Hendershot and Powell win State Championships, MSHS Boys’ Track takes third at IHSA State Meet
By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
Saturday was a day of first for members of the Mahomet-Seymour boys’ track and field team as they competed in the 125th-annual IHSA state meet.
Junior Hunter Hendershot won individual Class 2A state championships in two events, the shot put and the discus.
His performances broke school records in both events, one of which had stood for 41 years.
Of all shot putters at state, regardless of class, Hendershot had the top mark on Saturday, 62 feet, 1 ¼ inches.
M-S senior Mathias Powell demonstrated that he is still the state’s premier long-distance runner, following up on his Class 2A cross-country state title from last November with a first-place performance in the longest high school track race, the 3,200 meters.
He also earned all-state honors in the 1,600 meters with his third-place finish and became the first Bulldog ever to earn a medal at state in that event. (In 1975, Mark Johnson was the state runner-up in the mile, five years before the IHSA converted all running distances to metric.)
And sophomore C.J. Shoaf put himself in position to become M-S’ first three-time state-placer in the high jump, clearing 6 feet, 5 inches to finish in a sixth-place tie in Class 2A.
For the third year in a row, the Mahomet-Seymour boys’ program ended among the state’s top 10 teams. The Bulldogs totaled 40 ½ points and brought home the third-place trophy.
“Scoring 40 ½ points with three guys (in the finals) is amazing,” M-S head coach Todd Lafond said.
M-S was second at state as a team in 2018 and ninth in 2017. This year was the fifth all-time for Mahomet-Seymour to finish among the top three teams at the boys’ state track and field meet.
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Hendershot defended his shot put state title and capped a season – including indoor and outdoor meets – where he was never beaten in the shot.
He was the top qualifier in Friday’s preliminaries (60 feet, 1 ½ inches), but didn’t rest on his laurels. On the second of his three attempts in the finals, he uncorked a toss of 62-1 ¼. The previous school record, set by Jason Seaman in 2007, was 60-8 ½).
“I’d worked hard all season to get that, but my first impression (when the distance was measured) was that I couldn’t believe it,” Hendershot said. “it was pretty incredible to win state and get the school record both at the same time.”
Lafond was not surprised by Hendershot’s achievements.
“Hunter is probably what you’d call a generational kid,” Lafond said. “You don’t get one like that often.
“He has all the tools, the disposition and he shows up in big meets.”
While Hendershot acknowledged that the unbeaten season in the shot was “an awesome accomplishment,” he said it wasn’t entirely a reflection on his prowess.
“It was hard to get much competition,” he said.
Lafond addressed that in a mid-season meeting with Hendershot.
“I said, ‘Your competiton is Hunter Hendershot, who won shot and got third in the discus last year,’ “ Lafond said. “I said you have to train harder than he did and focus harder than he did. And, he did.”
For the third year in a row, Hendershot’s personal-best for the season in the shot put occurred at the state meet in Charleston.
“You have all the energy and Adrenalin and the people watching,” he said. “That gets me fired up.”
His domination in the shot continues an established M-S tradition in the event. The Bulldogs have had shot put state placers in eight of the past 13 years.
In the discus, Hendershot had the top mark from the prelims by more than 3 feet, with a toss of 170 feet, 5 inches.
He faced his only adversity of the meet when St. Viator junior Athan Huelskamp uncorked a toss of 177-6 on his second attempt in the finals, to temporarily take the lead.
Hendershot was on deck at the time.
“I told myself I had to step it up,” Hendershot said. “I knew I had it in me.
“I took it smooth, put power in it and I knew it was an incredible throw.”
His toss of 182 feet, 4 inches provided him a 5-foot margin of victory.
It was a much closer call to get the school record.
Hendershot earned that by one inch. The M-S school mark, established in 1978 by Paul James, was 182 feet, 3 inches.
“As soon as they said the distance, I was going crazy jumping up and down,” Hendershot said.
Besides his physical strength, Hendershot also possesses a strong dose of confidence.
“He expects to win,” Lafond said, “but he is very humble and always listens when I give him advice.
“He has improved every year.”
He is the third M-S athlete to win a state championship in the discus, joining Dirk Handlin (1992) and Steve Thompson (1976).
Hendershot had a special good-luck charm nearby during the weekend.
“My grandma from Florida (Joan Hendershot) was here watching me for the first time,” he said. “She was definitely bringing the good luck.”
Hunter Hendershot is already looking ahead to his senior year when he tries to secure a threepeat in shot put state titles.
“She definitely has to come next year,” he said.
Hendershot will continue training in preparation for the 29th-annual New Balance Nationals Outdoor meet, which will be held in Greensboro, N.C., from June 13-16.
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Powell’s plan entering the 3,200-meter state finals was to “do what was needed,” to win the race rather than try to lower his school record for the fourth time this season.
With his qualification in the 1,600 meters, the idea was to conserve some energy in his first race of the day.
“This was a race I’d been hoping to win since my sophomore year,” Powell said. “I went out with the strategy that it would be best if I hung back and let the race play out. Then, in the last 800 meters, put myself in position to be able to win it.”
The opening mile pace was relatively slow, about 4:50.
With two laps remaining, Powell surged into the lead “and stretched it out,” Lafond said. “He ran the last quarter (mile) in 59 seconds.”
The victory, Powell said, was “very satisfying.”
Powell’s placement in the 3,200 meters marks the sixth consecutive year that the M-S program has produced a state medalist in that event.
“It’s great to follow in the footsteps of guys who have helped build the program,” Powell said.
The tradition may not end soon.
“We have some pretty good freshmen runners who will mature and make contributions,” Lafond said.
“They are definitely going to carry the name M-S pretty far,” Powell said.
Several hours after his success in the 3,200 meters, Powell returned to the track at Eastern Illinois University in the 1,600 meters.
He entered with the top qualifying time – from a day he ran only the one race – and was even quicker on Saturday, but placed third in 4:23.76.
“The 3,200 took more out of me than I thought it did,” Powell said, in reflection.
In the one day, however, Powell doubled the number of state medals he’d earned in track the previous two years. He was the 3,200 runner-up as a junior and placed fourth at state as a sophomore.
It was an impressive finish to the season after a slow start. He missed a majority of the indoor meets while dealing with a hamstring injury.
“We had to be creative, and not overwork him,” Lafond said.
Once he got up to speed, there was little holding Powell back.
The school record time he ran in the 3,200 as a junior (9:14.76) was lowered to 9:13.79 in the Indoor Prep Top Times meet in March.
Outdoors, he posted a time of 9:10.13 in a meet for elite prep runners in Arcadia, Cal., and then had a major drop in the mid-season at Palatine, registering a 9:03.51.
“Running fast times is fun,” Powell said. “The meet that was most memorable for me was the cross-country state meet because it was at Detweiller (Park) and there was such a great crowd.”
The high school season is officially over, but Powell said, “I still have a little bit left in me.”
He plans to enter the Midwest Distance Classic, on June 8 in Naperville, when the Villanova recruit hopes to post a sub-9-minute time.
Powell credits the mentoring and advice from a lifelong friend for helping him reach his peak.
“None of it would have been possible without my friend Cory Haberman, who moved with his family two years ago (from Mahomet) to Canada,” Powell said. “When I was feeling a little discouraged (Saturday) because of the heat, he said the heat is the same for everybody and if I’m tired, others are feeling tired, too. He helped me relax.”
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Shoaf matched his career-best with his leap of 6-5 in Saturday’s high jump finals.
“He’s cool, calm, collected and nothing seems to shake him,” Lafond said. “He peaked at the right time.”
Shoaf was a near-miss for the finals in the 110-meter high hurdles. His time of 15.16 placed him 11thoverall on Friday. The top nine competed on Saturday.
Shoaf was .13 away from a berth in the finals. Entering state, he had been seeded 16th in the sprint hurdles race.
“As a sophomore, you can’t ask for more,” Lafond said. “As a sophomore, you get state experience, get the nerves out of the way and it pays dividends (in the future).”
The time Shoaf ran on Friday in the prelims would have placed him eighth a day later, had he been in the finals.
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M-S athletes competed in the boys’ state track and field finals in five of nine events in which they had qualified for the Class 2A competition at Charleston.
Narrowly missing a finals spot besides hurdler Shoaf was shot putter Morrie Mendenhall. He wound up 14th after a toss of 48 feet, 11 ¾ inches. The top 12 reached the finals. Mendenhall had been seeded 15th at state.
Also participating in Friday’s semifinals were two pole vaulters, Colin Balbach and Corey Cebulski.
Balbach cleared 12 feet, 6 inches and ended in a tie for 14th. Cebulski was one of 13 competitors who didn’t clear a height and tied for 17th.
Balbach, Cebulski and Mendenhall are all seniors.
Even with the graduation losses, Lafond sees a strong team returning in 2020, including – among others – junior Micah Perkins and sophomore Clayton Kessler.
“And we have a pretty good group of eighth-graders that we hope can keep building,” Lafond said.
