<p>As a senior, Archit Malik is one of the greybeards on a Center Grove boys cross country team loaded with future potential.</p>
<p>Malik, a senior, placed third at the Johnson County meet at Franklin on Saturday, then watched eight of his teammates finish in the top 15 — including five freshmen.</p>
<p>The 10th-ranked Trojans won the team title with 31 points, followed by Franklin with 41. Further back were Whiteland (76), Greenwood (95) and Greenwood Christian (142).</p>
<p>“I’m just trying to run with my teammates. We’ve got a lot of good people,” said Malik, whose time of 15 minutes, 58.35 seconds trailed only winner Will Jefferson of Whiteland (15:43.79) and Franklin’s Wyatt McCullough (15:57.77).</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
<p>“I love it. It makes every practice and every meet so much easier. We’re all running together, and we’re all such good friends. It makes the team dynamic so much better. The freshmen fit in great. They’re doing amazing.”</p>
<p>Center Grove ninth-graders Ty Garrett and Drew Costello crossed the finish line fourth and fifth, respectively. Two of their classmates also landed in the top 10 — ninth-place Jarret Rockwell and 10th-place Griffin Hennessy.</p>
<p>Other top finishers for the Grizzly Cubs were Drew Hargis (sixth), Ethan Pheifer (seventh) and Will Tucker (eighth).</p>
<p>Jefferson separated himself early from the other 114 competitors.</p>
<p>“I was just trying to push myself. I’ve lately been running with other runners, but this one I just wanted to go out by myself and see what I could do,” Jefferson said. “I always think (other runners) are still there because they could still come back into the race. I think about that, and I just like to run against the clock, too. That really helps.”</p>
<p>In the girls race, defending champion Lillian Lacy of Franklin didn’t compete, as the junior has been dealing with knee soreness and is week-to-week. Her teammate, Grizzly Cub sophomore Jenna Newton, immediately took the lead and never relinquished it, winning in 19:13.76.</p>
<p>“This is so exciting. I’ve definitely changed as a runner over the last few years in just being more confident and trusting what my coaches have for me to do,” Newton said. “My goal was to just attack the second half of the race, but the pace didn’t get out as fast as I wanted it to. I didn’t want to hold on, so I went.”</p>
<p>Center Grove edged Whiteland, 39 points to 40, for the team championship. Trojan senior Gabrielle Harrell was runner-up (19:49.69) individually, followed by Whiteland sophomore Katia Olmstead, Center Grove junior Sadie Schemmel and Warriors senior Erika Walling.</p>
<p>Warriors coach Gerry Emerson was happy with the way his squad, which nearly won its first county title since 1992, performed.</p>
<p>“I was very proud of them. We thought coming in that we had a shot at it, but overall we ran really well,” Emerson said. “It’s definitely tough when you lose county by a point, but the girls competed hard to give us that shot.”</p>
