Freshmen lead Mahomet-Seymour at Charleston Invitational

By Fred Kroner

Freshmen filled three of the top five positions on Saturday (Sept. 3) as the Mahomet-Seymour boys’ cross-country team opened its season with a second-place finish in the 17-school Charleston Invitational.

The top M-S runner was Augustus Gaudio, who ran the 3-mile course in 16 minutes, 17.39 seconds. He placed fifth.

Henry McMurry, the Bulldogs’ No. 3 runner, ended 19th in 17:02.72.

The third freshman among the team’s top five was Emmett Kearns. He ran 27th in 17:15.73.

Senior Ben Wallace, the No. 2 M-S runner, was 13th in 16:50.22. Sophomore Blake Dillman was the team’s fourth runner, covering the course in 17:03.00 and finishing in 20th place.

There were 162 finishers in the boys’ race. Only five freshmen overall wound up among the top 40.

Champaign Central was the meet champion with 55 points. M-S (80 points) was the runner-up, followed by third-place Mount Zion (125).

Eleven other Bulldogs participated in the season’s opening meet.

Lukas Nukaza was 28th (17:25.80), Grant Smysor was 34th (17:44.11), Lukas Carey was 37th (17:46.87), Zach Wilcoski was 38th (17:48.14); Kaleb Kasper was 41st (18:01.21); Hayden Grotelueschen was 49th (18:26.81); Gavin Fan was 79th (19:56.00); Colin Johnson was 86th (20:08.70); Henry Carpenter was 106th (21:06.60); Corban McMinn was 114th (21:22.93) and Alex Carpenter was 136th (23:17.00).

M-S returns to action on Saturday (Sept. 10) at the Lee Halberg Invitational, in Springfield.