Nofziger finishes first at East Peoria Invitational

By Fred Kroner

Mahomet-Seymour senior Kyle Nofziger was the individual winner on Saturday (Sept. 25) in the East Peoria boys’ cross-country invitational at Black Partridge Park.

Nofziger bested a 191-runner field, completing the 2.94-mile course in 15 minutes, 22.8 seconds. His winning margin was 5.6 seconds.

Four seniors ran upfront for the state-ranked Bulldogs, who were second in the team chase.

Morton took top honors in the 15-school meet (38 points), followed by M-S (80), Normal West (140) and East Peoria (172).

Trailing Nofziger were Joseph Scheele (10^th in 16:01.6), Jonah Singer (14^th in 16:07.9) and Taylor Fan (27^th in 16:35.8).

M-S’ top six runners were separated by 44 seconds.

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Others in the top six were Ben Wallace (28^th in 16:37.1) and Karsten Waisath (35^th in 16:45.8).

In all, 12 Bulldogs competed in the varsity race.

The other M-S entries were: Hayden Grotelueschen (53^rd in 17:07.6), John Tender (61^st in 17:19.0), Avery Seaman (64^th in 17:28.7), Gabe Wisnasky (85^th in 18:11.4), Julian Eckley (130^th in 20:12.0) and Alex Carpenter (176^th in 22:28.0).

In the most recent Class 2A state poll by milesplit.com, Fenwick was top-rated, followed by M-S in the No. 2 position.

In a separate race for freshmen-sophomore runners, ninth-grader Lukas Nykaza led the way for M-S. He placed 11^th in a field of 119 runners, stopping the clock in 17:18.9 seconds.

Other Bulldog participants were: Blake Dillman (15^th in 17:33.2), Grant Smysor (20^th in 17:50.0), Zach Wilcoski (66^th in 19:55.9), Jaxon Themanson (73^rd in 20:14.1) and Kaleb Kasper (100^th in 22:18.3).

M-S returns to action on Tuesday (Oct. 12) in the Apollo Conference meet at Effingham.