With 2019 coming to a close, Milam County athletes have had many memorable moments in the past 12 months.
Looking back over the year, Reporter Sports Editor Wynton Thomason compiled the top stories covered this year.
Note: Stories are not ranked in any particular order.
Milano Eagle track
team wins state again
In May, the MHS boys track and field team won their second straight state championship.
Unlike the 2018 UIL Class 2A state track and field championships, this past year’s event was tilted towards the Eagles’ favor much earlier.
Parker Jones started off the day with a bang defeating three-time state champion Steven Quintanilla of Sundown in the final stretch of the 3200-meter run.
Devonte Jones also racked up points for Milano with a silver medal-finish in the long jump that came down to the final leap.
He made up for the defeat, winning a gold in the 100-meter dash.
Teammate Christian Thurman also got two points for the Eagles with a fifth place finish in the same race.
That pur, the Eagles six points behind Alto.
Milano was able to grab 16 points when a 4x200-meter relay team made up of Thurman, D.Jones, Gus Downey and Drew Demeritt won a silver medal.
MHS clinched the crown when D. Jones placed third in the 300-meter hurdles and P. Jones beat out Quintanilla for the second time that day in the mile.
Lady Bulldog softball
first-ever state tourney
Later that month, Thorn-dale High School’s softball team made their first ever appearance at the state softball tournament.
The Lady Bulldogs went undefeated in District 27-2A and pummeled opponents Wallis-Brazos, Deweyville, Shiner and Riviera-Kaufer by a combined total of 51-9 with only two of those games having less than a five-run difference.
THS came to Austin ready to play, scoring eight runs in the bottom of the first and run-ruling Windthorst in the bottom of the fifth.
The next day, second-ranked Thorndale met their match against top-ranked Crawford in the title game.
The lead changed four times before the Lady Pirates won 8-7 in extra innings.
“This season was a giant leap forward,” Coach Lance Betak said. “We’ve been to the fourth round the last four, five, six years and we could never break through. Now, we’ve broken through in a big way.”
Dev and Reyna win
second tennis title
Similar to 2018, Reyna Gonzalez and Devon Whitsel’s 2019 season ended on the highest of notes defeating Ingram Tom Moore’s Austin Fairchild and Carlyle Pfeister 6-3, 6-1 in the UIL Class 3A mixed doubles state championship on May 17 in College Station.
The dynamic duo powered through their competition, losing only one match the entire season.
Gonzales and Whitsel also didn’t lose a single set throughout district, region or the state tournaments
Robinson breaks RHS single game TD record
In the fourth football game of the season, Rock-dale’s Jace Robinson broke Clayton Gibbs’ record of six touchdown passes in a game when he threw seven in their 66-7 victory over Austin’s Hyde Park Baptist.
The quarterback tied the record in the first half with passes of 20, 21, 31, 22, 67 and 75 yards.
He eclipsed the record in the third with a six-yard pass to Anthony Dansby.
Coach Miller’s 100th
win at Rockdale High
On Sept. 6, Jeff Miller got his 100th win as Rockdale High School head football coach when the Blue-and-Gold took down Caldwell 44-36 at Tiger Stadium.
Miller is the only football coach to reach 100 wins at RHS and has been the winningest coach since passing Fred Johnson’s mark of 70 wins on Sept. 30, 2016 in a 56-13 victory over Academy.
He has been with Rock-dale for 14 seasons and has 12 playoff appearances, two district titles and one Class 3A state championship.
Jeter’s road to state
powerlifting meet
After going into the Region III meet as the eighth-ranked powerlifter in the 114-pound weight class, RHS sophomore Nathan Jeter shocked the competition, finishing second and making the cut for state.
At state, he finished 10th andt broke all his personal records in squat, bench press and dead lift.
Thorndale’s Corey Brooks placed sixth at state meet and Lady Bulldog Lauren Newton was an alternate.
Herzog, Preusse earn
medals at state track
Milano wasn’t the only Class 2A school in Milam County to leave the state track meet with medals.
Thorndale sophomore Michael Herzog won the long jump and senior Corey Preusse won two silvers going head to head with Alto’s Fred Thacker in the shot put and the discus.
Senior Hannah Laurence also ran at the state meet, placing seventh in the 100-meter hurdles.
Landry Laywell goes
back-to-back at state
Like her Rockdale counterparts, Thorndale tennis player Landry Laywell won her second straight state championship after defeating Mason’s Kate Gillespie 6-0, 6-0.
Coach Lisa Von Gonten said she could tell Laywell was going to win after just the second game in the first set.
Laywell dominated with her endurance, volleying as many as 30 times.
Ivanna Luna, Mason
Drumm go to state XC
Rockdale sophomore Ivanna Luna made it to the state cross country meet where she finished 66th.
She was the first RHS student to qualify for state since 2012.
Luna had a stellar season with a fourth place finish at district, seventh at regionals and three top three finishes at regular season meets.
Thorndale’s Mason Drumm also ran at state, finishing 106th after being sick most of the week.
He was the District 25-2A champion and also had three top three regular season finishes including a win at the Lexington meet.
RHS soccer makes
playoffs in first season
In their first season as a UIL-sanctioned program, the Rockdale soccer team swarmed through District 26-4A competition to make the postseason.
Although they lost to 2-0 to Bellville in the opening round, coach Gilberto Rodriguez saw the season as very positive sporting a team with no seniors going into the playoffs.
Bulldogs give Refugio
a run for their money
Before the Refugio Bobcats became Class 2A-I state football champions, Thorn-dale gave them quite a scare.
At the end of the first half, the Bulldogs were tied 20-20 thanks to three Kolt Cauble touchdowns.
Although Refugio scored 28 unanswered points in the second half, THS coach Scott Hawkins was impressed saying they were the first team to challenge them since pre-district play.
Thorndale hoop teams win district crowns
Both Thorndale basketball teams breezed through early competition, each winning district crowns before going a couple of rounds into the playoffs.
For the Bulldogs, the season came down to the regional semifinal game in March with Port Aransas. Coach John Kovar described the game as hotly contested until the end. The Marlins won 42-40 on a baseline jumper with .9 seconds left on the clock.
Two weeks earlier, the Lady Bulldogs’ season ended against eventual state champion San Saba 47-22.
Tiger relay teams make it to state track meet
Four Tiger runners ran the sprint relay at the UIL Class 3A state track and field championship, placing sixth.
RHS outran a highly-touted Cameron team at the district meet before barely finishing second at area and regional to eventual state champion Crockett.
The relay team was made up of then senior Will Storey, junior Qua’Shawn Crawford, and sophomores Cam’Ron Valdez and Kesean Raven and were coached by Lewis Edmonson.
Milano’s Wendy King
gets 600th victory
On Oct. 1, longtime Milano’s Wendy King got her 600th victory as head volleyball coach of the Lady Eagles after a 25-13, 25-17, 25-23 over Bartlett at the Geneva Pacely Gym.
“I think what I’m proud of the most is that all 600 wins have come here at Milano, my home.” She said, following achieving the accolade.
The MHS alumna has been the head coach for 27 seasons and has taken Milano to the playoffs 19 consecutive years.
Cam’Ron Valdez’s five
TD’s against New Tech
Rockdale’s Cam’Ron scored five touchdowns on six carries in the Tigers’ 80-6 win over Manor New Tech on Oct. 4.
Valdez tied the RHS record held by Davion Ford, Elijah Brooks and Larry White for TDs in a game.
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