Indian Creek’s Libby Dowty (343) runs with the lead group during the Shelbyville Semistate on Saturday.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
SHELBYVILLE
With four of the state’s top five boys cross country teams and six of the top eight in the field for Saturday’s Shelbyville Semistate meet, it might have been tempting for Center Grove to have its head on a swivel and get caught up in what the competition was doing.
Instead, the fifth-ranked Trojan boys played it like a race horse, keeping the proverbial blinders on, and it worked. Center Grove was third with a total of 83 points, trailing only No. 1 Carmel and No. 2 Zionsville (74).
“We do what we need to do no matter what everybody else is doing, and typically that works,” said Ty Garrett, the Trojans’ top finisher on the day.
Garrett was the first Center Grove runner across the finish line, taking fourth with a time of 15:28.7. He was followed closely by Parker Mimbela (seventh, 15:36.3). Kyle Montgomery (19th), Gavin Rockwell (28th) and Griffin Hennessy (32nd) rounded out the Trojans’ scoring contingent.
“I’m ecstatic,” Center Grove coach Howard Harrell said. “I’m very happy with all of our guys. From No. 1 to No. 7, they ran a really outstanding race today. We had a race plan going in and everyone stuck to it — and that’s not easy to do when you’ve got all these other people around, and they’ve got their race plan and so-and-so’s in front of you. You’ve got to remain focused, and they remained focused and stayed with it.
“Luckily we’re in a lot of big races, so that kind of gets us more used to that. … But it’s a pressure cooker, and if you’re not used to it you can blow up. We remained calm and steadfast, and it paid off today.”
No Johnson County teams advanced to state on the girls side, but three local individuals finished well enough to earn their way to Terre Haute. Indian Creek freshman Libby Dowty led the way with a sixth-place effort, posting a time of 18:18.3.
Dowty, who has been a runaway individual winner in most of her meets this fall, enjoyed the challenge of running from behind for a change.
“I had people to compete against today, so that was really fun,” she said. “I always had someone in front of me, so it was a goal for me to try to pass people. … I kind of still run my own race, but it does help to know that I have people to pass.”
Dowty’s Braves teammate Abby Fleetwood also made it out, landing 15th in 18:51.3. Whiteland’s Victoria Jackson secured the 10th and final individual qualifying spot with her 18th-place finish (18:56.3), becoming just the second girl in school history to make the state meet.
Two other county runners, Franklin’s Lauren Klem (24th) and Greenwood’s Lilly Rollings (31st) just missed the cutoff.
Indian Creek was the top local team in the girls meet, finishing 11th with 286 points. Franklin was one spot behind with 288, while Center Grove (395) and Roncalli (443) finished 16th and 17th, respectively.
On the boys side, the regional champion Braves wound up 14th with 377 points and Franklin was 17th with 439. Creek’s Lucas Niebert was the top non-Trojan local finisher, coming in 50th; Greenwood’s Samuel Grimes was 58th.
Center Grove’s boys now turn their attention to this coming Saturday, when they’ll race on a Lavern Gibson course that they’re all very familiar with. The Trojans are making their fourth consecutive state meet appearance as a team; they were sixth last fall and fourth in 2020.
They’re feeling pretty good about their chances to do at least as well this time around, if not better.
“We did what we wanted to do today, and now we’re looking at state and we’re very confident,” Garrett said.
Harrell expects his team to adopt the same blinders-on mentality next week. Forget the other teams, just stick to the plan and trust that it’ll produce the desired result.
“We’re going to approach it the same way,” he said. “Everyone’s got their secret workouts for this next week, and we’ve got our secret workout too — and I feel very confident that our secret workout’s better.”
