Center Grove boys win two events at state track and field

BLOOMINGTON

The instant his foot made contact with the top of the final hurdle during a preliminary race, Parker Doyle sensed that Friday’s meet would be unlike any other.

A short while later, the Center Grove senior found out exactly how much.

Piecing together one of the truly inspirational comeback stories in recent state meet history, Doyle, who was leading his heat of the 110-meter highs when he fell, bounced back by winning the 300 low hurdles.

“It feels great, baby. It feels great,” said Doyle after recording a time of 37.78 seconds. “After falling in the 110s, I put it behind me. It was really hard, but I fell before, in the 300s last year, so just coming back for this is a different feeling.

“After falling, there was anger. I had a little bit of anxiety about it because it’s what I’ve been working for in my seasons of track.”

Doyle, it turns out, wasn’t done. He also ran the third leg of the Trojans’ victorious 4×400 relay to close the meet, joining teammates Micah Coyle, Brevin Holubar and senior anchor Zach Greller for a time of 3 minutes, 16.41 seconds.

After Doyle’s spill in the 110 hurdles prelim, and Greller just missing a medal with a 10th-place effort in the 400, Center Grove was, in Greller’s words, running angry.

“On the back stretch, I heard ‘let’s go’ in my ear, so I was terrified,” Greller said. “I didn’t look back. I just kept on going, and that’s all my team. They put me in this position. They knew what I could do.

“It just feels awesome to win. We’ve been talking about this all year. Every race we talked about how we were going to win state, and we did.”

As a team, the Trojans scored 24 points for eighth place. It’s the 10th time coach Eric Moore’s squad has finished in the top 10 in the past 14 seasons.

Other Johnson County athletes also found their way to the podium.

Whiteland’s Matthew Wray capped his junior season by placing third in the 200-meter dash in 21.49 seconds, lowering his own school-record time.

“I’m beyond happy after last year when I didn’t make the finals,” Wray said, looking up at the massive scoreboard peeking over the Robert C. Haugh stadium. “Here I am placing third at the state meet. I’m so happy.

“My main goal ever since last year was to make the final this season. I did more than I thought I could, honestly.”

Greenwood sophomore Will Riley can relate.

Riley, whose goal was to make the final of the 100-meter dash, picked up a third-place medal of his own after blazing a 10.71 while running in Lane 1.

“It’s unreal. I had no idea I would make the final race, much less coming in third,” said Riley, who was pulled aside and congratulated by Ben Davis coach Mike Davidson — the Woodmen’s sprint record-holder for four decades prior to this season. “This season was better than I ever imagined. I’m going to train a lot harder and hopefully get that No. 1 spot next year.”

Hoping to medal in the discus, Center Grove senior Garrett Messer failed to qualify and placed 16th overall with a top toss of 154 feet, 8 inches. He used it as fuel to take sixth in the shot put (57-6½).

“I’ve worked every day since the state meet last year for this moment,” Messer said. “After an incredibly disappointing discus performance, I came out and got the jump on the shot put, set a new school record and am incredibly proud of myself. It means everything.”

Whiteland’s Tayton Schakel brought home a seventh-place medal in the discus, his third and final throw in the preliminaries covering 170 feet, 10 inches.

“It’s more of a breakthrough moment for me,” Schakel said. “It was really an overcoming moment for me after those two bad throws before. And I hit a PR on that throw, so I couldn’t really ask for a better moment.

“Really, I came here just expecting a positive attitude, and I knew that if I came in with a positive attitude, positive things can happen.”

His Warriors teammate, senior pole vaulter Scott Parrish, finished seventh as well after clearing 14 feet, 9 inches.

“I mean, a medal’s a medal. It feels nice that I podiumed, but what stinks is I was projected to go about top three, top four,” Parrish said. “I jumped the same height last year and placed higher (fifth).

“I’ve jumped 15 almost every meet for four weeks. The fact that I didn’t jump it today is the more aggravating part.”

Franklin junior J.D. Sever won a ninth-place medal in the 300 hurdles, his time of 39.35 good enough to make the podium.

Center Grove long jumper Caden York took 11th, soaring 21 feet, 5¼ inches. Also for the Trojans, junior Kyle Montgomery was 10th in the 1,600 (4:16.57), Jarret Rockwell 10th in the 800 (1:54.70), Caden York 11th in the long jump (21-5¼), Peyton Coffey 13th in the high jump, Carter Pheifer 16th in the pole vault (14-0) and senior Parker Mimbela 17th in the 3,200 (9:34.14).

The Trojans’ 4×800 relay of Mason Vrshek, Griffin Hennessy, Gavin Rockwell and Jacob Ellis placed 21st in a time of 8:10.53.