By Al Stilley
Editor

 Southport’s boys and girls captured team championships Saturday in the 44th annual Southport Relays.
The boys’ team edged runner-up Noblesville by eight points 96-88 with Roncalli third with 81 points. Beech Grove was fifth.

The relay team of Braylon Koenig, Devin Wilson, Ricky Sanders, and Nickens Lemba captured the sprint medley (100, 100, 200, and 400). Wilson, Presley Airhaigbonkpa, Emory McClellan, won the 4x400 relay to seal the Cardinals dramatic team title.

In field events, Christian VanVolkenburgh and Manny Castillo combined to win the shot put, Koenig and Josiah Ottinger won the high jump, and Hayden Black and Sanders won the pole vault.

The girls’ team captured nine of 13 events for 120 points and the championship.

Field event winners were Josie Miller and Jackie Coy in pole vault, Coy and Kamia Davis Williams in high jump, and Madison Schaefer and Sofia Nguyen in discus.

The Cardinals had great success in running events. Cece Mitchell, Evelynn Garcia, Andrea Cerda-Duran, Lucy Hiller captured the 4x1600 relay. Mariah Henry, Davis Williams, Tiara Stephens, and Kania Davis Muff took the 4x200. Erin Herwehe, Katie Cherry, Izzy Cox, and Lucy Hiller won the distance medley. Henry, Davis Muff, Tiara Stephens, and Nola Linson won the 4x100. Davis Muff, Linson, Henry, and Davis Williams won the sprint medley. Mitchell, Garcia, Cerda Duran, and Cherry won the 4x800.

RECORD-SETTING WARRIORS
Whiteland junior Victoria Jackson set two meet records in the recent Johnson County track and field championships at Whiteland. Jackson won the 800 in 2 minutes, 16.10 seconds and the 1600 in 5 minutes, .55 seconds.

The Warriors won the 4x100 relay with Sydney Rodgers, Emma Gill, Marissa Kratowicz, and Elnora Stevenson, a freshman who also captured the long jump (17 feet, 5 inches).
Greenwood junior Amy Luttrell took the pole vault at 11 feet, 6 inches.
Whiteland junior Matthew Wray was the top boys’ meet performer with a record sprint of 49:28 in the 400-meter dash and winning the 200 in 22.35. He was second in the 100.
Center Grove won the boys and girls team championships in one of the more competitive county meets in recent years.

TROJANS RECOVER
Class 4A No. 1 Center Grove had its 11-game baseball winning streak halted April 19 by No. 6 Cathedral, 6-1. The Trojans recovered the next day by defeating Roncalli, 4-1. CG’s Drew Culbertson and Garrison Barile drove in two runs each on home runs. Winning pitcher Jacob Murphy gave up only one hit and struck out nine Royals.

BATTLE OF PERRY TWP.
No. 5 Perry Meridian won the boys’ volleyball Battle of Perry Township Thursday by sweeping Southport, 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-15). Earlier, the No. 9 Cardinals defeated Franklin, 3-1 (25-15, 18-25, 25-18, 25-15). Earlier in the week, Southport downed Carmel and Zionsville, 2-0.

Lofty Center Grove has a 15-2 record with the help of seniors, from left, Payton Shimansky, Ashlynn Wolff, Haley Fuhr, Samantha Bruce, and Maggie Lee. The Trojans have been ranked 4A No. 1 by MaxPreps and No. 2 by the state coaches. They are coming off a split in the Russ Milligan Classic.
​(SOUTHSIDER VOICE PHOTO BY AL STILLEY)

By Al Stilley
Editor

Center Grove’s eight-game winning streak was endangered April 19 by visiting Franklin Central.

This was an upset in the making, although the Trojans starting lineup was less experienced than FCHS, coached by Kathy Stricker whose Flashes were primed for an upset. Determined FC tied it at 5-5 in the top of the seventh, then led 6-5 in the top of the eighth, only to see the Trojans push across two runs in the bottom of the eighth. Mae Munson, who led off with an infield single, scored on a throwing error to first and junior Kynadee Warner scored the winning run on freshman Brynn Meyer’s drive to left field.

“This shows that we can persevere and win together,” CG senior catcher Payton Shimansky said. “Everyone figured out that we were in pressure situations and came through. This was a growing moment for us.”
That last comment seemed strange from a senior on a 13-1 team at the time with an eight-game winning streak. But the Trojans started only two seniors and two juniors with three sophomores and one freshman and relied upon two freshmen in the circle.

The Trojans were ranked No. 1 in 4A by MaxPreps and No. 2 by the state coaches, but they are so young even with five seniors on the roster.

The Trojans easily could be the cardiac corps. They went on the road Thursday and defeated 4A No. 4 Avon, 11-10 with Hannah Haberstroh getting three hits and three RBI.

Then Saturday at their own Russ Milligan Classic, 4A No. 3 Columbus North ended the Trojans’ win streak at nine with a 7-4 win, scoring six runs in the last two innings. The Trojans recovered though in the second game by edging Bedford North Lawrence, 7-6 in the bottom of the ninth.

Looking back on the thriller against Franklin Central, CG coach Alyssa Coleman offered, “For a while they were hitting around us and we weren’t playing up to our standards. We kept it together and rallied through.”
To the Flashes credit, they kept coming back. They led 1-0 and 4-3 and tied it in the seventh on back-to-back doubles that scored Ella Clouse and then in the eighth on another Clouse RBI that drove in Roberts who led off with a walk.

The Flashes were 4-8 but also compete in the rugged Hoosier Crossroads Conference and could loom as a threat in the upcoming Marion County tourney.

They were hampered by four miscues; four of the Trojans seven runs were unearned.

Clouse, a senior, had four hits and drove in two runs; freshman Audrina Yorn had three hits and two RBI; and yearling Sarah Miller had two hits. Each team had 14 hits.

“This is the type game that prepares us,” Coleman said of the back-and-forth duel. “Our pitchers let the defense work behind them. Our energy throughout the game is what’s expected.”

The Trojans then faced three top-five teams in two days and also visited 4A No. 1 Roncalli Monday with a 17-hit attack, Roncalli thumped Center Grove, 17-0, as Abbey Hofmann and Lauren Marsicek each homered.
In another key game April 19, undefeated Beech Grove fell to host Triton Central 2-1, ending the Hornets’ season-opening 11-game winning streak. The Hornets recovered from the loss by defeating visiting North Central 3-2 Thursday and winless Lawrence Central 21-3 Saturday. BG rattled off 25 hits against the Bears with Malone “Mo” Moore and Lillianna Jansen each driving in five runs.
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Roncalli (9-2-1) extended its winning streak Saturday to six games by defeating Tecumseh 10-0 as Keagan Rothrock threw a no-hitter and struck out nine in the first game of the Carmel Classic but fell in the second game to Penn, 13-3.