Jayvon Tompkins breaks MSJHS record at Mt. Zion
By Fred Kroner
Mahomet-Seymour seventh-grader Jayvon Tompkins took down a 16-year-old school record on Saturday (April 29) in the Mount Zion Junior High boys’ track and field invitational.
Tompkins was the runner-up in the discus with a toss of 140 feet, 2 inches. The previous mark, set in 2007 by Derek Bunch, was 127-0.
Tompkins also added a third-place finish in the shot put (36-9) in the 13-school meet.
In the seventh-grade portion of the meet, M-S placed fourth with 39 points. Mount Zion was the meet champion (115 points), followed by Effingham (89 points).
Tompkins was the lone M-S seventh-grader to place among the top three in any event.
Six of his teammates who finished among the top 10 in an individual event established at least one personal-best.
Achieving that status for M-S were: Grant Morphew (fifth in the pole vault at 7 feet, and eighth in the 1,600 meters in 5:36.85), Dominic Gaudio (fifth in the 800 meters in 2:31.49), Liam Burwell (seventh in the 800 meters in 2:35.02), Adam Smigielski (seventh in the 1,600 meters in 5:09.93 and eighth in the high jump at 4-8), Noah Snyder (seventh in the long jump at 16 feet), and Dylan Heckman (ninth in the 200 meters in 28.26 seconds).
Morphew is a sixth-grader.
The Bulldog seventh-graders had two other top-10 finishers: Snyder in the high jump (fifth at 4-10) and Kiptyn Fan (sixth in the 100 meters in 13.71 seconds).
Three seventh-grade M-S relays ended among the top five.
The 800-meter foursome of Fan, Jake McCoy, Brayden Thompson and Snyder ran fourth in 1:54.29.
Also taking fourth was the 1,600-meter relay, which featured Fan, Smigielski, Thompson and Snyder. They were timed in 4:22.35.
The 400-meter unit of Stephane Mwilambwe, Henry Welch, Luca Vanderstraeten and Dylan Heckman finished fifth in 59.04 seconds.
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Two individuals and one relay placed fourth for the M-S eighth-grade squad in the Mount Zion Invitational.
The team’s highest individual placers were Jonathan Franklin (fourth in the 400 meters in a personal-best 1:01.51) and Pearce Slocum (fourth in the pole vault at a personal-best 7 feet, 6 inches).
Also securing a fourth-place finish was the Bulldogs’ 800-meter relay unit of Dylan Derickson, Brock Evans, Xander Shanks and Bryson Tiefenthaler. Their cumulative time was 1:52.23.
Franklin and Slocum were among seven Bulldogs who registered personal-best performances in individual events.
The others were: Tiefenthaler (fifth in the long jump at 16-2 and sixth in the high jump at 5-2), Tate Bode (sixth in the 800 meters in 2:20.07), Brock Evans (sixth in the long jump at 15-11 and ninth in the pole vault at 6-6), Franklin (eighth in the discus at 118-1), Cody Moen (eighth in the 1,600 meters in 5:11.19) and Shanks (eighth in the 400 meters in 1:03.51).
Additionally, Tiefenthaler notched a ninth-place finish in the 100-meter dash. He was timed in 13.57 seconds.
Two other Bulldog relays fared well.
The 1,600-meter grouping of Moen, Evans, Derickson and Bode ran fifth in 4:09.68.
Finishing in 10th was the M-S 400-meter relay, which featured Charlie Richards, Matthew Gray, Cash Bryan and Jose Johnson. Their time was 57.63 seconds.
In the eigthth-grade team chase, Mount Zion was first with 104 ½ points. M-S was seventh with 21 points.
M-S will return to action on Saturday (May 6) at the Clinton Challenge, which will be the school’s final tune-up prior to the May 13 sectional at Mount Zion.
