By Al Stilley
Senior staff writer

Six Southside high schools will be represented in the track and field state finals Friday for girls and Saturday for boys at the Robert C. Haugh Track & Field Complex at Indiana University Bloomington.

In girls competition, Perry Meridian’s 4x400 relay is seeded second with Sadie Hill as the No. 2 seed in discus and Center Grove’s Haley Goins seeded fourth in long jump.

In boys competition, Franklin Central’s Malachi Quarles is only five one-hundredths of a second behind the state’s best qualifier in the 110-meter hurdles with teammate Kyle Markland seeded third in the 100 dash.
Field events begin at 3 p.m. each day with opening ceremonies for finals at 6:10 p.m. Admission is $10.
State finalists from Southside with qualifying times or distance:

100-meter dash: girls– Kivah Yeast (CG), 12.27; Hannah Bargue (PM), 12.39. Boys – Kyle Markland (FC), 10.81.
100 hurdles: girls – Haley Goines (CG), 14.85; Julia Riley (CG), 15.25. Boys (110m hurdles) – Malachi Quarles (FC), 14.23; Nick Patton (G), 14.78.
200 dash: girls – Yeast (CG), 25.11; Iyania Hunter (PM), 25.59. Boys-Markland (FC), 21.84;
1,600 run: boys – Ethan Pine (G), 4:22.55.
400 dash: girls – hunter (FC), 56.44; Bargue (FC), 57.65; Hanna Anderson (G), 57.89. Boys – Matt Fleener (CG), 49.29; Connor Wright (FC), 49.71; Lex Logan (G) 49.99.
300 hurdles: boys – Sam Hohlt (CG), 39.62; Quarles (FC) 39.98.
800 run: girls – Reedus (FC), 2:19.89.
3,200 run: girls – Lawson (FC), 11:36.09. Boys – Nicholas Perkins (R), 9:32.93.
4x100 relay: girls – CG (Riley, Goines, Ashley Wheat, Yeast),47.97. Boys– Franklin Central (Luke Magee, Markland, Wyatt Crowel, Samuel Toe), 42.85; Center Grove (Connor Delp, Gavin Matheson, Hohlt, Clay Stambaugh), 43.29.
4x400 relay: girls – FC (Ali Dale, Lexi Dale, Bargue, Hunter), 3:53.58. Boys– Center Grove (Hohlt, Fleener, Gavin Matheson, Steven Mills), 3:23.39; Franklin Central (Austin McIntosh, Quarles, Wright, Caleb Loobie), 3:26.60.
 4x800 relay: girls – FC (Olivia Camp, Audrey Comastri, Lawson, Reedus), 9:33.72.  Boys– Roncalli (Chandler Gibson, Owen Herndon, Grant Latimer, Miles Lynch), 8:06.97.
Long jump: girls – Goines (CG), 18 feet, 6.25 inches; Riley (CG), 17-06.50.
Discus: girls – Sadie Hill (PM), 138-06; Cassandra Evans (PM), 138-03; Emily Bonser (G), 127-09. Boys – Nick Young (G), 147-07.
High jump: girls – Caitie Baird (PM), 5-06; Goines (CG), 5-04.25.
Shot put: girls – Bonser (G), 40-05.25. Boys – Young (G), 54-06.50; Emeka Jilliani (L), 52-11.50; Ezekier Breaziell III (PM), 51-10.00.
(Key: CG-Center Grove; FC-Franklin Central; G-Greenwood; L-Lutheran; PM-Perry Meridian; R-Roncalli.)

By Al Stilley
Senior staff writer

In an improbable matchup for a baseball sectional championship Monday night, Franklin Central entered the Whiteland sectional with a five-game losing skid against Greenwood, which had only won six regular-season games.

Franklin Central prevailed for coach John Rockey with his first sectional championship in his final season at the helm with a 10-5 win over the Woodmen. The Flashes reached the finale by defeating Martinsville 6-3 earlier Monday. Greenwood took the long way by upending host Whiteland 4-1 behind pitcher Jordan Martin on May 23 and Franklin with timely hitting from senior Cameron Crick in the semifinal.

“There’s no question our draw helped us, but we came into the sectional with two good pitchers, so I knew we had a chance,” Rockey said. “We thought going in that we were strong on the mound and behind the plate, but we weren’t always solid at the plate.”

Senior pitcher Kameron Leach got the win against the Artesians, and junior hurler Cade Fitzpatrick, who homered in the semifinal, pitched the nightcap and allowed only three hits while striking out 11.

Flashes junior Jared Gillespie drove in two runs with a two-run ground ball in the sixth and capped the win with an RBI triple to  right field in the seventh.

“We regained confidence to pull this one out,” Gillespie said. “Our pitching came around and we got clutch hits in both games.”

The Flashes (13-16) scored two runs in the fourth as the Woodmen committed back-to-back fielding errors. Greenwood (8-19) retaliated with three runs in the fifth on a dropped fly ball in right field and T.J. Bass’ RBI drive to left field.

FC broke it open for its first sectional trophy since 2001 with a six-run sixth as the Flashes made 11 trips to the plate. 

“We ran into that one inning again that happened during the season when we always struggled,” Greenwood coach Andy Bass said. “These kids could have cashed it in with the kind of season we had. They fought to the end tonight (Monday).”

The Flashes meet No. 6 Jeffersonville in the Evansville Reitz regional at 12:30 p.m. Saturday with No. 11 Columbus East and Castle in the opener; championship game is at 6 p.m.

​Rebels romp
No. 4 Roncalli won its 14th sectional title Monday with a dominating five-inning 10-0 triumph over host Ben Davis.

Roncalli led 3-0 going into the fifth inning when it scored seven runs. Senior Nick Schnell hit a two-run homer in the fourth. Junior Max Lundy pitched a three-hit shutout.

Winners of 15 straight games, the Rebels (25-5) face rival Cathedral (20-8) Saturday at 11 a.m. in the Decatur Central regional.

Lutheran claimed the Morristown sectional by defeating Southwestern 9-2 Monday. The Saints advanced to the final game by edging Edinburgh 7-4 and dominating Waldron 14-1.

Lutheran (15-10) meets University in the Morristown regional at 10 a.m. Saturday and faces the Hauser-Shakamak winner in the title game at 7 p.m.