Spring season worth celebrating

Center Grove’s runner-up finish at the IHSAA Boys Golf State Meet capped a remarkable spring for local teams and athletes.

Although the Trojans enjoyed the bulk of the postseason successes, highlighted by a pair of state championships, others had reason to celebrate, as well.

Here are a few examples.

At Franklin Community High School, senior Jake Hash closed his career by qualifying for the state golf meet. He did so by emerging from a notoriously tough regional and was the county’s only individual qualifier.

In a field of more than 100 players, Hash finished in a tie for 27th at the state finals with an 8-over par 152. It was not a bad final round of high school golf.

At Greenwood, sophomore Allie Dalton enhanced her reputation as one of the state’s top distance runners with a podium finish at the IHSAA Girls State Track and Field Meet.

Dalton raced to an eighth-place finish in the 3,200-meter run. She and Center Grove senior Tori Long (seventh-place in the 400 run) were the only county individuals to earn a medal at the state meet.

At Franklin College, Anna Murdock punctuated a brilliant four-year career by winning the 800-meter run at the NCAA Division III Outdoor National Track and Field Championships.

An Indian Creek High School graduate, Murdock established herself as the arguably the most accomplished athlete in Franklin history. She was a two-time All-American, a conference MVP in cross-country and indoor and outdoor track, was the conference’s 2015 Female Athlete of the Year and was, and is, the college’s first and only national champion.

On the championship front, Center Grove had a spring to remember.

It began at the boys state track meet, where junior Cameron Tidd — seeded second heading in — won the discus title with a throw of 190 feet, 4 inches. The heave was not only good enough for the championship, it shattered the school record by five feet.

Even Tidd was stunned.

“It’s kind of unbelievable,” he said after collecting his medal. “It started sinking in when I found out I was going to be the one at the top of the podium. It was surreal.”

But it was real, as was Center Grove’s team softball championship June 15.

Owners of the state’s richest softball tradition, the Trojans beat Lake Central 6-2 win in the Class 4A final for their IHSAA-record sixth state championship. Ranked No. 3 heading in, they finished the year 29-2.

In addition, senior third baseman Victoria Boyer won the Mental Attitude Award for Class 4, putting an exclamation point on yet another special season for Center Grove softball.

In total, it was a special spring for the county.