Mahomet-Seymour Secures 14th Sectional Championship with Six Event Wins and 12 State Qualifiers
By Fred Kroner
Mahomet-Seymour athletes won six events on Wednesday (May 15) in the 15-school Pontiac Class 2A Sectional and landed 12 state-qualifiers while winning the team championship.
The Bulldogs’ sectional crown was the school’s 14th in history in the sport, but the first since 2019.
M-S took an insurmountable lead in the 17th of 18 events by having double placers in the 200 meters. The Bulldogs trailed entering that race.
M-S ended with 120 points. Runner-up Eureka totaled 112 points and was followed by Normal U-High (84 points) and Pontiac (81 points).
Senior Jayvon Irwin was a double individual winner for the Bulldogs, cruising to victory in the 100 meters (10.98 seconds) and the 200 meters (personal-best 22.28 seconds).
Irwin’s time is the fourth-best in M-S history for 200 meters.
Teammates who won individual events were sophomore Auggie Gaudio (personal-best 4:24.73 in the 1,600 meters) and junior Ty Clark (12 feet, 7 inches in the pole vault).
Gaudio’s time ranks No. 8 on the list of all-time M-S leaders for 1,600 meters.
Two Bulldog relays punched their state tickets by winning their races.
The 400-meter unit featured Travis Hoffman, Irwin, Ryken Kirby and Alex O’Brian. Their combined time was 43.26 seconds.
The advancing 800-meter relay included Irwin, O’Brian, Dylan Smith and Kirby. They were timed in 1:31.49.
In addition to athletes who qualified for state automatically by winning an event, others who bettered pre-determined standards also secured their advancement.
M-S had a second qualifier in the 1,600 meters (Ethan Ramirez, fourth in 4:32.47) as well as two qualifiers in the 3,200 meters.
The long-distance Bulldog standouts were Henry McMurry (sixth in the 3,200 meters in a personal-best 9:53.38) and Kaleb Kasper (seventh in a personal-best 9:55.65).
The school’s other individual qualifier was 300-meter hurdler Hoffman, the runner-up in his specialty in a personal-best 39.95 seconds.
He is the sixth M-S runner of all-time to break the 40-second barrier in the 300 hurdles.
The Bulldogs’ other two relays also continued their seasons.
The 1,600-meter foursome of Kaden Jackson, Lukas Carey, O’Brian and Hoffman, finished fifth in 3:29.99.
The state-qualifying 3,200-meter relay consisted of Jackson, Carey, Lukas Nykaza and Ramirez. Their cumulative time was 8:12.80.
Besides the state-qualifiers, four other M-S individuals achieved top-10 performances as well as personal-best marks in their final meet of the season: Steffen Kellner (fifth in the 100 meters in 11.55 seconds), Tate Bode (sixth in the 800 meters in 2:06.38), Trevor Reeves (seventh in the shot put at 46 feet, 2 inches) and Seth Christiansen (fourth in the pole vault at 11 feet, 7 inches).
Four other M-S competitors also notched top-10 finishes, including long jump runner-up Kirby (20 feet, 10 inches).
The school’s other top-10 entries were Reeves (fourth in the discus at 138 feet, 9 inches), Kellner (fifth in the 200 meters in 23.73 seconds) and Parker Wilkins (eighth in the 400 meters in 54.98 seconds).
The state-qualifiers return to action in the Class 2A semifinals on Friday (May 24) at Charleston. Those who advance to the finals will return to Eastern Illinois University on Saturday (May 25).
