By Fred Kroner
The high school cross-country season ended for all but one Mahomet-Seymour runner on Saturday (Oct. 29) in the Class 2A Chatham Glenwood Sectional.
The Bulldogs’ lone state-qualifier came in the girls’ 3-mile race. M-S junior Ava Boyd advanced to the state meet with a 21st-place finish in the 135-runner field.
Her time was 18 minutes, 49.80 seconds.
The top seven schools in the 18-school event secured state berths as did the next 10 runners not on an advancing team.
The Bulldogs finished in 12th place with a 320 team composite. Normal West, with 87 points, earned the sectional title.
Other M-S finishers were Chloe Bundren (67th in 20:12.20), Hadley Grotelueschen (82nd in 20:44.50), Ava Jansen (85th in 20:48.30), Emma Frazier (108th in 21:43.10), Jinan Abdo (116th in 21:56.50) and Lauren Bednar (129th in 22:56.00).
The Bulldogs’ all-underclassmen team featured two juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen.
Boyd will run in the IHSA Class 2A girls’ state meet on Saturday (Nov. 5) at Detweiller Park, in Peoria. Her race will begin at 11 a.m.
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In the boys’ sectional race, the top five M-S runners completed the course within 33.8 seconds of one another, but the Bulldogs ended 13th with a composite score of 273 points.
Leading the way for M-S were two freshmen, Auggie Gaudio, who was 46th in 16 minutes, 23.50 seconds, and Henry McMurry (53rd in 16:27.70).
Rounding out the team’s lineup were Ben Wallace (56th in 16:29.30), Hayden Grotelueschen (68th in 16:42.80), Emmett Kearns (81st in 16:57.30), Lukas Nykaza (92nd in 17:07.90) and Blake Dillman (98th in 17:14.30).
Gaudio was the team-leader in all five meets he ran this season, but he had been sidelined since the Dunlap Invitational on Sept. 24.
There were 141 competitors in the boys’ sectional race.
The Bulldog lineup included two seniors (Wallace and Grotelueschen), two sophomores and three freshmen.
Team honors in the boys’ race went to Marion, which had a composite score of 99 points.
