WC’s Whitaker gets third in shot put

Published 8:29 pm Friday, May 4, 2018

PEARL — For a fleeting moment, Jaylen Whitaker was in first place in the shot put competition at the MHSAA Class 6A state track and field meet.

Then one thrower passed him. And then another.

Whitaker wound up with an outstanding mark, but only a bronze medal to show for it.

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The Warren Central senior threw the shot 48 feet, 4 ¾ inches, but finished third to Gulfport’s Ginarious Johnson and George County’s Kaya Ludgood. Ludgood won with a throw of 50-4 ¼ — which he set on his final throw — and Johnson was second at 49-7 ½.

“Especially at the end, when (Ludgood) wasn’t doing too well, and then out of nowhere he pops out a 50, that was upsetting for me,” said Whitaker, who won the MAIS Class AAA state title in the shot put with St. Aloysius in 2017. He transferred to Warren Central in January. “But 48, that’s what I’ve been around. I did my best and it just didn’t get me the win.”

Whitaker also competed in the discus at Friday’s state meet, but did not come close to medaling. He finished seventh, with a throw of 109 feet, 6 inches. Sixth place went to Pascagoula’s Randy Carrasco with a throw of 126-5. Oxford’s Quentin Wilfawn won with a throw of 143-11.

That made the bronze medal in shot put a little easier to take, Whitaker said.

“Especially since it was my senior year, it didn’t go how I planned. I at least wanted top five (in discus). But you have to stick with it. It is what is,” said Whitaker, who has signed to play football at Northwest Mississippi Community College. “I can at least say I came and won top three in something.”

Whitaker was one of two Warren Central athletes to medal at the state meet. Raven Thompson won gold in the girls’ high jump.

Boys high jumper Mason Quimby just missed a medal, finishing fourth on a tiebreaker with Gulfport’s Tamarcus Garrett.

The boys’ 4×100 meter relay team of Quimby, Jalen Glass, Kaleb Foxworth and Tyler Walton finished sixth. Brandon Fischer came in eighth in the pole vault, while Raymond Rimmey was eighth in the 300 meter hurdles.

For Warren Central’s girls, Hannah Huntley finished eighth in the 3,200 meters and also competed in the 1,600 meter run. The junior was competing in both events at the state meet for the second year in a row.

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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