction of winning a state championship at 4 different schools.  Michael has received numerous honors for his coaching achievements including being named MAC Track Coach of the Year three times in 1993, 1996, and 2006 and the National Track Boys Coach of the Year in 2014 by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association.  A longtime MAC member, he served as an All-Star coach for the South team in the 2006 Bernard Blackwell All-Star Football Classic and was named Teacher of the Year at Raymond in 1996.  Michael’s famed motto is put God first and everything you want to achieve is possible.