Center Grove scored 142 points Tuesday night to capture the 15th girls track and field sectional championship in program history.
Not surprisingly, it was every bit the team effort.
Senior Taylor Hickey led the way for the Trojans, who won only two events at the Franklin Community Sectional and yet still pulled away in the points race due to their unmatchable depth.
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Next up is the Warren Central Regional on May 24.
“I thought we did pretty well. Anytime you can win, you’ve got to be happy, right?” Trojans coach Wes Dodson said.
“We picked up points that I wasn’t sure of. Our girl in the 400, (fourth-place) Deanna Dillworth, ran really great. She ran JV last year and made herself into a varsity runner.”
Center Grove set the tone early — as in the first leg of the opening event.
Hickey’s fast two laps to start the 4×800-meter relay gave the Trojans a sizable lead it would never relinquish. Hickey, Alexa Kovacs, Rachel Chan and Morgan Wright won in a time of 9:58.11 with Columbus North taking second in 10:01.96.
Franklin Community recorded five first-place finishes to take second in the team standings with 106 points.
Grizzly Cubs coach Tim Leonard said he likes the way his squad is peaking at the right time.
“We’ve been running really well the last two weeks. We knew Greenwood was going to give us a run (for second) and that we just didn’t have the points to catch Center Grove,” Leonard said.
“But we thought that if we ran well we might have a chance at getting second. Really happy with that. We’ve had a great year. You always try to peak at the end of the year, but you don’t always accomplish that. Finally, we’ve been able to do that.”
Franklin sophomore Kloie Doublin won the 100-meter dash in a time of 12.90 seconds, the long jump with a best of 16 feet, 1¼ inches, and capped the evening by helping the Cubs’ 4×400 relay prevail in a time of 4:12.56.
Senior Kinsley Castro won discus for Franklin with a top toss of 119-10, while Chayse Blackwell took first in the pole vault, having cleared a height of 10-3.
Third-place Greenwood also achieved postseason momentum Tuesday with senior Tori Harper winning the 100 hurdles in 15.96 seconds and leading off the victorious 4×100 relay that included McKenzie McClarney, Jae Taft and Hanna Anderson.
Harper said lightening her workload earlier in the season has made a huge difference.
“Earlier in the season we recognized that one of my problems was definitely the 300 (hurdles), so I don’t do the 300s anymore. It just seemed to wear out my body too much and we narrowed it down to two events,” Harper said.
“Focusing on my sprinting definitely has helped.”
Anderson and McClarney finished 1-2 for the Woodmen in the 200-meter dash. Junior Taylor Neely won the 400 in a personal-best time of 59.13 seconds.
Anderson placed second in the 100 with a time of 13.03. She later teamed with Neely, McClarney and senior Maddy Renfro for a runner-up finish in the 4×400 relay in 4:17.23.
