By Fred Kroner
Mahomet-Seymour’s boys’ track and field squad won team honors on Saturday (May 13) in the 17-school El Paso/Gridley Last Chance Open.
The Bulldogs amassed 161 points. Runner-up Ridgeview totaled 87 points.
M-S had five individual winners to go with victories from two of its relays.
Unlike traditional meets, schools could submit more than two entries in each event.
M-S produced the top four runners in the 3,200-meter race, led by Hayden Groteueschen’s winning time of 10 minutes, 35.41 seconds.
Trailing Grotelueschen were Henry McMurry (second in 10:37.79), Ben Wallace (third in 10:40.96), Zach Wilcoski (fourth in 11:04.10) and Lukas Carey (sixth in 11:11.20).
Other Bulldog individual champions were Cole Marshall (personal-best in the 100 meters in 11.56 seconds), Auggie Gaudio (1,600 meters in 4:42.57), Travis Hoffman (personal-best on the 300-meter hurdles in 41.25 seconds) and Robert Byron (discus at 157 feet, 10 inches).
Marshall’s 100-meter event featured 78 participants. Byron was among the 74 entries in the discus.
The first-place relays included the 800-meter foursome of Jayvon Irwin, Alex O’Brian, Brock Kellenberger and Ryken Kirby. Their cumulative time was 1:34.72.
The school’s 1,600-meter relay featured Hoffman, Joshua Franklin, Blake Dillman and DeAngelo Hughey. They were timed in 3:24.89.
Four other Bulldogs achieved their personal-best marks, including runners Dillman (second in the 400 meters in 51.48 seconds) and Ethan Peterka (fifth in the 800 meters in 2:08.27).
Also hitting their top marks were pole vaulters Alex Carpenter (fourth at 11 feet, 5 inches) and Seth Christiansen (sixth at 11 feet).
M-S had top-10 performances from six other field-event competitors, including runner-up finishes from Marshall (triple jump at 41 feet, 3 inches) and Ty Clark (pole vault at 13 feet, 5 inches).
Caleb Boykin was a two-event placer, finishing fourth in the discus (121 feet, 4 inches) and sixth in the shot put (42 feet, 10 inches).
Byron took fifth in the shot put (45 feet, 10 inches) and Jackson Davis grabbed ninth in the pole vault (9 feet, 5 inches).
Other top-10 runners for M-S were Ethan Ramirez (third in the 800 meters in 2:07.73), Franklin (fifth in the 400 meters in 52.45 seconds), Lukas Nykaza (eighth in the 300-meter hurdles in 47.15 seconds) and Kaleb Kasper )ninth in the 1,600 meters in 4:56.34).
M-S will return to action on Wednesday (May 17) in the 16-school Mattoon Class 2A Sectional.
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In their final meet of the season on Tuesday (May 9), the Mahomet-Seymour Freshmen-Sophomore boys’ track and field team took fifth place in the 10-school Springfield Lanphier Invitational.
Chatham Glenwood was the meet winner with 128 points. M-S’ fifth-place score was 74 points.
The Bulldogs had two individual winners and seven athletes who registered personal-bests.
Kaleb Kasper won the 3,200 meters in his personal-best 10:38.97.
The runner-up in the race was M-S teammate Zach Wilcoski, who also achieved a personal-best (10:46.21).
Bulldog Travis Hoffman was victorious in the 300-meter hurdles (42.49 seconds).
The other M-S personal bests – among athletes who placed among the top 10 – were Parker Wilkins (second in the 400 meters in 54.87 seconds), Joshua Franklin (third in the 300-meter hurdles in 44.42 seconds and fifth in the 110-meter high hurdles in 19.40 seconds), Noah Daniels (eighth in the discus at 86 feet, 9 inches) and Landen Dowers (eight in the 200 meters in 26.01 seconds).
Three other M-S entries secured top-10 placements: Hoffman (second in the 110-meter high hurdles in 18.17 seconds), Gavin Fan (third in the 1,600 meters in 5:07.52) and Quinten Goodie Jr. (fourth in the triple jump at 37 feet, 7 inches).
Two of the Bulldogs’ relays finished among the leaders.
The 800-meter grouping of Jael Briones, Landen McConkey, Raife Humes and Dylan Smith placed fifth in 1:44.89.
The M-S 400-meter relay included Landen Dowers, McConkey, Jack Meyer and Smith. Their cumulative time was 49.70 seconds.
