Bulldog cross country building on mid-season gains
BY FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
Mahomet-Seymour Boys’ cross-country
Four Bulldogs placed among the top 35 individuals in Saturday’s 29-school Metamora Invitational at Black Patridge Park.
Kyle Nofziger was ninth, Joseph Scheele was 15th, Jonah Singer was 32nd and Nick Mies was 33rd.
Nofziger was timed in 15 minutes, 16.9 seconds for the 3-mile course. Scheele was timed in 15:35.4. Singer clocked in at 16:03.1 and Mies was a step behind at 16:03.5.
As a team, the Bulldogs placed third with 157 points. Meet champion Oswego East totaled 25 points and runner-up Stanford Olympia had 107 points.
The other scoring runner for M-S was Joe Taylor, who was 72nd in 16:41.1. Hayden Grotelueschen was on his heels, finishing in 16:46.
The team’s seventh and eighth runners were also within seconds of one another. Gage Williams finished in 17:22 and Josh Wilcoski had a 17:28 showing.
Each runner in the top seven posted season-best times by at least 17 seconds. The biggest drop among the lead group was 57 seconds by Mies.
“The boys are coming together,” M-S coach Neal Garrison said. “They are about to where they need to be going into the state series on Oct. 26.”
The times registered by the three-team pacesetters are ones for the all-time record book.
Nofziger now ranks third on the all-time list for sophomores, regardless of course. Scheele checks in at the No. 10 spot and Singer ranks 21st among sophomores for the 50-year history of the cross-country program.
“This shows their strong potential for the future as well as the here and now,” Garrison said.
One other squad member secured a spot in the top 25 for his class. Grotelueschen’s mark ranks 24th on the all-time freshmen list.
Eight other Bulldogs also competed at Metamora: Taylor Fan (17:49), Karsten Waisath (17:49), Ben Wallace (18:02), Peter Slezak (18:02), John Tender (19:28), Chase Misenheimer (19:52), Avery Seaman (20:31) and Alex Carpenter (21:12).
Everyone in that eight-member group ran season-best times. Carpenter had the team’s biggest drop, trimming 2 minutes, 51 seconds off his previous record.
M-S returns to action in the Apollo Conference meet on Tuesday at Lake of the Woods, a meet which will conclude the regular season for the team.
Mahomet-Seymour Girls’ cross-country
In a meet with 241 finishers, the top seven from M-S all secured spots among the top 55 in Saturday’s Metamora Invitational at Black Patridge Park.
Elizabeth Sims was seventh overall and second among sophomores. Her 3-mile time was 18 minutes, 23.1 seconds.
Grace Lietz placed 29th in 19:02.4, Ella Scott ended 37th in 19:23.8, Olivia Bunting finished 39th in 19:25.0, Emily Bednar was 51st in 19:42.6, Klein Powell was 52nd in 19:42.8 and Callie Jansen was 55th in 19:48.3.
Eight other Bulldogs also participated in the meet.
Chloe Allen was 58th in 19:50.0, Delaney King was 87th in 20:29.2, Shaelin Ruzich was 120th in 21:24.4, Alyssa Christensen was 134th in 22:05.1, Ella Wolters was 139th in 22:20.6, Gretchen Scheele was 161st in 23:23.5, Hannah Hofbauer was 163rd in 23:24.1 and Natalie Parrott was 168th in 23:34.1.
Tolono Unity was the meet champion with 117 points, edging runner-up Pekin, which had 123. Completing the top five were Dunlap (131), Normal University High (146) and Mahomet-Seymour (160).
A total of 27 schools participated.
M-S returns to action on Tuesday in the Apollo Conference Meet at Lake of the Woods.
