By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
Three Mahomet-Seymour athletes and two relays qualified for the girls’ Class 2A state track and field meet during Thursday’s Monticello Sectional.
Senior Jessica Franklin was a two-event qualifier, winning the 300-meter low hurdles in a school-record time of 43.79 seconds and taking second in the 100 high hurdles in 15.41.
Franklin’s 300 hurdles time was the state’s best based on sectional performances. The previous M-S record in the event (44.70) was set by Jennifer Fall in 2006.
Sophomore pole vaulter Mara Pletcher cleared 11 feet, 7 inches and placed third in her specialty.
Based on sectional performances, she is tied for the fourth-best mark entering state.
In the 100 hurdles, Franklin has the ninth-best sectional mark.
M-S’ 400-meter relay placed second at sectional, but posted a time (49.58) that lowered a school record established in 2005 (49.93).
Runners on the all-underclassmen record-setting relay were freshman Stacey Irwin, sophomore Destiny Pryor, sophomore Sylvia Byron and junior Lakeida Nichols. It enters state seeded 12th among 27 qualifiers.
The Bulldogs’ 1,600 relay will also continue its season after a third-place performance at sectional (4:05.35). That relay ran the 10th-best time when all 2A sectionals were placed together.
M-S 1,600 relay runners were Nichols, Pletcher, Pryor and Franklin.
The 2A semifinal portion of the state meet will be held on Friday at Eastern Illinois University, in Charleston. Finals in all classes will be on Saturday.
Boys’ track and field
The Mahomet-Seymour boys’ track and field team placed third in its own 20-school invitational on Saturday.
Hunter Hendershot was a double winner, capturing both the shot put and the discus.
The other individual winner for M-S was 400-meter runner Brandon Bretz (50.81 seconds).
Hendershot’s winning tosses were 54 feet in the shot and 155-9 in the discus.
Teammate Skyler O’Connor was a double placer in the weight events. He took sixth in the discus (124-9) and eighth in the shot (42-8 1/4).
Bulldogs Callan Whitehouse (15 feet) and Corey Cebulski (12-6) finished second and third, respectively, in the pole vault.
M-S high jumpers Ryan Whitehouse and C.J. Shoaf cleared 5-9 and finished in a tie for sixth place.
Skyler Yancy was sixth in the long jump (19-4 1/2) and Noah Powell was seventh in the triple jump (37-10 1/4).
Three M-S runners, besides Bretz, secured top five placements in individual races.
Riley Fortune was the runner-up in the 1,600 meters (4:33.93), Mathias Powell was fourth in the 800 (2:03.15) and Adam Von Holten was fifth in the 300 hurdles (41.77).
The M-S 1,600-meter relay placed fourth. Von Holten was joined on the foursome by Joshua Johnson, Fortune and Bretz.
The 800 rely took fifth. Yancy teamed up with Grant Brown, Johnson and Cebulski.
Baseball
The Bulldogs (14-7) closed out the week with four wins in three days — three of the victories by shutout — and played errorlesss ball in three of the contests.
The offensive catalysts were at the top of coach Nic DiFilippo’s lineup. The first three hitters in the M-S batting order — Austin Biehl, Jordan Veldman and Brooks Coetzee — were a combined 22-for-35 to end the week.
Leadoff batter Biehl slugged home runs in three of the games and had a triple in another game. He was 9-for-13 overall. Four of his hits were home runs.
Veldman and Coetzee each had three games in the sequence with two hits.
M-S shutout Tri-Valley 13-0 on Thursday with Dawson Finch throwing a five-inning four-hitter and striking out six.
On Friday, Biehl allowed one earned run in six innings and fanned nine as the Bulldogs topped Argenta-Oreana 10-3.
For Senior Day on Saturday, Tanner Kirts scattered three hits in a six-inning 10-0 triumph over Charleston. He walked two and struck out nine.
In the second game of the doubleheader, Kyle Kinney’s five-inning three-hitter resulted in a 13-0 triumph over the Trojans. He struck out three.
Against Tri-Valley, Lukas Graham was 3-for-3 and Cory Noe was 2-for-2. Biehl and Veldman were each 2-for-3.
Against Argenta-Oreana, Biehl and Kinney each delivered three hits. Kinney drove in four runs. Veldman, Coetzee and Charlie Grant all collected two hits.
An all-senior lineup took the field in the opener against Charleston. Biehl and Coetzee both had two hits and two RBI. Kyle Mumm scored two runs.
In the second game against the Trojans, Biehl, Coetzee and Finch all totaled two hits. The hits allowed by Kinney were all singles.
M-S carries a five-game winning streak into the new week and, for the season, has produced nine shutouts.
The Bulldogs are 5-5 against Apollo Conference opponents.
Softball
The Bulldogs’ losing streak reached five games after a 1-0 loss to Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley and back-to-back setbacks to Charleston in an Apollo Conference twin bill.
M-S’ Aubrie Shore and GCMS’ Madison Eberle engaged in a pitcher’s duel on Thursday.
Shore fired a two-hitter, walked one and struck out six.
Eberle yielded just one hit — a double by Shore — walked one (Carlee Scott) and struck out 11.
GCMS scored its lone run in the bottom of the fourth inning.
On Saturday, Charleston swept the doubleheader with 9-2 and 8-2 wins.
M-S (11-14) managed only nine hits for the two games. Kameryn Brotherton — who homered in Game 2 — and Ashley Campbell and Allison Nofziger had hits in each game.
Shore suffered the loss in the opener and Ashley Wheeler took the loss in the nightcap.
In the three games, Bulldog batters collectively struck out 27 times.
M-S finished with a 5-7 record in Apollo Conference play.
