Ware County High School wrestling has long been known for its success on the mats. Nowadays, though, student-athletes like Cole White and Britton Jones are seeing to it that the program gets proper accolades as well for producing top scholars. The senior co-captains are winding down their respective prep careers in successful fashion this season without missing a beat in the classroom
“Both young men are valuable assets to the team and have been full-blooded Gators from the start,” said Ware County head coach Joe Eichfeld. “Britton is a dedicated, hard-working athlete who is relentless in his pursuit to be a champion. Cole goes the extra mile, does his homework, and constantly seeks ways to beat his opponents.”
White, the son of Clinton and Teresa White, has wrestled for seven years. This season, he has been vying for a third consecutive bid to the state tournament. Two years ago, White went 0-2 at the state tourney after being injured at sectionals. He rebounded last year, though, for an eighth place finish. Though he occasionally wrestled up at 160 this year, White primarily competed in the152-pound weight class. After capping the season as Region 2-AAAAA champion, he remains methodical on his future as a wrestler.
“Wrestling is a sport where you have to be disciplined the entire season and be dedicated to it to be good at it,” White said. “You can’t just come out for the season and be good at it. I’ve had a few college coaches contact with me, but I’m not sure where I’d like to go yet. I do plan to wrestle at the next level, though. I feel like it would be a waste to wrestle all these years and then just give it up.”
Equally tenacious is White’s approach to his studies, where he carries a 3.8 GPA for an academic slate comprised of honors classes. He ranks 28th in a class that numbers roughly 350 students. He also scored 1190 on the SAT. White is also a member of Beta Club and the National Honor Society. He listed economics as a favorite class from his current class load. That’s because the hopeful engineering major has already completed his math and science requirements.
“Mechanical engineering is what I’d like to do,” White said. “My dad is an engineer at the hospital in Waycross, and I’ve been around it my life, so it’s easy for me to understand. At the house we have a shop, and my dad and I work together a lot doing farm mechanics. One project we had was working on my papa’s tractor, a Hesston 1000, where the hydraulic lines broke loose. A lot of the places I’ve been contacted by don’t really have engineering programs, but if a school has an engineering program, as well as a decent wrestling team and the facilities to go with it, I might go there.”
Jones, the son of Jeff Jones and Daphne Jones, has also been wrestling for seven years. Like White, he also runs cross country in the fall. And since his off-season weight hovers around 210, Jones admitted that the process of getting down to his competitive weight of 195 makes running a less-than-favorite activity. On the mat, he finished among the Elite Eight at the state tournament last season and, like his teammate, capped a senior campaign as the Region 2-AAAAA champion. Jones compiled a 48-5 mark heading into February.
“So far, I don’t have any college offers, but I have received a tournament offer in Virginia that invites high school students from around the nation,” Jones said. “Wrestling is always a possibility for me in college, but right now my plans are to attend Georgia Southern and work somewhere in the boundaries of psychology. I want to help people with addictions or other problems in their lives.”
Fittingly, Jones subscribes to an advanced placement regiment that has included psychology and biology in addition to microeconomics and macroeconomics. He maintains a 3.3 GPA and scored 1140 on the SAT. He also joined a club this semester – the Future Farmers of America – in efforts to branch out socially. Biology, though, remains the focal point of his studies right now because he sees it as a roadmap for navigating the complexities of life, which in turn bridges to his interest in psychology.
“Coming up through high school is a difficult time for some people, and I’ve met folks that have been through situations,” Jones said. “I’ve attempted to be there for people and help them with these things. I enjoy being the kind of person that can be there for people during difficult times in their lives and enjoy knowing at the end of the day I’ve helped make a difference in their lives.”
Now co-captains for the Green and Gold, White and Jones have known each other since kindergarten even though they attended different middle schools (Jones went to Waycross Middle School while White attended Ware County Middle School.). However, each recognizes a day coming soon when they will go their separate ways.
“I have definitely been thankful for the friendship,” Jones said. “Even though we went to different middle schools, Cole and I were at the same weight class then. It has been great wrapping it up with him being co-team captains.”
White said: “Britton and I still hang out and work out together. He’s like another brother to me.”
Kinship of that magnitude, the wrestlers said, is forged upon a personal philosophy routinely preached by Eichfeld: respect, commitment, discipline, hard work, and sacrifice.
“Coach E has drilled that philosophy into us,” Jones said. “As I have trained getting up early and training late, those six words have come back to me as far as being in one of the toughest sports in the world. When you carry them back into the world, it helps define your character in that you are able to get more out of life.”
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Academic Athletes /Southeast/February 2017
Cole White & Britton Jones
Ware County High School
Waycross, Georgia
Written by: John DuPont
Photography by: Jennifer Carter Johnson
Bright and Bold, Green and Gold
