Hendershot, Shoaf and Perry lead Mahomet-Seymour Track
By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
The Bulldogs had enough depth on Saturday to take athletes to indoor meets at two locations and win events at both sites.
M-S competed in the indoor Apollo Conference meet, at Mount Zion, as well as the First to the Finish meet at the University of Illinois Armory.
Hunter Hendershot dominated the shot put at the UI meet, registering a winning toss of 55 feet, 7 ¾ inches.
Teammate C.J. Shoaf cleared 6 feet 6 ¾ inches to win the high jump. Shoaf also placed third in the 60-meter hurdles (8.66 seconds).
At the Apollo meet, the Bulldogs also crowned the high jump champion. Chris Perry had a winning leap of 5 feet, 11 ¼ inches.
The best M-S event at conference was the 3,200-meter race. Bulldogs crossed the line to secure six of the top 10 finishes.
Joe Taylor was fourth (10:58.18), Josh Wilcoski was fifth (11:14.64), Benjamin Wallace was sixth (11:21.63), Karsten Wallace was seventh (11:23.65), Taylor Fan was eighth (11:23.92) and Matthew Sims was 10th (12:01.64).
M-S had three placers in the conference shot put. Jacob Hope was eighth (31-9), Aiden Walsh was ninth (31-3 ½) and Ben Pauley was 15th (23-7 ¾).
Three other squad members ended with top 15 performances at the Apollo indoor meet, including 200-meter runners Cole Marshall (ninth in 26.98) and Ryan Yancy (12th in 27.06).
Teammate William Larson placed 13th in the 400 meters (1:08.47).
The UI meet featured competition in three different divisions for each non-relay event, Class A, Class B and Class C. Hendershot and Shoaf were participating in the top (Class A) division.
M-S ended with the runner-up in two Class C events.
Harrison LaCour was second in the shot put (44-4 ¼) and Ryan Whitehouse was second in the high jump (5-5).
The Bulldogs had strong performances from their distance runners.
In the 3,200 meters, Kyle Hofziger was fourth in the Class A division (10:06.34), Joseph Scheele was fourth in the Class B division (10:12.19) and Hayden Grotelueschen was sixth in the Class C division (10:48.60).
In the 1,600, John Tender was 13th in the Class C division (5:29.16).
Erik Christianson placed in three Class C events. He was 11th in the 60 meters (7.80), 10th in the 200 meters (25.11) and 13th in the long jump (15-0).
Two other Bulldog long jumpers who fared well were Skyler Yancy (fourth in Class A, 19-11 ¾) and Will Parrott (fifth in Class B, 19-4 ¼).
Parrott ran sixth in the Class B 200 meters (24.49) and Yancy was 11th in the Class A 60 meters (7.36).
Other field events competitors for the Bulldogs were Costen Campion (fourth in Class B shot put, 42-2 ¼); Clayton Kessler (fourth in Class A pole vault, 12-0 ½); Jameson Drinkwater (13th in Class B triple jump, 30-9 ¾) and Matthew Frerichs (eighth in Class C triple jump, 31-10 ¾).
M-S had two placers in both the 400- and 800-meters races.
Nick Mies was eighth in the Class B 800 (2:13.05) and Avery Seaman was 12th in the Class C 800 (2:29.31).
In the Class A 400 meters, Micah Perkins was 11th (56.74) and in the Class B 400, Tyler Lewis was eighth (57.50).
Frerichs took 14th in the Class B 60 meters (7.76).
Two Bulldog relays also competed.
The foursome of Parrott, Kessler, Yancy and Frerichs was 17th in the 800-meter relay (1:40.21).
The quartet of Perkins, Mies, Kessler and Lewis was 16th in the 1,600-meter relay (3:58.92).
No team scores were kept.
The Bulldogs will return to action on March 21 at the Eastern Illinois Invitational.
