Living up to the reputations they’ve built as runners isn’t always easy for Lauren Klem and Will Jefferson.
Klem, Franklin’s 5-foot freshman dynamo, and Jefferson, a battle-tested Whiteland senior, enter most competitions as the favorites in their respective races.
As has become custom, neither disappointed at Saturday morning’s sectional at Franklin.
Klem covered the Grizzly Cubs’ home course in a time of 18 minutes, 42.6 seconds to win the girls competition by over 40 seconds and help 14th-ranked Franklin notch its first sectional team title since 2000. In the boys event, Jefferson dominated, his time of 15:51.7 besting runner-up Drew Costelow (16:23.3) of Center Grove by a comfortable margin.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Click here to purchase photos from this galleryThe seventh-ranked Trojans placed four runners in the top six to easily capture the boys team title.
“I just tried to go out there and do my best and see how I finish,” said Klem, who wasn’t intimidated running the first of what promises to be many varsity postseason meets. “(Other runners) are all really nice and all really good sports. This season has been fun.”
Center Grove junior Mary Hodges finished second behind Klem, her time of 19:23.3 a shade more than 10 seconds faster than teammate Lilly Brunsman, a freshman. Another ninth-grader, Phoebe Dowty of Indian Creek, was fourth, with Franklin junior Jenna Newton crossing the finish line fifth.
Trojans coach Wes Dodson, whose 23rd-ranked squad finished seven points back of the Cubs, didn’t see the same collective focus from his runners that he did a week earlier when Center Grove won the Johnson County title on the same course.
“We were a lot worse than last week,” Dodson said. “Maybe we were overconfident because we won last week, because we sure didn’t run very well today. I think we’re too concerned with what time we ran and we’re not racing with other girls.”
Jefferson continued his outstanding season for the Warriors, taking the lead early and never looking back.
“I was happy with (the time); I think I could have ran a little bit better. My body just felt a little fatigued,” Jefferson said. “Other than that, you can’t ever be disappointed with a victory, so I’m glad for that. This one I wanted to go out strong, and I think my body just couldn’t handle it today.
“I didn’t do as well as I thought I was going to do, but I’m glad it’s sectionals and not state.”
Center Grove runners Raef Sauer and Jarret Rockwell, placed third and fourth, respectively, in the boys race, while Franklin senior Anthony McDonald picked up a fifth-place ribbon.
The Trojans managed to impress despite sitting out a portion of their usual lineup.
“We want to give the other guys a rest. They’ve gone through a long season, and we’ve hopefully got three big meets remaining. They are running next week,” Center Grove coach Howard Harrell said. “Drew ran just the way we told him. We took a little pressure off of him, too. He was helping Raef and Jarret out at the beginning, and that worked well.”
Runner-up Whiteland, third-place Franklin and fourth-place Greenwood all advanced to the boys regional as a team, with five other locals making the cut as individuals — Jack Mitchell, Jackson Fenton, Ryder Marshall and Christoffer Lister of Indian Creek as well as Owen Harder of Greenwood Christian.
On the girls side, Whiteland (third) and Indian Creek (fourth) will join the Grizzly Cubs and Trojans in the team competition. Qualifying as individuals were Selena Piñon and Ava Leininger of Greenwood and Whitney Smith of GCA.
