The Journal Review’s Top Sports Moments of the year series continues with the Fountain Central Mustangs.
Hoagland adds to the record book
Since day one of her freshman season, Brailey Hoagland has been a staple runner for the Mustang program. This past season she kept adding her name to the record books for FC. As it currently stands between cross country and track and field, Hoagland holds five Mustang records which include; 200 meter dash (26.18), long jump (16ft. 3in), 400 meter dash (59.69), 100 meter dash (12.24) and the 5K (20.17.5).
Hoagland back in the fall earned the girls runner of the and talked about her accolades and achievements that she’s earned through her three years of hard work.
“Having that bond with my teammates really pushes me to continue to run well,” said. “Seeing that I’ve been to the Regional the last three years and be on the verge of breaking my school record. Those are some things that continue to drive me to get better.”
Brailey has had the pleasure of getting to have her mom Shannon alongside her every step of the way as Shannon is the head cross country and track and field coach. It’s a journey that the two have loved sharing together as mother and daughter.
“I feel like a good leader is someone who is putting in that work and that’s what Brailey has done,” Shannon said. “When you’ve put in the work other people are going to want to follow suit. Brailey has set a great example for our program by encouraging everyone. Our program has grown the last few years and it’s because of runners like Brailey who have made a name for themselves. Here at Fountain Central people now know what our program is about and it’s only going to continue to grow.”
Armstrong breaks onto scene in pool
There were talks coming into this past winter that the Mustangs had a diver that was one to watch. William Armstrong came onto the scene as a freshman this past season and meet after meet kept breaking Mustang diving records. Armstrong’s freshman year culminated in him qualifying for the IHSAA Diving State Finals. Armstrong went on to place 12th as the only freshman competing at the State Finals.
“This felt really awesome to be here,” Armstrong said of his first State Finals. “It was probably my best meet of the season and now the goal is keep coming back here next year and try and place on that podium and keep getting better.”
Armstrong’s goal coming in was to place in the top 16 and he did more than that with his 12th place finish. With three more years left there’s no telling the kind of accolades that Armstrong could wind up having when it’s all said and done.
Tennis has season to remember
The Mustang tennis program has been one of the most stable teams in the area for sometime. Led by David Kight and Chris Webb this past spring, the FC girls had a year where they accomplished nearly everything they could. FC won their 14th sectional title in school history along with having number one singles player in Haley Webb named Girls Tennis Player of the Year.
In the Regional, the Mustangs took down a fellow area rival in Crawfordsville to punch their ticket to the Regional Final against Carmel. In the end FC ended with an overall record of 15-2 and as Coach Kight noted after their season came to an end, his group couldn’t have asked for a better season.
“For us to be at this level and had the opportunity to play a Carmel and play for a Regional title, that speaks volumes about where we are as a program,” Kight said. We played of the top 10 teams in the state and we’re maxing out what we can get out of this season and that’s our ultimate goal as coaches.”
This past year for the Mustangs was also a special one for the Webb family as Chris and Haley were joined this season by Haley’s younger sister Elise as she played right beside her sister at two singles.
FC still has a majority of its roster back for next spring as the Mustangs look to once again be a force.
Girls hoops has best season since 2014-15
What Sam Karr has done with Fountain Central girls basketball has been nothing short of sensational. This past winter Karr led the Mustangs to their best season in a decade as Fountain Central ended their season with a record of 19-5. This past season the Mustangs had every player back from Karr’s first year and improved their win total by eight games.
“The sky is the limit for this group,” Karr said. “If they work as hard as they’ve worked these first two years then this can be a really special group. We have the perfect balance of upper and underclassmen (four juniors, four freshman). Our freshman learned very quickly that they had to adjust their game to high school level basketball. Three of those four are playing major minutes for us. It’s a good sign for your program when you have three freshman like that who can step in right away and produce. With them we have the ability go 8-9 deep and that’s a big advantage in Class A. At the end of the day I’m proud of this entire group and I’m lucky to coach them.”
FC graduated just two seniors in Kacey Kirkpatrick and Katie Brown so expect the Mustangs to once again be a threat come this winter.
King guides Mustangs to first winning season in four years
All Herb King does is build up programs. That’s what he’s known for and this past fall King helped lead the Mustang football team to its first winning season since 2018.
The team was littered with talent as King put his trust in freshman signal caller Eli Foxworthy. All Foxworthy did in his first season was throw for over 1,700 yards and 23 TD’s as FC finished the season 6-4.
With the likes of Owen Acton (941 rushing yards), Dawson Blue (459 rushing yards), and All-State player Isaac Gayler (829 receiving yards 14 TD’s), FC had plenty of weapons on offense.
“Dawson is really a dual threat for us because we like to play his as more of a receiver,” King said after an early season win over Crawfordsville in the fall. “He chose his spots really well tonight and his long TD run was blazing fast. Own is just that big physical kid who we know can go in the trenches and get the tough yards when we need them and he converted a lot of third and shorts for us when we needed to keep drives alive.”
The Mustangs will lose a lot of that senior leadership as they start preparing for the fall, however with a talented signal caller in Foxworthy and coach with a phenomenal track record, the Mustangs have the right pieces in place to have success again.
