With approximately 800 meters remaining before the finish line, Victoria Jackson fell after slipping on some mud.
Unfazed, the Whiteland sophomore bounced up, continued her race-leading pace and went on to win the girls race at the Franklin cross country regional on Saturday.
Jackson’s time of 20 minutes, 7.6 seconds allowed her to be the second of two victorious Johnson County runners after Center Grove junior Griffin Hennessy dominated the boys competition in 16:36.6. Hennessy finished 26.2 seconds ahead of the field.
Jackson also performed convincingly, the closest competition finishing 20.4 ticks behind her.
“I did slide on the mud. It’s really slippery because of the rain,” Jackson said. “I had to stop for a moment because I was getting really exhausted, but I got back up because I really wanted to give it my all in this race.
“It feels amazing (to win). I’m really proud of all the girls who ran today and gave it their all. I never thought I could do this as a sophomore.”
The host Grizzly Cubs were a point behind Batesville in the girls team standings.
Top finishers for Franklin were freshman Kathleen Lacy (fourth, 20:31.2), sophomore Lauren Klem (seventh, 20:42.5) and ninth-grader Ainsley Botkin (10th, 20:58.4). Senior Bella Hodges of Center Grove took sixth in 20:38.8 to lead the fourth-place Trojans, while teammate Elizabeth Madden, a soph, was 13th in 21:07.
By virtue of a fifth-place team effort, Whiteland also moves on to the Shelbyville Semistate on Saturday.
Freshman Isabella Fuentes placed 11th individually for the Warriors. Indian Creek was sixth but advanced three individual runners in Samuela Grosso (12th), Paige Iaria (24th) and Phoebe Dowty (31st).
Also moving on is Greenwood freshman Makena Cruse, who was 25th overall.
“It’s fall break and you never know what’s going to happen on that Saturday,” Franklin girls coach Ray Lane said. “Kathleen Lacy ran real well. The course was not in good shape today, but I like how our runners hung in there and stuck with it, and just kept going even when the race wasn’t going perfect.
“They showed a lot of guts to get to the line and finish pretty well.”
Despite using an abbreviated version of its traditional lineup for a second straight week, third-ranked Center Grove dominated the boys race with 51 points to runner-up Whiteland’s 75. Indian Creek secured the fifth spot and will continue its season as well.
Hennessy’s performance led a group of five local top 10 finishers — Whiteland senior Ashton Spoonamore (fifth, 17:11.3), Braves’ senior Caden Ringer (sixth, 17:24.1), Greenwood Christian senior Owen Harder (seventh, 17:27.2) and Center Grove junior Levi Farmer (10th, 17:33.5).
The Greenwood duo of senior Conner Watson (11th) and junior John Gries (18th) are also preparing for semistate, as is Franklin’s Ty Murphy (22nd).
Normally the No. 2 runner in the Center Grove lineup, Hennessy is expected to factor into the Trojans attempting to qualify for the state meet for a third consecutive year.
“It was really sloppy and hard to get footing. But there was some good competition. It was a fun race,” Hennessy said. “I was really nervous because you’re expected to win and there’s a lot of pressure that comes with that.
“I just kind of wanted to get ahead from the get-go, keep the lead and extend it.”
