By Fred Kroner
Tate Bode and Cody Moen placed among the top six runners individually on Saturday (Oct. 8) in the IESA Class 3A boys’ cross-country sectional at Lake of the Woods, leading Mahomet-Seymour to the team championship in the 17-school race.
Bode was the individual runner-up in the 116-runner, 2-mile race, completing the course in 10 minutes, 58.3 seconds. Moen ran sixth in 11:21.2.
The winning team score for M-S was 65 points. Second-place Normal Parkside posted a score of 77 points and third-place Urbana ended with 121 points.
The split between the top five Bulldog runners was two seconds over one minute.
Other M-S competitors were seventh-grader Tayten Gergen (15th in 11:38.4), seventh-grader Noah Crane (18th in 11:38.8), eighth-grader Liam Noonan (24th in 11:58.6), seventh-grader Adam Smigielski (25th in 12:00.6) and eighth-grader Jack Van Hoorn (26th in 12:01.8).
The M-S state alternants are seventh-grader Dominic Gaudio, eighth-grader Jamison Griffen and sixth-grader Grant Morphew.
“Our boys team found themselves in a nearly identical situation that the girls put themselves in,” M-S coach Lisa Martin said. “Tate Bode once again led the Bulldogs to the team’s first-place finish. Tate competed really well, earning second place to a very strong athlete from Champaign Franklin.
“Tate ran 21 seconds faster than the last time he was on our home course. Cody Moen ran a strong No. 2 for us, 28 seconds faster than ever on this course.”
Improvement was shown by the next two Bulldogs as well.
“This is where we see the duo of Tayten Gergen and Noah Crane in action,” Martin continued. “They both ran an 11:38. This put Tay 41 seconds faster than he had previously run on our course and Noah, nine seconds faster.”
The next three Bulldogs crossed the finish line consecutively, placing 24th, 25th and 26th.
“Liam Noonan has been turning up the heat the last few races and is seeing the rewards from his finish times in meets,” Martin said. “He ran 41 seconds faster on this course than previously this season.
“Adam Smigielski was our No. 6. He has been an amazing asset to his team this year and grown so much since last season. In fact, he improved by over 2 minutes since his season record last year.
“Jack Van Hoorn ran in our seventh spot. To put this all in perspective, Liam, Adam and Jack finished three seconds apart. This is such an amazing feeling for a coach, knowing that any one of them could finish in the top five any given day.
“It really does take the pressure off of the individual component of this sport and focuses more on what a team can do.”
The Class 3A boys’ state meet, to be held at Maxwell Park in Normal, will start at 10:15 a.m. on Saturday (Oct. 15).
