M-S seventh-grade girls wins Tuscola Invitational
By Fred Kroner
Ella Walk won three individual events on Saturday (April 23) as the Mahomet-Seymour eighth-grade girls’ track and field team copped top honors in an eight-school junior high meet at Tuscola East Prairie.
Not to be outdone, the M-S seventh-grade girls’ squad also captured a team championship.
Walk was victorious in the 800 meters (2 minutes, 49.44 seconds), the 100-meter hurdles (19.15 seconds) and the high jump (4 feet, 3 inches).
Two other Bulldog eighth-graders were first in an individual event and two relays were also triumphant.
Madalyn Marx was the champion in the 400 meters (1 minute, 5.74 seconds) and Hannah Creel led all long jumpers (13 feet, 10 inches).
The winning relays for the Bulldogs were the 800-meter and 1,600-meter foursomes.
Creel, Haley Reed, Camryn Nelson and Marx made up the 800 unit, which was timed in 1:58.08.
Creel, Hadley Grotelueschen, Nelson and Marx stopped the clock in 4:42.71 in the 1,600 relay.
M-S athletes registered runner-up finishes in five eighth-grade events.
The 400-meter relay ran second in 59.52 seconds. Kimberly Schoonover, Lily Markley, Brooklyn Tuttle and Lainey Howard shared the baton.
Grotelueschen was second in the 1,600 meters (6:14.95). Nelson was a step behind Walk in the 100 hurdles (19.64 seconds) and was second to Creel in the long jump (13-7).
Tuttle tied for second in the high jump (4-1). She also added a third-place finish in the 100 meters (14.76 seconds).
Other M-S eighth-graders with top-10 performances were Howard (fourth in the pole vault, 6 feet), Creel (fifth in the 200 meters, 30.99 seconds), Grace Bednar (fifth in the 400 meters,1:16.18), Allie Dilger (fifth in the 1,600 meters, 7:08.23), Annaleise Ruzich (sixth in the pole vault, 5-1), and Reese Harrell (eighth in the discus, 43-10 and 10th in the shot put, 17-11).
The M-S eighth-graders totaled 121 points.
The Bulldog seventh-graders swept the three relay races and also had a first-place effort from high-jumper Hannah Martin (4 feet, 5 inches).
Runners on the 400-meter relay were Olivia Cox, Erika Johnson, Caroline Mercer and Jaycee Fancher. Their collective time was 58.13 seconds.
Teaming up for a time of 1:59.00 in the 800-meter relay were Annaleise Ruzich, Nyla Patterson, Evelyn Hillard and Ayla Finfrock.
The winning 1,600-meter relay featured Hillard, Finfrock, Anniston Huff and Martin. Their combined time was 4:46.87.
Four Bulldogs secured second-place finishes and five others ended in third place.
Martin took second in the 800 meters (2:44.37), Huff was the runner-up in the 1,600 meters (6:11.98), Patterson was second in the high jump (4 feet) and Lily Carlson was second in the pole vault (6 feet).
Netting third-place finishes were Fancher (100 meters in 14.68 seconds), Finfrock (200 meters in 29.71 seconds and long jump at 13 feet, 1 ½ inches), Emma Busch (400 meters in 1:09.96) and Jaci Kellenberger (800 meters in 2:47.65).
Other M-S seventh-graders who placed among the top10 in an individual event were Hillard (fourth in 200 meters, 30.43 seconds and 10th in the long jump at 11 feet, 9 ¼ inches), Patterson (fifth in 100 meters in 14.92 seconds), Mollie Schifo (tied for fifth in the pole vault at 5 feet, 1 inch), Cora Ummel (fifth in the 400 meters in 1:10.44), Claire Waggoner (fifth in the100 hurdles in 21.47 seconds), Kyndal Zehr (sixth in the shot put at 16 feet, 6 inches), Piper Lambert (seventh in the discus at 45 feet, 4 inches), Alexya Herrera-Al (eighth in the shot put, 16 feet, 2 inches), and Taylor Mills (10th in the 1,600 meters in 8:53.31).
In the team standings, M-S accumulated 115 points.
Both M-S teams return to action on Saturday (April 30) in the Mount Zion Invitational.
