Once an avalanche starts gaining momentum, there isn’t much those in its path can do to slow it down.
During Saturday’s Johnson County swimming and diving meet at Indian Creek, Center Grove’s boys got themselves going early — and there wasn’t much that reigning champion Franklin could do to slow them down.
A dominating performance from junior Ethan Martin and superior overall depth helped Center Grove not only end the Grizzly Cubs’ four-year lock on the boys title, but do so convincingly. The Trojans pulled away in the middle of the meet and wound up outpointing their blue-clad rivals, 522-457.
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“They’re a good group of boys,” Center Grove coach Jim Todd said. “They work hard, and we’re senior-heavy. We’ve got eight seniors on this team, and they’ve all been with us for all of the years, and they’ve really worked hard to get to where they’re at right now.”
Franklin did cruise to victory in the girls meet, picking up 524 points to beat the runner-up Trojans by 110.
That Center Grove won the boys meet wasn’t a total shocker — Franklin coach Zach DeWitt had been saying for weeks that he expected it. But the margin somewhat surprised even the most optimistic of Trojans.
“I really was surprised,” Center Grove senior Tony Gipson said. “I wasn’t sure where we were, and I especially wasn’t sure where Franklin was. It’s really all about how the coaches play us, where they put us, so I didn’t know what to expect.”
The Trojan boys put the Grizzly Cubs on notice right away with a come-from-behind victory in the 200-yard medley relay. Martin put down a 20.2-second freestyle leg to overtake Ethan Pheifer on the final length and get the Center Grove side hyped up.
After victories from Mac Ratzlaff in the 200 freestyle and Cade Oliver in the 200 individual medley, Franklin had pulled even at 130-130. But Martin’s county record (21.38 seconds) in the 50 free, coupled with a Grizzly Cub disqualification, helped get Center Grove back out in front by 26 points — a lead the Trojans were able to hold the rest of the day.
“We have an amazing senior team,” Martin said, “and our leaders were definitely a big role in that after that (medley) relay, letting us know that, ‘Hey, we can’t lose our momentum; we’ve got to keep going.’”
Once Gipson had posted a comfortable win in the 100 butterfly and Martin had racked up another first-place finish in the 100 freestyle, Center Grove had pulled out to a nearly bulletproof 272-220 advantage. Martin then anchored a county-record showing (1:27.01) in the 200 freestyle relay, and the Trojans’ lead maxed out at 69 points after Justin Xia’s victory in the 100 breaststroke.
Caleb Crady also took first on the 1-meter diving board for the Center Grove.
For Franklin, Oliver broke his own county mark in the IM with a time 1:53.56 and later did the same in the 100 backstroke (50.67). Ratzlaff won the 500 free, and that duo joined to win the 400 freestyle relay — small consolation after an otherwise disappointing day.
“Today is really a reflection of where teams were in the fall,” DeWitt said, “and I think you can see that maybe our commitment level wasn’t quite up to snuff with theirs, and I think that stuff’s important.
“We’ve got some improvements we need to make, and I’m sure we’ll address them, but no, of course you can’t be happy with the outcome on the boys side.”
The Grizzly Cub girls swept the three relays, with the 200 free quartet of Gracey Payne, Lucy Ho, Bella Ratzlaff and Sarah Hoffman setting a new county record at 1:38.69.
Hoffman had individual wins in the 200 and 500 freestyle as well as contributing to two relay wins, good for swimmer of the meet recognition. Payne doubled up in the 50 and 100 free, Kabria Chapman coasted to first in the breaststroke and freshman Allison Lacy claimed the 200 IM.
The Grizzly Cubs were pleased with the relatively easy win, but far from satisfied with how they swam overall.
“I felt like it was a mixed bag,” Hoffman said of Franklin’s showing. “We did pretty well. (But) there’s work to be done, for sure.”
The Center Grove girls got individual wins from Kenzie Mills in diving and from freshman Grace DeLuna, who won the backstroke over Lacy by .09 seconds in the closest race of the day.
Greenwood got a first-place effort in the butterfly from Grace Nuhfer.
DeWitt hopes that his boys, with their aura of invincibility having been shattered on Saturday, will find some extra motivation to improve between now and the sectional rematch with the Trojans in February.
“I felt like this was coming and I told them that this could be a potential loss of a county streak,” he said, “but words fall flat sometimes, and once you see it and you believe it, it does sit differently. … I’m sure that they’ll be very motivated in the coming weeks.”
Center Grove, though, figures to get a boost from the meet as well.
“Winning today is a really good motivator,” Gipson said. “It’ll motivate us for the rest of the season. The future’s looking bright, and we’re hoping to take home the (win) at sectionals, too.”
