Justina Faulkner, now a JV basketball coach at Triton, is a legend in three sports at her alma mater. Faulkner was recently named to the IATCCC Silver Anniversary cross country team. (Photos by Mike Deak)

BOURBON – Hard to believe it’s been 25 years for one of Triton’s finest cross country runners.

Recently honored as one of 14 cross country athletes to make the Silver Anniversary team from the Indiana Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches, Justina (Reichert) Faulkner offered a grin and some pause on being named to the team.

“I’m like, 25 years? I don’t know where it has gone,” Faulkner said standing in a storage closet in the Trojan Trench Tuesday night. Faulkner had just finished coaching the Triton JV girls basketball game against Argos, basketball still primarily on her mind. “It was good to see some of the girls I ran against again.”

Justina Reichert’s lore sits among the many in the Triton athletic Hall of Fame.

Faulkner was honored for her freshman season where she finished fourth in the IHSAA cross country state finals. The top seven individuals from that state finals were named to the team, including state champion Jill Schuler of Floyd Central and Schuler’s teammates Carrie Bryant and Brooke Dilling, Fort Wayne Northrop’s Tana Dahman, Kelly Albers of Penn and Becky Diehl of Valparaiso. Floyd Central coach Joe Hinton was also part of the anniversary honorees.

Faulkner, who was inducted into the Triton High School Hall Of Fame in 2012, is said to be one of the most decorated athletes in school history. A three-sport star, Faulkner also played basketball and ran track with great success. Faulkner won 12 team MVP awards and was a four-time Female Athlete of the Year among numerous school and area accolades in the multiple sports.

At the state level, Faulkner finished fourth as a freshman and 13th as a senior in cross country, competed in six events at state, finishing as high as second in the 1,600-meter run twice. Faulkner also was named Honorable Mention for the USA Track Team as a sophomore.

Faulkner attended a gathering last month at the cross country state finals in Terre Haute to which several of the honorees attended.

“I didn’t really know how to react to it, but it’s a nice honor,” Faulkner said. “Honestly, it was cool to see some of the Golden Anniversary guys. Most of them don’t look like they were in high school 50 years ago.”

The IATCCC also honored the boys Silver Anniversary and Golden Anniversary teams. The Golden Anniversary team included Don Vandrey of Valparaiso, John Collet of Griffith, James Eastlund of Gary Wirt, Jeffrey Blair of Goshen, John Busheml of Gary Andrean, Tim McClenny of Indianapolis North Central, Ralph Foote of Kendallville and coach Chris Traicoff of Calumet.

The Silver Anniversary boys team included Jason Casiano of Portage, John Fendel of Warren Central, Erick Rheam of Anderson, Matt Sparks of Noblesville, Marc Gossard of Carmel, Jay Hicks of Warsaw, Friederick Rademacher of Ben Davis and coach John Jarosinski of Ben Davis.

The IATCCC Hall of Fame is located in Terre Haute.