The Jones County High track teams traveled to Milledgeville this past weekend and managed to secure trophies in both the boys’ and girls’ divisions.

The boys’ team, led by senior Willie Ross, narrowly missed taking second by a scant four points, slipping to third behind Northeast and powerhouse Washington County.

Ross took the gold in both the 110-meter hurdles, where he remains undefeated, and in the 300 hurdles.

Ross was joined on the victory stand by Courtney Davis, who took second in the 300 hurdles, which was one of the most closely contested events of the day.

First through third places were separated by less than half of a second.

Princeton Whitening took second in the high jump by soaring to 6’2” and barely missing 6’4”.

Whitening and teammate Lorenzo Greene who took third in the high jump, joined a strong field event crew in both the boys’ and girls’ competition that boosted the Greyhounds scoring early in the day.

Jacob Bloodworth took third in the discus, Aaron Summers won the pole vault, and Doug Stephens took third in the vault. Maurice Kitchens took fourth in the triple jump to close out the field scoring for the boys.

Sara Nisbet led the charge in the field events, seizing the gold in the pole vault, and teammate Kristin Loth took the silver. Ralinette Wilkes took the silver in the shot put, Leeann Wilmoth took the silver in the discus, and sophomore Raven Rawlings took fourth in the triple jump.

Besides Ross and Davis in the hurdles, the ’Hounds were well represented in the running events, especially the distance corp. The “shake and bake” of the girls’ team, Brittany Davis and Brittley Blount, took second and third in the 1600-meter run, respectively, and Shae Murray took fourth in the 3200 (two mile).

Davis took fourth in the 800-meter run, Michael Wooten third in the 3200, and Kevin O’Donnell took fifth.

In one of the more surprising upsets, Lauren Thomas raced to the silver medal in the 800 run, followed by teammate Maurice Kitchens, who took fourth.

“Thomas led most of the race and had a chance for the gold. He really put together a good race,” distance coach Kelly Sauers said.

“We ran into some good programs today,” head coach Greg Nisbet said. “Baldwin, Northeast and Washington County are all ranked among the top teams in the state. WACO had a sprinter run a sub 10.5 hundred-meter dash. That is incredible. We probably saw three or four individual state champions today.”

“The fact that we finished third in both divisions is exciting. That is the first time that both teams have trophied in a single tournament since I took over the program.”

“We saw what is probably a good look at what our region championships will be like. A lot of high-powered teams dividing up the points and the taking of fourth or fifth place and those two points will make a huge difference.”

Coach Charlotte Nisbet praised the boys’ high jumpers.

“They have worked so hard and really progressed. Both of these boys are rookies, and they have really become students of the game.”

“Both Whitening and Greene have hit 6 feet and Princeton clearing 6’2” is the best I have seen since I came to Jones County,” she said.