Center Grove senior ready for final postseason

<p>Julia Riley’s junior season on the track was a mix of remarkable highs and a few disappointing lows.</p><p>The Center Grove senior came up with a simple solution — eliminate the lows.</p><p>Riley has become almost automatic for the Trojans, and she ranks among the state’s best in both of her individual events, the long jump and 100-meter hurdles, heading into today’s Franklin Sectional.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]<p>“I think she’s been more consistent, for sure,” Center Grove girls coach Wes Dodson said. “Last year she had some really good jumps, but then she’d have some meets where she wasn’t quite as strong. And this year, I felt like every meet she’s come out and really done well. She’s jumped about 18 feet every single race, and she’s consistently running in the low 15s.”</p><p>Indeed, Riley has held pretty steady, posting a personal best of 15.12 seconds in the hurdles at the MIC championships last month and running 15.52 or better in the finals of that event at every meet so far. She’s also steadily gone past 17 feet in the long jump each time out, and she hit the 18-foot mark for the first time.</p><p>That consistency is something that wasn’t always there last year. Riley qualified for the state meet in three events and earned a sixth-place medal in the 4×100 relay, but she wound up 15th in the long jump after going 10 inches under her season best and stumbled to a 26th-place showing in the hurdles.</p><p>Dodson feels confident that Riley will be able to redeem herself over the next three weeks.</p><p>“She’s in a really good place, and I think when she gets that competition right next to her, I think she has an opportunity to score (at state) in those two events.”</p><p>Entering today, Riley is ranked fifth statewide in the hurdles and sixth in the long jump.</p><p>In addition, she’s on the Trojans’ sixth-ranked 4×100 relay with Myana Pace, Riko Williams and Kiyah Yeast — and she’s added another event to her repertoire recently.</p><p>Injuries decimated Center Grove’s 4×400 relay team at the Johnson County meet, so Riley jumped in. She performed well enough that Dodson has just kept her in the lineup. The quartet of Riley, Pace, Yeast and Alainey Kovacs is rated 11th in the state.</p><p>“People were getting hurt,” Riley said, “so I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it.’ I didn’t really expect to do that well; I haven’t done it since sophomore year. It was a surprise, definitely.”</p><p>Having already eclipsed her season bests from a year ago, Riley is looking forward to seeing what she can do as the level of competition picks up beginning today. She’ll likely run into Warren Central stars K’ja Talley, currently ranked first in the hurdles, and Prommyse Hoosier, the reigning state champ in the long jump, at next week’s regional.</p><p>“It definitely gets harder, so we push ourselves more to do better,” Riley said.</p><p>Riley, who will run and jump at IUPUI after graduating, believes Center Grove can also notch its best-ever state finish as a team. The Trojans have been as high as fourth in the coaches’ poll this spring, and they’re setting their goals accordingly.</p><p>“I think we all expect ourselves to get high up on the ladder,” Riley said. “For regionals, definitely; state, we have a good chance of placing.</p><p>“We just give ourselves high expectations and work as hard as we can in practices to succeed.”</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="If you go" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p><p><strong>Franklin Sectional</strong></p><p>When: 5:30 p.m.</p><p>Teams competing: Center Grove, Edinburgh, Franklin, Greenwood, Greenwood Christian, Indian Creek, Whiteland, Columbus East, Columbus North, Hauser, Southwestern (Shelbyville), Waldron</p><p>Local individuals to watch: Center Grove — Taylor Jarosinski, Julia Riley, Kiyah Yeast; Franklin — Addison Utterback; Greenwood — Emily Bonser; Indian Creek — Shaelyn Biddle; Whiteland — Gabrielle Allen, Reagan Emberton, Isabella Jackson</p><p>Advancement: Top three finishers in all events and those who meet state qualifying standard move on to Shelbyville Regional on May 21.</p><p>Admission: $6</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]