<p>Before the cross country season began, Center Grove boys coach Howard Harrell found it difficult to put a lid on his enthusiasm.</p>
<p>Not only was the future bright, it was now.</p>
<p>Reinforced by an outstanding group of freshmen, the Trojans have been a top-10 team all season, but recently dropped to 11th entering Saturday’s Shelbyville Semistate at Blue River Park.</p>
<p>Center Grove, fresh off winning the sectional and regional titles at Franklin, has, if anything, exceeded Harrell’s expectations. A top-six finish at semistate would qualify Center Grove for the state meet for the first time.</p>
<p>Yes, the first time.</p>
<p>“That would be huge. It would be unique at this school,” Harrell said. “We’ve had good runners on our team before, but we’ve never had a great team. We have fantastic runners, but they know they can’t get to state by themselves. It’s cliché, but if you don’t have good 3, 4 and 5 runners, you don’t have much of a team.”</p>
<p>Upperclassmen among the top eight are seniors Archit Malik and Nick Wilson and junior Aidan Galt. All three ran semistate a year ago, placing 69th, 88th and 130th, respectively.</p>
<p>The freshman quintet is led by Ty Garrett and Drew Costelow, both top-five finishers at sectional and regional. Classmates Jarret Rockwell, Griffin Hennessy and Parker Mimbela have also been impressive in their varsity debuts.</p>
<p>“This team talks to each other. We’re running and there are multiple conversations going on,” Harrell said. “They want to be good for each other and are fiercely competitive.”</p>
<p>Malik and Wilson welcomed the infusion of new talent into the program.</p>
<p>“With these freshmen, we already knew how good they were from when they were seventh- and eighth-graders,” Malik said. “It became less individual and more of a team. Working together has brought us all closer.”</p>
<p>The Shelbyville semistate brings in 10 of the state’s top 25 squads. The Trojans, based on state ranking, are regarded as the sixth-best team behind No. 2 Carmel, No. 3 Brebeuf, No. 5 Noblesville, No. 6 Brownsburg and No. 10 Zionsville.</p>
<p>Center Grove has qualified for 13 consecutive boys cross country semistates, a run started in 2006 at the Franklin Central site and progressing through when Carmel was host (2009-15). The Trojans placed eighth on two occasions and ninth two years ago.</p>
<p>Should Center Grove live up to or exceed its ranking on Saturday, it’ll break new ground.</p>
<p>“It’s a huge deal for us,” Malik said. “We really think we have a shot, and we want to make history because nobody else has ever done it at Center Grove.”</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="If you go" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p><p><strong>Shelbyville Semistate</strong></p>
<p>Where: Blue River Park, Shelbyville</p>
<p>When: Saturday, 10:30 a.m.</p>
<p>Tickets: $8 per person</p>
<p>Advancement: The top six teams and the top 10 individuals from non-advancing teams will advance to the state finals.</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]
