Five M-S runners place in Top 15 at Charleston Invitational
By Fred Kroner
With five runners finishing among the top 15 on Saturday (Sept. 4), the Mahomet-Seymour girls’ cross-country team edged Mount Zion for team supremacy in the 17-school Charleston Invitational.
M-S, ranked 23rd in the preseason Class 2A poll compiled by milesplit.com, ended with 38 points. Runner-up Mount Zion had 43 points and was followed by third-place Effingham with 134 points.
The top three schools are all members of the Apollo Conference.
Setting the pace for the Bulldogs was Ava Boyd. She captured second, running the 3-mile course in 19 minutes, 42.93 seconds.
Teammates who joined her in the top 10 were Chloe Bundren (fourth at 19:58.06), Ava Jansen (eighth at 20:22.02) and Callie Jansen (ninth at 20:23.23).
Three other M-S runners were among the top 20 in a field of 131 competitors.
Klein Powell was 15th in 20:51.45. Elizabeth Sims was 18th in 21:01.50 and Emily Bednar was 19th in 21:02.72.
Fourteen other Bulldogs also competed, with three others finishing the race in less than 22 minutes.
Delaney King finished 28th and was timed in 21:20.34. Grace Lietz placed 30th and ran a 21:27.39 time and Morgan Waisath finished in 37th place and was timed in 21:59.68.
The top 40 finishers all earned medals.
Other Bulldog competitors were: Lauren Bednar (22:50.45), Chloe Allen (22:52.60), Emmalne Culp (23:47.44), Alyssa Christensen (24:14.12), Isabelle Scheele (24:25.74), McKenzie Hissong (24:35.50), Hannah Hofbauer (25:17.01), Meg Turner (25:36.92), Gabby Reeves (27:30.09), Emily Bergia (28:31.96) and Natalie Parrott (29:57.49).
Running lifetime bests were Boyd, Bundren, Ava Jansen, Waisath, Culp, Scheele and Hissong.
M-S will return to action on Saturday (Sept. 11) at Detweiller Park, in Peoria, in the First to the Finish Invitational.
