M-S Cross Country strong at Charleston Invitational
By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
Mahomet-Seymour had two top 10 placers and five among the top 20 in a field of 100 runners on Saturday and captured team honors in the girls’ Charleston Invitational cross-country meet.
Elizabeth Sims was the third-place individual covering the 3-mile course in 19 minutes, 2 seconds. M-S teammate Klein Powell was 10th in 19:58.
The Bulldogs’ team score was 63. Runner-up Urbana had 72 points. Mount Zion was third with a team composite of 80 points.
The next three M-S runners, following Sims and Powell, crossed the finish line within 32 seconds of one another.
Ella Scott was 14th (20:18), Grace Lietz was 16th (20:36) and Olivia Bunting was 20th (20:50).
Ten other Bulldogs also participated in the race. They were: Emily Bednar 25th (21:01), Chloe Allen 26th (21:05), Delaney King 30th (21:14), Shaelin Ruzich 37th (21:51), Callie Jansen 38th (21:52), Ella Wolters 59th (23:43), Gretchen Scheele 61st (23:57), Hannah Hofbauer 65th (24:18), Alyssa Christensen 67th (24:30) and Natalie Parrott 70th (24:55).
“We had a solid day,” M -S coach Kristin Allen said. “We were able to utilize our depth today.
“Some girls were able to ‘step up’ into a position they had not experienced yet, which is always exciting. The potential for later is strong.”
M-S returns to action on Saturday in the First to Finish Invitational at Detweiler Park, in Peoria.
Mahomet-Seymour Boys’ cross-country
In the Bulldogs’ season-opening meet on Saturday, at the Charleston invitational, the team’s top three competitors finished back-to-back-to-back in a 147-runner field, helping M-S to a runner-up team finish in the 11-school meet.
The trio of Nick Mies, Kyle Nofziger and Joseph Scheele entered the chute within two-tenths of a second of one another.
Mies ran the 3-mile course in 17 minutes, 00.70 seconds and placed fifth overall. Nofziger came in sixth in 17:00.79 and Scheele ended seventh in 17:00.83.
“Nick Mies, Kyle Nofziger, and Joseph Scheele worked together to place so high,” M-S coach Neal Garrison said.
The next two Bulldogs were Hayden Grotelueschen (22nd in 17:39.21) and Joe Taylor (29th in 18:07.23).
“Hayden Grotelueschen and Joe Taylor really stepped it up when the team needed them to in order to round out our team score,” Garrison said.
Meet champion Urbana had a composite score of 63 points. M-S and Centennial both ended with identical tallies of 69.
To break the tie, the placings of each school’s sixth runner were added into the mix.
For M-S, that was a 35th-place performance by Josh Wilcoski (18:25.56). He was two positions and 5.25 seconds in front of the Chargers’ No. 6 runner, Aaron Hendron.
“Overall I was pleased with how the boys ran,” Garrison said. “We were hoping to place in the top three teams, so they did what they needed to do to make that happen.
“We had numerous runners run their first high school race. I was very proud with how they did. They competed well.”
Garrison lauded three of his runners for their marked improvement from the previous year on the same course.
“Chase Misenheimer (105th in 21:00.98), Josh Wilcoski and Karsten Waisath (52nd in 18:55.26) really had the best days,” Garrison said. “All three improved well over a minute from last year.
“This really shows how much they worked in the past year. I was extremely proud of them.”
Following the team’s top six runners were three other freshmen and a sophomore among M-S’ top 10.
The freshmen who made their varsity debuts and were among the team’s top 10 were Grotelueschen, Gage Williams (49th in 18:50.49), Ben Wallace (65th in 19:19.32) and Gabe Difanis (74th in 19:38.40). Waisath, a sophomore, was the team’s eighth finisher.
M-S returns to action on Saturday at the Springfield Lanphier Invitational at Lincoln Park.
