For all of his contributions to Center Grove’s cross country success over the last four years, Raef Sauer had never claimed an individual win at a meet.
On Saturday morning, the senior picked an ideal time to break his maiden, setting the pace while leading the Trojan boys to a comfortable victory at the Franklin Sectional.
Brothers Jarret and Gavin Rockwell were second and third overall for Center Grove, which finished with 34 points to easily outdistance runner-up Mooresville (87).
“It was amazing, especially with it being a sectional title my senior year,” Sauer said of the win. “I knew there was a chance I could do it, but I thought it wasn’t very likely, so actually doing it was a great feeling. When I got to 4K, I realized, ‘I’m about to do this.’
“Me and Jarret were both pretty sluggish from the get-go, but we toughed it out.”
Meanwhile, the host Grizzly Cubs had a similarly impressive win on the girls side, putting six runners in the top 15 while outpointing runner-up Center Grove by a 34-54 margin. Sophomore Lauren Klem crossed the line first in 19:57.9 on what was a warmer and slower day than last week’s county meet, while freshman teammates Kathleen Lacy and Ainsley Botkin followed in fourth and sixth, respectively.
Abby Demaree was 10th and Amelia Tisdale 13th to round out the Franklin scoring.
“We’ve kind of just been getting better every meet,” Lacy said. “We are all pretty excited. Based off of the beginning of the season, we didn’t know how good we could be … but now we feel really confident.”
Eight county teams (four boys, four girls) advanced to this Saturday’s regional, which will also be contested on Franklin’s home course.
Whiteland’s boys, led by seniors Michael Perkins (fourth) and Ashton Spoonamore (eighth), placed third as a team with 94 points, while Daniel Stayte (11th) helped Franklin take fourth with 102. Indian Creek grabbed the last regional bid by finishing fifth with 104 points; Caden Ringer led the Braves with a seventh-place showing.
Individually, Greenwood Christian’s Owen Harder earned a regional spot by finishing sixth; Greenwood’s Conner Watson (10th), John Gries, Hunter Geloff and Henry Barrett also extended their seasons.
Bella Hodges’ second-place individual finish led the Trojans, who also got an eighth-place effort from Elizabeth Madden. Victoria Jackson took third overall to help the Whiteland girls place third with 81 points. Indian Creek was fifth with 128, led by a fifth-place run from Samuela Grosso.
Makena Cruse, Nataly Quintero and Ryann Marker of Greenwood and Whitney Smith of GCA all advanced to regional as individuals.
Though his team has bigger goals in mind, especially when it comes to the state meet at month’s end, Center Grove boys coach Howard Harrell was excited to get the postseason started with a win.
“It was fun to watch,” he said. “There’s a lot of other good teams out here, so it’s neat to get out here and mix it up.”
