Senior Aubrey Runyon has helped lead Franklin to one of its most successful seasons ever.
Daily Journal file photo
It’s been a couple of months, so excuse Kate Pinnick if she can’t immediately remember specifics about the small item she left inside East Central High School.
Franklin’s senior libero thinks it was a toy animal from a McDonald’s Happy Meal.
A unicorn. Yeah, that was it … maybe.
In any case, on the instruction of third-year coach Patrick Carlson, all Grizzly Cub players were told to hide a trinket of some sort and a brief but positive note to themselves when the team scrimmaged there in August.
“There’s probably 15 things hidden there,” Pinnick said, laughing.
The objective Thursday is to produce an opening-round victory over Columbus North (16-16) after locating as many toy-note combinations as possible to reflect over during the long bus ride home.
This is what Carlson does, but there is purpose behind it.
“Before every game, he always has some game or activity separate from volleyball to get us ready for the game,” said Pinnick, one of the team’s seven seniors. “It’s normally something funny just so we’re all on the same page and clearing our heads.
“When we step on the court, we’re ready to play volleyball.”
Franklin, which sports a 24-3 record and captured the Mid-State Conference championship with a 7-0 league ledger, is a prohibitive favorite to claim the sectional title at East Central, which would be the 11th in program history.
The 2023 squad snapped a 12-year sectional dry spell, winning on their own court before falling short against Castle in a regional semifinalat Bloomington North.
Carlson graduated 53% of the kills from that group, yet these Grizzly Cubs haven’t skipped a beat.
“I mean, anytime you lose a group of really good seniors the way we did, I just didn’t know what that would look like,” Carlson said. “It’s not that we didn’t have chemistry last year, but I think this group of seniors has always been overshadowed by the class that was in front of them. And rightfully so. That class had a lot of talented people.”
The current senior, junior and sophomore classes are proving to, also.
Junior outside hitter and three-year starter Rose Mahin leads the Grizzly Cubs in kills with 388, followed by classmate Addie Martin (203) and senior Aubrey Runyon (158). Pinnick is the pace-setter in digs with 319, while Mahin has 210 and senior defensive specialist Maggie Doty has 178.
Runyon’s .404 hitting percentage and 75 blocks are also team highs, as are Mahin’s 63 service aces. Sophomore setter Karlin Burton, a move-in from Shelbyville, has 669 assists, while senior outside hitter Liz Worland and soph middle hitter Ava Lilly have chipped in 84 kills and 37 blocks, respectively.
Sum the parts and it’s the school’s winningest squad since the 2018 Grizzly Cubs finished 27-8.
“All seven of our seniors started playing basketball together in the second grade,” Pinnick said. “Honestly, we’ve just known each other for so long that our team is very bonded, and I think that’s what’s led to our success.”
Tonight’s marks the second time in a week Franklin has faced Columbus North. The Grizzly Cubs closed their regular season at home on Oct. 10, defeating the Bull Dogs by a score of 25-20, 25-10, 19-25, 25-11.
No matter the length of Franklin’s postseason run, the coaches and players are sure to have fun along the way.
“Wins and losses are fine, but they have to have a great experience,” Carlson said. “The players aren’t going to remember all the games. They are going to remember the good times they had.
“We don’t treat it as a business. The kids barely mention our record or our ranking. That’s just not our way.”
Talk about your unicorns.
THURSDAY’S SECTIONAL MATCHES
Class 4A
At Perry Meridian
Perry Meridian vs. Center Grove, 7:30 p.m.
At East Central
Franklin vs. Columbus North, 6 p.m.
