By FRED KRONER
Mahomet-Seymour’s Junior High girls’ cross-country team placed 12th on Saturday (Oct 16) in the 27-school IESA state meet at Maxwell Park, in Normal.
The Bulldogs’ five scoring runners crossed the finish line within 46.5 seconds of one another.
Eighth-grader Madalyn Marx was the Bulldog leader. In a meet with 232 competitors, she placed 30th with a 2-mile time of 12 minutes, 41.8 seconds.
She missed by five positions earning all-state recognition, which goes to the top 25 placers. Marx was 5.9 seconds away from all-state accolades.
Marx’s time was a personal-best by more than four seconds.
Following Marx for the Bulldogs were seventh-grader Taylor Mills (61st in 13:03.8), seventh-grader Anniston Huff (97th in 13:22.8), seventh-grader Jaci Kellenberger (105th in 13:25.8), eighth-grader Hadley Grotelueschen (112th in 13:28.3), sixth-grader Kennedy Ashby (118th in 13:29.8) and sixth-grader Abi King (136th in 13:41.6).
Among seventh-graders who competed at state in Class 3A, Mills was 27th. King cut 12 seconds off of the time she recorded one week earlier at the sectional meet.
M-S has had full teams qualify for the state meet in 19 of the past 35 years, including six of the past seven seasons.
The Bulldogs have had 10 of their girls’ cross-country teams end among the state’s top 12.
M-S qualified for state as the third-place team at its own sectional a week earlier. At state, the Bulldogs finished in front of both schools that had beaten them at sectional, Normal Kingsley (13th at state) and Normal Parkside (16th at state).
M-S head coach Lisa Martin liked what she saw from her team.
“They all ran well,” Martin said. “Our split from No. 1-7 was about a minute. That’s a solid group.
“We’re loaded with young runners and looking to set big goals for next year. We only graduate two eighth-graders.”
Marx, Mills and Grotelueschen all ran on the 2020 team which won a sectional championship and qualified for state. Due to COVID-19, the 2020 state meet was cancelled.
This year marked the 19th in a row that the M-S girls’ program has had representatives – either a full team or individuals – competing at the junior high state cross-country meet.
The second-place team in the Class 2A girls’ state race was Tolono Unity, an opponent which M-S defeated on Sept. 30 to win the Champaign County Meet.
