M-S girls’ track and field takes top spot at Champaign Central
By FRED KRONER
The Bulldogs won seven events – two each by junior Ariana Lingard and senior Shaelin Ruzich – and captured team honors on Saturday (May 15) at Champaign Central’s three-school girls’ track and field meet.
M-S ended with 70 points. Runner-up Urbana Uni High had 54 points and the host Maroons ended with 44 points.
Lingard swept the sprint races, winning the 100 meters in 13.3 seconds. Her winning time in the 200 meters was 27.7 seconds.
Ruzich was triumphant in the 300-meter hurdles (48.5 seconds) and the pole vault (11 feet, 1 ½ inches).
Senior Hailee McCall-Ochs led a 1-2-3 Bulldog finish in the shot put. Her winning toss was 29 feet, 9 inches. She was followed by Gwen Tee (29-2) and Janae Hall (25-0).
In the discus, Tee was the winner with a 90-4 effort. McCall-Ochs was the runner-up (78-11) and Hall ended in fifth place (63-4).
Another 1-2 finish for M-S came in the pole vault. Cece Abramson came in behind Ruzich, with a vault of 9 feet, 5 inches.
The other M-S individual winner was freshman long jumper Lauren Burr (14 feet, 7 inches).
The Bulldogs had three other long jumpers place among the top eight.
Claire Johnson was fifth (11 feet, 6 inches), Hannah Hofbauer was sixth (11 feet) and Emily Bergia was seventh (10 feet, 3 inches).
The other M-S field-event placer was Johnson (fourth in the triple jump, 22 feet, 4 inches).
Hurdler Burr had two solid finishes on the track, placing second in the 100-meter event (18.5 seconds) and third in the 300-meter race (53.0 seconds).
Underclassmen had the top finish for the Bulldogs in the 400-, 800- and 1,600-meter races.
Freshman Ava Boyd was the runner-up in the 1,600 (5 minutes, 52.5 seconds) with Callie Jansen taking fourth (5:56.0).
Junior Chloe Allen was second in the 800 meters (2:32.2), followed by Elizabeth Sims (third in 2:39.3) and Emily Bednar (fifth in 2:50.3).
In the 400 meters, freshman Meah Beacham ran fourth (1:09.3) and Mallory Carr placed sixth (1:10.2).
Other leading sprinters, besides Lingard were Hofbauer (seventh in the 100 meters, 14.7 seconds and eighth in the 200 meters, 31.4 seconds), Abramson (sixth in the 200 meters, 31.2 seconds) and Holly Hawes (eighth in the 100 meters, 14.8 seconds).
Two Bulldog relays grabbed the runner-up spot.
Lauren Bednar, Emily Bednar, Boyd and Sims teamed up for a time of 11:09.7 in the 3,200 relay. In the 1,600 relay, the foursome of Allen, Jansen, Johnson and Chloe Merkle ran second in 4:49.2.
M-S also earned points in the 400-meter relay. Burr, Merkle, Hofbauer and Meacham teamed up for a clocking of 1:02.9 and a third-place finish.
M-S returns to action on Thursday (May 20) in the Apollo Conference meet at Mount Zion.
