Several state medalists were putting their talents on display during the Franklin girls track and field sectional back in 2019.
Drew Mallory wasn’t yet ready to be one of them.
“My freshman year, I was trash, to be honest,” she said this spring.
Two years ago, Mallory barely registered on anyone’s radar, finishing ninth in the discus at the sectional meet. The Whiteland junior returns today as the runaway favorite in that event and a contender to advance in the shot put as well, coming in with season bests of 145 feet, 5 inches and 41-1 1/2, respectively.
“From where she was two years ago to now, she’s pretty impressive,” Warriors coach Brandon Bangel said.
In fact, Mallory boasts the best discus mark in Indiana this spring by almost 10 feet — and she’s one of four girls in Johnson County who either is or has been ranked at the top of the state during the season. Center Grove seniors Taylor Jarosinski and Makensie Kramer are currently No. 1 in the pole vault and 100-meter hurdles, while Mallory’s Warrior teammate, senior Bella Jackson, was first in the high jump and currently sits in a close second.
All four hope to take the first step toward a state championship this evening — but they’re all making sure not to get ahead of themselves.
“When you get to the big meets, sectionals and regionals, you just have to take it minute by minute, jump by jump,” said Jackson, who placed third in the state in the high jump as a sophomore in 2019. “People can get so wrapped up in hitting the state standard and qualifying for the next thing.”
“You’ve got to focus on this week first,” Center Grove coach Wes Dodson agreed, “because if you had a bad day and you didn’t get out, man, that’d be a real disappointment. So we’re focused on just doing our job.”
The job for each girl is simple — finish in the top three in her individual event to earn a spot in next week’s regional, which will also be held at Franklin. Do the same there, and a trip to Ben Davis for the state meet awaits.
Jarosinski has been waiting for this postseason ever since she finished as the pole vault runner-up two years ago, clearing 12-9 but losing to Hamilton’s Southeastern’s Kennedy Drish on the fewer-misses tiebreaker.
“It definitely left me hungry after my sophomore season,” Jarosinski said. “To end like that, and to have junior season not happen even added to that. It’s been a long time waiting.”
Dodson has been impressed with how Jarosinski has performed this spring through less-than-ideal weather. She’s had to shorten her approach on several nights while battling high winds and low temperatures, but she’s still been clearing 12 feet or higher on a pretty consistent basis.
Both vaulter and coach are hopeful that if the weather cooperates, clearing 13 feet — which Jarosinski already did last summer — or even threatening the state record of 13-6 1/4 is within reach.
“I hate putting numbers on what my goals are, just because you can jump 13 but jump it bad,” Jarosinski said. “I want to focus on form. But I definitely want to get back over 13 to prove to myself that I’m still that vaulter that I have been, and I know I’m capable of more.
“So that’s kind of the goal — just to get back over 13 and then see what I can do, have some fun.”
Those state dreams, though, are still a couple of weeks away. Surviving the sectional and regional come first, and the approach to each meet is different.
Tonight, Dodson says, the focus for Center Grove is on winning a team title — and while the Trojans are ranked No. 1 in the state, they’ve got to contend with No. 9 Columbus North and No. 15 Whiteland.
“When you get to next week,” the coach said, “it becomes more of an individual thing, where you’re really trying to focus in and do everything you can to get yourself to the state meet.”
All one-step-at-a-time talk aside, this year’s state meet is a bigger deal than most after last year’s was wiped out by the pandemic.
For the seniors — especially those with individual or team title aspirations — it’s bigger than big.
“We definitely talk about it a lot,” Jackson said. “I’ve been thinking about it ever since the state meet my sophomore year, I’ve been thinking about going back and getting the state title for high jump.
“We’ve all been thinking about it, and we’ve all been putting in the work when no one’s watching. So it’s definitely exciting that it’s all falling in place now.”
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Franklin Sectional
Participating teams: Center Grove, Edinburgh, Franklin, Greenwood, Greenwood Christian, Indian Creek, Whiteland, Columbus East, Columbus North, Hauser, Southwestern, Waldron
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Admission: $6
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