Individually and collectively, the Johnson County cross country meets Saturday morning included plenty of dominant performances.
Sophomores Lillian Lacy of Franklin and Whiteland’s Will Jefferson claimed their respective races by running away from the pack, though neither was on a winning team.
Center Grove’s depth proved too much on the girls side. Five Trojan runners placed in the top 10, and their 25 points were well ahead of runner-up Franklin’s 52.
In the boys race, the host Grizzly Cubs, ranked 18th in the state, owned their own course with six of the top 10 finishers for a 22-point spread over second-place Center Grove.
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Lacy got the competition started by expanding her lead early and winning in a time of 19 minutes, 31.36 seconds. Center Grove junior Gabrielle Harrell placed second in 20:08.36.
“Last weekend at conference I ran my best time, which was a 19:25,” said Lacy, who often finds herself running out front alone during races and therefore has to create ways to motivate herself.
“It’s sometimes a mental challenge, but over this season I’ve really been concentrating on focusing my mental capacity. I just like to work on my confidence during the race and getting out ahead like that.”
Harrell, who held off teammate Sadie Schemmel by 2.67 seconds for second, knew coming in that keeping pace with Lacy was an exercise in futility.
“My coaches told me to give her some space and run my own pace,” Harrell said. “I know if I try to catch her I won’t be able to last the rest of the race because she’s so fast. It’s my second-best time of the season, so I’m happy with it.”
Youth was served by the freshmen occupying fourth through sixth places — Jenna Newton of Franklin (20:19.43) and the Center Grove duo of Hudson Gilstorf (20:28.95) and Rebecca Stockman (20:43.02).
In the boys race, Jefferson was bunched in the lead group with Franklin’s Andrew Bixler and Wyatt McCullough. Eventually, Jefferson separated himself and wound up winning by nine seconds over Bixler, 15:59 to 16:08.
Jefferson’s time was a personal best.
“Last week I set my PR at 16:04, and this race I wanted to beat that,” Jefferson said. “About the 4th (kilometer) I just tried to take it a little bit harder and see if they could hang on. It paid off.”
At last week’s Mid-State Conference meet, Bixler finished second and Jefferson third. It’s the second and final year the two will be rivals at the high school level, but it’s competition both runners enjoy.
“I definitely wanted to come back and beat him,” Jefferson said. “He’s a very good runner, and he’s beaten me a lot. It kind of gave me the drive to work hard and beat him.”
McCullough wound up third, followed by Center Grove junior Archit Malik, Franklin’s Isaiah Lindsay and Mika Long of Whiteland.
