In the history of Whitewright High School, State Champions are a rare breed. According to UIL records and other investigation into the State Champions from Whitewright the list is short.

Way back in 1957, Bill Polk won two state championships in the 100 yard dash and the 220 yard dash. For those old timers around town that remember Bill he was known as one of the fastest boys to roam the halls of WHS. Bill won the 100 yard dash championship in a time of 10.2 seconds and the 220 yard dash in a time of 23.0 seconds.

Eighteen years later a young woman from Whitewright captured the schools third state championship in the 880 yard run. Claire Whipple ran a time of 2:22.4 to bring home gold for the Lady Tigers (back then called the Tigerettes) in 1975.

The very next year in 1976 local resident Beverly Blanton Daniels brought home a fourth state championship to the halls of WHS in the 60 yard dash. Bev set a state record of 7.1 seconds in winning the gold medal. Bev will hold this record for a long time seeing that UIL has eliminated the 60 yard dash from the schedule of events at the state track meet.

Whitewright went 28 years before they saw their next state champion. In 2004 the 4 x 400 relay team of Luke Gudgel, Zentez Eleby, Andrew Carlson and Morgan Floyd ran a school record time of 3:21.13 and captured the fifth state title for Whitewright.

This year the 2005 track and field team is sending seven athletes to Austin to see if they can be the ones that capture that sixth title.

The defending state champion 4 x 400 relay team of Zentez Eleby, Karrington Bush, Andrew Carlson and Morgan Floyd along with alternates Joel Luper and Jeremy Brown will give their best shot at the gold as they enter the meet as one of the favorites to win the state title.

Morgan Floyd will have his chance in four events as he will participate in the 1600 relay along with the 100 meter dash, 400 meter dash and the long jump.

Zentez Eleby could be the next champion as he bids in the high jump at Austin.

Karrington Bush will participate in the triple jump and Shalonda Arterberry will run the 200 meter dash.

Will this be the year Whitewright adds another state champion to the books?