Bulldogs qualify for IESA State meet, setting records along the way
By Fred Kroner
Another week, another school record for the Mahomet-Seymour girls’ track and field program.
Actually, two records, though, one was lowering a new standard that had been established the previous week.
Competing in the 12-school Mount Zion Class 4A sectional meet on Saturday (May 14), M-S eighth-grader Madalyn Marx cut nearly three-fourths of a second off her 400-meter school mark.
She was the sectional runner-up and qualified for state with a time of 1:01.49. Her record time that stood for one week had been 1:02.23.
Not to be outdone, the M-S seventh-graders put four names in the all-time record book.
The 1,600-meter relay blitzed the field (winning by 2.21 seconds) with the fastest time in school history of 4:24.05.
The handoffs went from Ayla Finfrock to Emma Busch to Anniston Huff to Hannah Martin.
Their time has them ranked first heading into state.
The foursome secured one of five IESA state berths earned by the seventh-graders.
The eighth-graders qualified for the Class 4A state meet in three events in addition to Marx’s advancement in the 400 meters.
Other eighth-grade qualifiers were Marx in the 200 meters (third at sectional in 27.66 seconds) and the sectional championship 800-and 1,600-meter relays.
The 1,600-meter relay triumphed by 4.73 seconds and was timed in 4:17.47. Sharing the baton were Paislee Welge, Hadley Grotelueschen, Ella Walk and Marx. They are ranked second entering state.
The 800-meter relay featured Hannah Creel, Welge, Camryn Nelson and Marx. Their time was 1:51.84 and their margin of victory was 0.34 seconds.
Seventh-graders who obtained their state-meet participant tickets with standout sectional showings were Martin, who won both the high jump (career-best 4 feet, 9 inches) and the 800 meters (career-best 2:37.47), Taylor Mills (second in the 1,600 meters in a career-best 5:44.78) and the winning 800-meter relay (1:55.58).
The 800 relay runners – who combined for a win by 0.56 seconds) – were Annaleise Ruzich, Nyla Patterson, Evelyn Hillard and Finfrock.
Martin’s winning time in the 800 meters was 5.54 seconds. She beat her closest competitor in the high jump by 1 inch and is seeded third heading to state.
The efforts by the state-qualifiers didn’t overshadow a stellar day by the entire girls’ program.
Overall, M-S athletes produced nearly two dozen career-best marks at the sectional.
Besides those individuals who advanced to state, M-S’ seventh-grade team counted top-10 finishes from 10 other athletes or relays.
They were: Finfrock (third in the 200 meters in 29.05 seconds), Jaci Kellenberger (third in the 800 meters in 2:43.48), Ruzich (third in the 100-meter hurdles in 18.58 seconds), Cassia Sperry (third in the high jump at 4 feet, 5 inches), Lily Carlson (third in the pole vault at 6 feet, 6 inches), Hillard (fifth in the 200 meters in 29.33 seconds), Huff (fifth in the 1,600 meters in 5:55.8), Finfrock (fifth in the long jump at 13 feet, 5 inches) and Busch (ninth in the 400 meters in 1:08.34).
Also faring well for the seventh-graders was the 400-meter relay grouping of Olivia Cox, Erika Johnson, Cora Ummel and Jaycee Fancher. Their cumulative time of 58.60 seconds landed them in fifth place.
In the battle for team honors in the 12-school seventh-grade meet, M-S was second only to host Mount Zion. The Bulldogs accumulated 86 points. Mount Zion ended with 103 ½ points.
The M-S eighth-graders had eight runners (in addition to the state-qualifiers) and four field-event performers capture top-10 sectional finishes.
The running standouts were: Walk (third in the 100-meter hurdles in 18.40), Kennedy Ashby (fourth in the 1,600 meters in 6:13.04), Claire Waggoner (fifth in the 800 meters in 2:56.75), Nelson (fifth in the 100-meter hurdles in 18.50 seconds and seventh in the 200 meters in 28.97 seconds), Grace Bednar (seventh in the 800 meters in 3:00.13), Grotelueschen (ninth in the 400 meters in 1:07.98) and Allie Dilger (10th in the 1,600 meters in 6:55.0).
Other Bulldog field-event competitors among the top-10 were: Walk (tied for fifth in the high jump at 4 feet, 3 inches), Nelson (sixth in the long jump at 14 feet, 1 inch), Haley Reed (10th in the long jump at 13 feet, 1 inch) and Reese Harrell (10th in the discus at 50 feet, 9 inches).
The other successful eighth-grade relay was the 400-meter unit of Reed, Lainey Howard, Brooklyn Tuttle and Kimberly Schoonover. They ran seventh in 58.30 seconds.
The eighth-graders placed third in the team standings with 49 ½ points. Mount Zion was first with 130 ½ points. They were followed by Champaign Jefferson with 59 points.
The girls’ state meet will be Friday (May 20) and Saturday (May 21) at the East Side Centre, in East Peoria. Some events will be contested each day.
The 7th grade 400-meter relay participants were Olivia Cox, Erika Johnson, Jaycee Fancher, and Lily Carlson.