Center Grove girls track coach Wes Dodson was only going to be able to keep Julia Riley a secret for so long.
Opposing teams knew all about versatile senior star Haley Goines and sophomore sprinter Kiyah Yeast — but Dodson was confident coming into the season that he had another lesser-known star.
Riley can’t fly under the radar anymore, though.
After outstanding performances at the Hoosier State Relays in Bloomington in March (the unofficial state indoor meet) and the Johnson County meet last week, the junior isn’t going to be able to sneak up on anyone.
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At county, Riley won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.69 seconds, set a meet record in the long jump with a mark of 17 feet, 11 1/2 inches and ran on the Trojans’ 4×100 relay team, which set a meet record of its own at 50.13 seconds.
“I think the secret’s out — 17-11 is going to be posted on IndianaRunner and everybody’s going to see that,” Dodson said. “I knew she was really good, and no one else had seen those times. But now that she ran under 16 (seconds in the hurdles) and jumped 17-11, you can’t hide that anymore.”
That standout performance proved that Riley’s efforts at the end of the indoor season — she was sixth in the 60-meter hurdles and 10th in the long jump at the Hoosier State Relays — were no fluke.
Riley didn’t come completely out of nowhere — she earned All-County recognition as a sophomore, qualifying for the regional in and running on a 4×100 relay squad that finished 10th in the state. But after last season, she started competing in summer meets alongside Goines, and that’s when things started to really fall into place.
Goines suggested that Riley, who has an extensive background in gymnastics, give the hurdles a shot.
“Her and I would typically do events together,” Goines said. “Her and I would be in long jump together, high jump together, 4×1 together, and I was running hurdles and I was like, ‘Julia’s going to be good at these; she should try these.’ So we had her try them out.”
Dodson wasn’t surprised by how smoothly Riley has transitioned into hurdling — he believes that he could put her in any number of events and have her be successful.
“If you think about the amount of progress she made from not hurdling as a sophomore or freshman to placing (at state indoor) as a junior, the sky’s the limit,” Dodson said. “Her athletic ability is off the charts.”
Though Riley is versatile enough to help the Trojans just about anywhere in the lineup, the plan for now is to limit her to the three events she’s in now. Dodson feels that she’ll be more effective if her workload isn’t as heavy, and Riley agrees.
“Three is a lot better,” she said. “I have more focus on the events that I’m better at.”
Riley believes that she’s capable of earning state medals in the long jump and 4×100 and possibly qualifying for the state meet in the hurdles as well.
Riley will undoubtedly face some stiff competition in all of those events, but she has the benefit of spending each day working out alongside Goines, a 4×100 teammate and a likely state championship contender in the long jump and hurdles.
“It’s definitely helpful having her there at practice,” Riley said. “We both motivate each other to do better.”
Riley has set some pretty lofty goals for herself and her relay mates — she’d like to break 18 feet in the long jump, get down in the low 15-second range in the hurdles and low 48s in the 4×100.
Given how quickly she’s progressed since the calendar turned over, all of those goals seem quite reachable. Dodson, not surprisingly, is quite bullish on Riley’s potential.
“I definitely think she could be a podium girl (at state),” he said.
And by that point, it probably won’t come as a shock to anyone.
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Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference track meet
Where: Warren Central
When: Friday, 5:30 p.m.
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