Mahomet-Seymour Cross Country teams win Apollo Conference meet
By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
Elizabeth Sims and the Mahomet-Seymour girls’ cross-county team went 2-for-2 on Tuesday in the Apollo Conference meet.
The 2018 individual and team champions earned a repeat on their home course at the Lake of the Woods.
Sims, a sophomore, was the repeat race winner, this year by 10.82 seconds. Her 3-mile time was 19 minutes, 1.21 seconds.
Two teammates also joined her among the top 10 and received all-conference accolades.
Grace Lietz was third in 19:25.28 and Klein Powell was 10th in 20:06.61.
The Bulldogs’ other scoring runners were Ella Scott (11th in 20:09.97) and Olivia Bunting (12th in 20:10.56).
In the team chase, M-S edged Mount Zion 27-28.
The decisive placer was Bunting, the Bulldogs’ No. 5 runner who crossed the finish line 3.01 seconds in front of Mount Zion’s No. 5 runner. Had the places been reversed, Mount Zion would have captured team honors by a point.
Bunting made a late several in the final meters of the race to overtake her Mount Zion counterpart.
Three other M-S runners garnered top 20 finishes in a meet with 60 competitors.
Chloe Allen was 15th in 20:20.24, Callie Jansen was 18th in 20:34.53 and Emily Bednar was 20th in 20:46.02.
Seven other squad members also participated at the Apollo Conference meet. Delaney King was 26th in 21:39.29, Shaelin Ruzich was 33rd in 22:31.49, Alyssa Christensen was 34th in 22:51.60, Ella Wolters was 35th in 22:52.72, Gretchen Scheele was 44th in 24:24.07, Hannah Hofbauer was 46th in 24:53.60 and Natalie Parrott was 51st in 25:32.82.
This is the second year that the Bulldogs have been a member of the Apollo Conference.
M-S will return to action on Oct. 26 in the Metamora Class 2A Regional.
Mahomet-Seymour Boys’ cross-country
Four Mahomet-Seymour runners earned all-conference laurels on Tuesday as the Bulldogs were the dominant team in the Apollo Conference Meet.
Running on their own home course at Lake of the Woods, the M-S Bulldogs combined for 33 points, placing them well ahead of runner-up Mattoon (59 points).
For the second year in a row, Kyle Nofziger was all-conference thanks to a top 10 placement at conference.
He was the runner-up, clocking a time of 16 minutes, 19.56 seconds for the 3-mile layout. A year ago, Nofziger was eighth at the league meet.
Teammate Joseph Scheele was right behind him on Tuesday, finishing third in 16:27.85.
The other M-S all-conference runners were Nick Mies (seventh in 16:45.88) and Joe Taylor (ninth in 17:12.30).
Teammates placing among the top 20 in a meet featuring 75 competitors were Gage Williams (12th in 17:28.47), Hayden Grotelueschen (13th in 17:30.41), Jonah Singer (16th in 17:42.89). Taylor Fan (19th in 17:50.64) and David Wilcoski (20th in 17:56.99).
Nine other Bulldogs also participated in the Apollo meet.
Josh Wilcoski was 30th in 18:23.67, Caleb Dowers was 31st in 18:24.15, Ben Wallace was 33rd in 18:43,63, Karsten Waisath was 36th in 18:54.75, Peter Slezak was 38th in 19:01.38, John Tender was 42nd in 19:35.26, Chase Misenheimer was 53rd in 20:26.28, Avery Seaman was 62nd in 22:02.05 and Alex Carpenter was 70th in 23:46.86.
“It was a nice note to end the regular season on,” M-S coach Neal Garrison said. “All the runners really gave an incredible effort and I was super-proud of them.”
The conference race also served as the team’s Senior Meet.
“Our two seniors, David Wilcoski and Peter Slezak, ran very strong races to finish their high school cross-country career,” Garrison said. “David ran right at his season-best despite it being a slower course.
“Both David and Peter ran better times than at last year’s conference meet.”
Six Bulldogs achieved season-best times at conference, a feat which impressed the coach.
“This showed how determined they were to run on this course,” Garrison said. “Our course is often up to a minute slower for most runners.”
The season-best list included Mies, Taylor, Williams, Fan, Tender and Carpenter.
Nine squad members ran quicker times than they did a year ago at the Apollo Conference meet.
Included in that group were three who reduce their times by more than 2 minutes: Waisath (2:35 improvement), Scheele (2:24 improvement) and Josh Wilcoski (2:19 improvement).
M-S will return to action on Oct. 26 in the Metamora Class 2A Regional.
