Trojans have the horses

Center Grove has maintained a stranglehold on the Johnson County track and field meets for more than a decade, and there was no changing of the guard at Franklin on Tuesday.

Led by dominating performances from its sprinters and hurdlers, the Trojans swept the boys and girls meets in fairly convincing fashion.

Center Grove’s girls racked up 177 points, easily outpacing runner-up Whiteland (104). Greenwood was third with 99 points, followed by Franklin with 85.5.

[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]

Click here to purchase photos from this gallery

Meanwhile, the Trojan boys piled up 175 points to beat Franklin, which finished with 148. Whiteland (84 points) took third place, with Greenwood (61) in fourth.

Kiyah Yeast and Hailey Goines led the way for Center Grove in the girls meet, with each winning a pair of individual titles and while also teaming with Allison Utterback and Julia Riley to set a meet record in the 4×100 relay at 49.56 seconds.

Yeast hit the finish line first in both the 100 and 200, and she also helped the Trojans’ 4×400 relay to a second-place finish. Goines was a winner in the long jump and 100 hurdles and also second in the high jump behind Greenwood’s Olivia Weston.

Val Clark also was a double winner for the Trojans, taking both the 1,600 and 3,200 meters. Center Grove’s girls also won the 4×800 relay behind Gabrielle Harrell, Stephanie Embree, Nina Fujii and Julia Falcone, and Kylie Falcone was the winner in the pole vault.

For the Center Grove boys, Christian Goines ended the day with three individual first-place finishes. The senior swept the high jump and long jump and then added a third victory in the 110 hurdles.

“My goal coming into this meet was just trying to get better and do the best I could,” Christian Goines said. “I hadn’t long jumped in a while, so I was really glad to be able to do that.”

Grant Mason also had three wins, sweeping the 100 and 200 meters and anchoring the winning 4×100 relay team that also included Russ Yeast, Trevor Hohlt and Titus McCoy.

Hohlt added a first-place showing in the 300 hurdles, edging younger brother Sam, and joined Logan Bontrager, Tyler Boyer and Matt Fleener on the winning 4×400 relay.

Fleener was also first in the 400 meters, while Josh Hall won the pole vault for the Trojans.

Franklin’s boys got a win in the 800 from Chandler McGaha, who also teamed with Tyler Fromer, Jacob Brown and Isaiah Lindsay to help the Grizzly Cubs take the 4×800 relay. Josh Campbell was first in the 3,200 meters and finished a close second to Greenwood’s Ethan Pine in the 1,600.

Ally Paramore won the 300 hurdles for the Franklin girls and joined Emma Beavins, Margaret Auger and Kloie Doublin on the victorious 4×400 relay.

Whiteland dominated the throws in both meets, with senior Ryder Emberton and his younger sister, sophomore Reagan Emberton, each completing a sweep of the discus and shot put.

In addition to Weston and Pine, Greenwood got individual wins from Hanna Anderson in the 400 meters and Krista Robinson in the 800. Anderson’s 400 time of 59.10 established a new meet record.

For Center Grove, the hope is that Tuesday’s victories will serve as a springboard heading into some of the bigger meets ahead, including next week’s Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference meet.

“County is kind of a good meet for us to just have competition,” Kiyah Yeast said. “Next Friday we have MIC, so it’s a really big meet for us. … The MIC is really strong, and if you can size up pretty well in the MIC you can do pretty well at the state meet.”