Bulldogs begins indoor season at Olivet Nazarene and Mt. Zion
By Fred Kroner
The Mahomet-Seymour girls’ track and field team is off and running.
In each of their first three indoor meets, the Bulldogs have had individual standouts.
Among the top performances were a 1-2 finish by 800-meter runners Ava Boyd (2 minutes, 30.72 seconds) and Chloe Bundren (2:32.11) on Wednesday (Feb. 22) at the Olivet Nazarene Class 1A and 2A Invitational, in Bourbonnais.
Madalyn Marx and Kelsie Fuoss each had two top-three finishes in the same meet.
Marx was the 400-meter runner-up in 1:46.92, just .18 behind the meet champion. Marx took third in the 200 meters (26.80).
Fuoss generated third-place finishes in both the long jump (15 feet, 6 inches) and the pole vault (7-9).
Two Bulldog relays placed third at Olivet.
The 1,600-meter foursome of Boyd, Lydia Risser, Bundren and Kira Smith was third in 4:40.72.
The 3,200-meter unit of Jinan Abdo, Emma Frazier, Callie Jansen and Morgan Waisath was also third, turning in a time of 11:41.49.
Frazier was one of three M-S runners among the top 10 in the 1,600-meter race.
She was sixth in 6:14.04. Waisath was seventh in 6:18.00 and Abdo was 10th in 6:28.22.
Lauren Burr was a three-event placer and teammate Abi Weiss was a two-event placer.
Burr finished sixth in the long jump (15 feet, 1 inch), eighth in the 200 meters (28.10 seconds) and eighth in the 400 meters (2:02.45).
Weiss was seventh in the triple jump (27 feet, 10 inches) and eighth in the pole vault (6 feet, 9 inches).
She was also part of the eighth-place 800-meter relay as well, teaming up with Risser, Fuoss and Smith for a composite time of 2:02.05.
Other Bulldogs with prominent finishes were Hannah Hofbauer (fifth in the pole vault at 6 feet, 9 inches, Kendyl Petro (ninth in the shot put at 29 feet, 6 inches), Claire Johnson (ninth in the triple jump at 26 feet, 1 inch) and Chloe Merkle (10th in the 400 meters at 2:03.92).
On Tuesday (Feb. 21), M-S ended sixth in the nine-school Mount Zion Mini Meet.
Petro (30 feet, 1 inch in the shot put) and Weiss (28 feet, 9 inches in the triple jump) each landed in third place for the Bulldogs.
Weiss finished fifth in the pole vault (6 feet, 8 inches) and added another fifth in the 200 meters (31.09 seconds).
The best-placing M-S relay was the 1,600-meter grouping of Brooklyn Tuttle, Adelyn Boyd, Petra Milinkovic and Phoebe Truax. Their total time was 5:17.89 and they took fifth.
In the Clinton Early Bird meet on Saturday (Feb. 18) at Illinois Wesleyan University, in Bloomington, the top Bulldog finish was the freshmen-sophomore 1,600-meter grouping of Risser, Smith, Holly Hawes and Bundren. They were clocked in 4:36.64 and claimed second place.
Ava Boyd was third in the 1,600 (5:31.20) and teammate Bundren was sixth (5:44.80).
Meah Beacham took fourth in the triple jump (31 feet, 10 inches) and Petro was sixth in the shot put (30 feet, 8 inches).
Three other M-S relays also fared well.
The varsity 1,600-meter foursome of Burr, Merkle, Marx and Boyd was timed in 4:32.83 and ended in fourth.
The varsity 800-meter unit of Beacham, Marx, Fuoss and Burr was fifth in 1:54.86.
Not to be outdone, the M-S freshmen-sophomore 800-meter relay also captured fifth place in 2:04.96. Sharing the baton were Hawes, Smith Risser and Fuoss.
M-S returns to action on Wednesday (March 1) in the Mount Zion Invitational.
