Mahomet-Seymour Girls’ Cross-Country Team Qualifies for State Meet, Led by Top-10 Finishes from Anand and Smith at Olney Sectional

By Fred Kroner

Mahomet-Seymour’s girls’ cross-country team clinched a berth in the IHSA state meet by virtue of its performance on Saturday (Nov. 2) in the 17-school Olney Class 2A Sectional meet.

Sparked by top-10 showings from Emily Anand and Cecily Smith, the Bulldogs placed fourth to continue their season.

Chatham Glenwood captured the sectional crown (50 points), followed by Rochester (74 points), Carterville (!43 points) and M-S (149 points).

Anand covered the 3.05-mile course in 18 minutes, 47.99 seconds. She took 12^th place. Smith came in at 18:59.72 and finished 19^th.

Other M-S sectional competitors were Taylor Mills (39^th in 19:50.25), Kennedy Ashby (50^th in a personal-best  20:07.55), Finley Smith (63^rd in a personal-best 20:29.15), Chloe Bundren (85^th in 20:59.90) and Morgan Waisath (100^th in 21;37.28).

In all, there were 138 runners at Olney Central College.

M-S returns to action on Saturday (Nov. 9) in the IHSA state meet at Peoria’s Detweiller Park. The girls’ race will start at 11 a.m.

This marks the 19^th state appearance all-time for M-S in girls’ cross-country and the 11^th in the past 15 years.

Bundren is the only current squad member who has raced at state in high school. She was a member of the school’s most-recent state team, the 2021 squad which finished 24^th.