GISA TRACK & FIELD MEET: Terrell Academy’s Ross Hunter wins high jump

ALBANY — Terrell Academy’s Ross Hunter won the high jump while competing in Class A, then AA.

On Friday at the Georgia Independent Schools Association state track & field meet at Hugh Mills Stadium, Hunter won the state title in Class AAA.

Hunter jumped 6-feet, 1-inch to win the event.

His feat headlined solid performances from the area’s GISA athletes.

“It feels good,” Hunter said. “At first, I just cleared my head and made sure I got my steps and my form right and just let everything else handle itself from there.”

In the girls 800 meter finals, Deerfield-Windsor’s Virginia Moore finished as the state runner-up with a time of 2:20.15, but was beaten once again by Ruthie Powell of Heritage. Powell edged Moore in the finals of the 1600 meters on Thursday.

Powell set a new state record in the 800 with a time of 2:15.23, beating Moore by a little under five seconds.

“I tried to stay in front most of the time,” Moore said. “She has a great kick and I just didn’t have anything left. I feel it was a good race though. I raced confident.”

Southland Academy’s Wright Calhoun, who finished in fourth in the boys 1600 meter finals on Thursday, was hoping for a better result in the 800 meters. While he was able to nail down a third-place finish with a time of 2:06.55, the McLeod brothers from Trinity Christian (Dublin) held him back again as they had done in Thursday’s 1600 meters.

Kaleb McLeod won the event with a time of 2:00.26, followed by his brother, Jacob McLeod, with a time of 2:04.86.

“My strategy was to stick behind Kaleb (McLeod) because he’s been running around 2:06 and 2:04,” Calhoun said. “Today, he went out faster than I anticipated and I couldn’t keep up with him because his little brother (Jacob McLeod) passed me again. It was a much better day than yesterday.”

Other Deerfield Windsor athletes produced solid performances on Day 2 of the state meet. Libby Greene was the state runner-up in the girls triple jump event, jumping a distance of 34-2 1/4, about seven inches shy of Bulloch Academy’s Pate Lomax’s winning jump of 34-9.

Sarah Parker Jones of DWS was the state runner-up in the pole vault competition. Jones vaulted 9-6 to claim second-place. The event champion, Becky Arbiv from The Weber School, set a new state record by vaulting 12-8.

Savannah Robertson of Westwood finished in fourth place with a vault of 9-feet.

Deerfield Windsor’s Mary Warrington ended up tied for third-place with Marlee Malcom of Gatewood in the girls high jump competition. Both Warrington and Malcom jumped 5-feet.

The Lady Knights’ Cheyenne Colvin also performed well as she brought home a third-place finish in the discus competition with a throw of 88-7.

In boys discus, Cameron McCook of Deerfield-Windsor was the state runner-up with a throw of 131-4, one foot behind state champion Ben Howard of Trinity Christian (Dublin).

Hunter Weldon of Southland Academy finished fourth in the event with a throw of 123-2. Weldon had a much better showing in the shot put as he ended up being the state runner-up with a throw of 44-1.

Other local athletes turned in solid performances, such as Baylee Everson of Southwest Georgia Academy. Everson was the state runner-up in the Class AA girls triple jump with a distance of 32-5 1/2.

Her teammate, Katie Carver, became the state champion in the girls AA long jump with a distance of 15-5.