Mahomet-Seymour Excels in Sprints and Hurdles at Apollo Conference Track Meet
By Fred Kroner
Mahomet-Seymour junior Travis Hoffman was a two-event winner on Thursday (May 2) in the six-school Apollo Conference boys’ track and field meet at Mattoon.
Hoffman controlled the hurdles’ races, winning the 110-meter event in a personal-best 16.18 seconds. He was also the 300-meter hurdles conference champion in 41.55 seconds.
Teammate Cash Bryan was seventh in the 110s (personal-best 18.86 seconds) and Bulldog Lukas Nykaza was seventh in the 300 hurdles (personal-best 46.71 seconds).
M-S had two other individual winners.
Senior Jayvon Irwin was the fastest 100-meter runner (11.40) and Ty Clark out vaulted the competition in the pole vault with a winning leap of 13 feet, 8 inches.
In the pole vault, teammate Seth Christiansen was seventh (10 feet, 8 inches). In the 100 meters, Bulldog Steffen Kellner was eighth (12.16 seconds).
Three M-S athletes secured runner-up finishes individually.
Ethan Ramirez was second in the 800 meters (personal-best 2:00.65), Henry McMurry was second in the 3,200 meters (personal-best 10:00.90) and Trevor Reeses was second in the shot put (41 feet, 1 inch).
Reeves also took home a third-place finish in the discus (135 feet, 5 inches).
Ramirez added a fourth-place finish in the 1,600 meters (4:34.13), a race where Bulldog Auggie Gaudio was sixth (4:44.24).
In the 3,200 meters, Kaleb Kasper was sixth (10:49.22) and in the 800, Lukas Carey was ninth (personal-best 2:10.97).
Irwin notched a third-place finish in the 200 meters (22.82 seconds) with teammate Ryken Kirby capturing seventh (personal-best 24.04 seconds).
Other Bulldogs among the top 10 were: Kaden Jackson (third in the 400 meters in a personal-best 52.78 seconds), Camden Snodsmith (seventh in the high jump at 5 feet, 6 inches), Luke Johnson (ninth in the long jump at 18 feet, 1 inch), Oliver Smith (10th in the discus at a personal-best 111 feet, 9 inches) and Elias Welch (10th in the triple jump with a personal-best 33 feet, 3 inches).
Two M-S relays garnered second-place finishes.
The 400-meter foursome of Hoffman, Irwin, Kirby and Alex O’Brian was timed in 43.49 seconds.
The 1,600-meter grouping of Jackson, Carey, O’Brian and Hoffman was second in 3:33.92.
Placing fourth was the Bulldogs’ 3,200-meter relay unit of Nykaza, Tate Bode, Zach Wilcoski and Grany Smysor. Their total time was 9:02.71.
Collecting the team crown was Mount Zion (179 points), followed by M-S (132 points).
M-S will return to action on Wednesday (May 8) in the Mount Zion Invitational.
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Two Mahomet-Seymour runners registered first-place performances on Saturday (May 4) in the Apollo Conference boys’ freshmen-sophomore track and field meet at Taylorville.
Freshman Cody Moen was the 400-meter titlist in a personal-best 54.45-second time.
In the 3,200 meters, sophomore Auggie Gaudio was the winner in 10:35.01. Also in the 3,200, teammate Jack Van Hoorn was sixth (12:08.81).
Cash Bryan and Amann Kohli turned in runner-up performances.
Bryan was second in the 300-meter hurdles (personal-best 47.64 seconds) and Kohli was second in the discus (personal-best 105 feet, 3 inches).
Kohli was also seventh in the shot put (31 feet, 10 inches).
Teammate Oliver Smith was a double-placer in the weight events, turning in third-place finishes in both the shot put (37 feet, 6 inches) and the discus (95 feet, 8 inches).
Another two-event placer was C.J. Smith. He took fourth in the long jump (personal-best 17 feet, 5 inches) and seventh in the triple jump (29 feet, 9 inches).
Other third-place finishers for the Bulldogs individually were Steffen Kellner (100 meters in 11.90 seconds), Corban McMinn (1,600 meters in a personal-best 5:03.65) and Jackson Davis (pole vault at a personal-best 10 feet, 8 inches).
Also recording top-10 individual finishes were Ben Schultz (sixth in the 1,600 meters in 5:13.50), Xander Shanks (sixth in the high jump at 4 feet, 6 inches) and Elias Welch (sixth in the triple jump at 32 feet, 8 inches), Matthew Gray (seventh in the 200 meters in a personal-best 28.30 seconds), Izaiah Brotherton (eighth in the long jump at 13 feet, 5 inches), Landen Dowers (eighth in the 100 meters in 12.95 seconds), Blake Patrick (eighth in the 800 meters in a personal-best 2:25.92), Arthur Hofbauer (ninth in the pole vault with a personal-best 7 feet, 7 inches) and Jackson Koontz (ninth in the 800 meters in a personal-best 2:25.95).
The top-placing M-S relay was the third-place 400-meter unit of Dowers, Henry Carpenter, Camden Snodsmith and Kellner. Their final time was 48.16 seconds.
The same four runners combined for a fourth-place finish in the 800-meter relay (1:55.03).
Sharing the baton on the 1,600-meter relay were Moen, Shanks, Parker Wilkins and Bryan. Their composite time was 4:12.51.
Team honors went to Mount Zion (153 points), followed by Charleston (134 points). M-S was fourth with 86 points.
