Mahomet-Seymour girls’ cross country captures 16th Regional title
By Fred Kroner
Led by two top-five runners, and five teammates who ran within 47 seconds of one another, Mahomet-Seymour was the dominant team on Saturday (Oct. 24) in the Taylorville Class 2A IHSA girls’ regional cross-country meet.
Overall for M-S, the regional crown was the 16th in school history for the girls’ cross-country program. The first was achieved in 1983.
M-S junior Elizabeth Sims was the individual regional champion, completing the 3-mile course in 19 minutes and 8 seconds. She was 4.8 seconds ahead of the runner-up.
Teammate Klein Powell, also a junior, was the fifth-place runner in a field of 69 competitors. Powell’s time was 19:45.2.
Sims and Powell – each of whom achieved their best times of the season – earned medals and all-Region accolades for placing among the top five runners.
The next five Bulldogs had times within 47 seconds of one another, led by freshman Ava Boyd (ninth in 20:13.3).
Trailing Boyd were sophomore Callie Jansen (18th in 20:48.6), senior Shaelin Ruzich (19th in 20:48.7), junior Emily Bednar (23rd in 20:56.2) and junior Delaney King (25th in 21:00.3).
M-S was far ahead in the team chase, accumulating a total score of 50 points.
Runner-up Charleston had 110 points and was followed by third-place Olney (119), fourth-place Taylorville (129) and fifth-place Mattoon (139).
The top five teams at the Taylorville site advanced to the Saturday (Oct. 31) Class 2A sectional at Olney East Richland.
Like many meets this season, the race was flighted. The top three runners from each school were assigned to the first flight. The No. 4 and 5 runners from each school made up the second flight and the No. 6 and 7 runners from each school ran in the third flight.
Bednar and King were in the second flight for the Bulldogs.
“Emily did a great job pushing the pace for a majority of the race,” M-S head coach Jama Grotelueschen said. “She won the flight. Delaney was right behind her, finishing second with a solid performance.
“They worked well together trying to beat the clock.”
In the third flight, the only competition for Jansen and Ruzich was each other.
“Callie and Shaelin led the entire race by a pretty significant margin, finishing in a virtual tie,” Grotelueschen said. “After running the entire race side-by-side, if they could’ve actually tied, I think that would have been their preference.
“It was an incredible display of teamwork and determination for the entire 3 miles.”
Jansen registered her top time of the year and Ruzich posted a lifetime best.
M-S’ regional team title was the third in the past four years – all under different coaches – and snapped a one-year absence as the region’s premier team.
“The post season is bittersweet,” Grotelueschen said. “We have so much depth on our team, it was difficult to choose the eight members who made up our varsity lineup.
“Fortunately, many of our runners have decided to continue to practice with the varsity team through the postseason. Their support and positive energy were on full display on Saturday, as they ran all over the course encouraging their teammates who were competing.”
For the first time in three weeks, the Bulldogs fell out of the milepslit.com state rankings.
Also on M-S’ s sectional roster is junior Grace Lietz.
Mahomet-Seymour Girls’ Swimming
Nine Bulldogs secured top-30 finishes on Saturday (Oct. 24) in the Champaign Central girls’ swimming sectional, held at Centennial High School.
The top M-S placer was senior diver Elise Hertling. She placed sixth with a score of 239.85 points.
Sophomore Kiera McCoy was the lone Mahomet-Seymour athlete with three top-20 performances.
McCoy was 16th in the 100-yard freestyle (1:06.21), 17th in the 200-yard freestyle (2:31.80) and 18th in the 100-yard backstroke (1:19.97).
The top M-S placer in swimming events was freshman Ana Iliff (14th in the 500-yard freestyle, 7:48.69).
Two-event placers for the Bulldogs besides McCoy were senior Natalie Heaton, senior Olivia Ross and junior Anna Lagacy.
Heaton took 17th in the 100-yard backstroke (1:19.29) and 19th in the 200-yard freestyle (2:36.85).
Ross captured 18th in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:24.79) and 19th in the 50-yard freestyle (28.95).
Lagacy was 18th in the 200-yard individual medley (3:11.42) and 19th in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:26.27).
Three other squad members were one-event placers at the season-ending sectional meet.
Freshman Janae Hall was 22nd in the 100-yard butterfly (2:27.85). Sophomore Taylor Easter was 23rd in the 100-yard freestyle (1:13.70). Freshman Marin Minick was 30th in the 50-yard freestyle (32.25).
In the 18-school team battle, Centennial won the sectional crown for the sixth consecutive year with 134 points. Runner-up Central had 126 points.
M-S finished 16th with nine points.
