Eighth-grade runners qualify for IESA State meet
By Fred Kroner
Three Mahomet-Seymour runners and one relay qualified for the Class 4A boys’ state track and field meet during action in the Mount Zion Sectional on Saturday (May 14).
All of the state qualifiers are eighth-graders.
Ethan Peterka advanced by winning the 800 meters (2 minutes, 13.46 seconds) by a narrow margin of .08.
Also winning a sectional title was the school’s 800-meter relay foursome of Emmett Kearns, Colin Jackson, Parker Wilkins and Wade Manuel. Their combined time was 1:42.05 and their margin of victory was 1.57.
The Bulldogs’ other state-qualifiers were both in the 1,600 meters.
Teammates Auggie Gaudio and Henry McMurry placed third and fourth, respectively, with personal-best times. Gaudio stopped the clock in 4:52.04. McMurry crossed in 5:00.82.
The state meet will be held on Friday (May 20) and Saturday (May 21) at the East Side Centre, in East Peoria.
The eighth-graders finished second in the sectional team standings with 55 points. Meet champion Mount Zion amassed 80 points.
In addition to the state-qualifiers, the eighth-graders had five other runners as well as four field-event entries that claimed top-10 finishes.
Among the runners were: Kearns (third in the 200 meters in 25.17 seconds), Preston Sriver (fifth in the 800 meters in 2:24.05), Jackson (sixth in the 100 meters in 12.76 seconds), Henry Carpenter (sixth in the 400 meters in 1:00.19) and Camden Snodsmith (ninth in the 400 meters in 1:01.73).
In the field events, Jackson Davis took fourth in the pole vault (8 feet, 3 inches). Snodsmith tied for fourth in the high jump (5 feet, 2 inches). Keenan Olivero wound up sixth in the discus (96 feet, 7 inches). Jack Meyer came in 10th in the long jump (15 feet, 9 inches).
The Bulldogs had two other relays that finished among the leaders.
The 1,600-meter quartet of Kearns, Landen Dowers, Wilkins and Manuel crossed the finish line in third place, with a time of 3:59.06.
The M-S 400-meter relay scored a sixth-place finish in 52.15 seconds. Sharing the baton were Meyer, Raife Humes, Davis and Dowers.
In the seventh-grade segment of the sectional, M-S totaled 20 points and finished in eighth place. Meet champion Charleston collected 100 points.
M-S captured four top-10 placements in individual running events along with four top-10 finishes in field events.
The team’s running leaders were: Cody Moen (fourth in the 1,600 meters in 5:21.74), Jack VanHoorn (eighth in the 800 meters in 2:43.21), Tate Bode (ninth in the 1,600 meters in 5:42.58) and Evan Shuff (10th in the 800 meters in 2:45.90).
The Bulldogs’ top seventh-grade field-events performers were Jonathan Franklin and Jayvon Tompkins.
Franklin snared a runner-up finish in the discus (97 feet, 1 inch) and a fourth-place finish in the shot put (32 feet, 4 inches).
Tompkins placed fifth in the shot put (31 feet, 11 ½ inches) and eighth in the discus (78 feet, 2 ½ inches).
M-S had quality finishes from three relays, including the fifth-place 1,600-meter foursome. Teaming up for a time of 4:35.32 were Pearce Slocum, Garrett Waisath, Brock Evans and Franklin.
The 800-meter relay crossed in seventh place. Sharing the baton were Henry Welch, William Bao, Kiptyn Fan and Slocum. Their cumulative time was 2:02.10.
The 400-meter relay contributed an eighth-place finish. The relay runners were Cash Bryan, Waisath, Evans and Franklin. Their elapsed time was 56.55 seconds.
