By Fred Kroner
Robert Byron was a two-event winner on Tuesday (April 25) for the Mahomet-Seymour boys’ track and field team in the Pontiac Relays.
Byron was victorious in both the shot put (48 feet) and the discus (160 feet, 2 inches).
Three teammates also recorded wins in individual events.
Ben Wallace led a 1-2-3 M-S finish in the 1,600 meters.
Wallace was timed in a personal-best 5 minutes, 6.37 seconds. He was followed by Colin Johnson (personal-best 5:31.78) and Nicholas Demos (personal-best 5:43.11).
Ty Clark was the varsity pole vault titlist (12 feet, 6 inches) while Seth Christensen took top honors in the freshman-sophomore pole vault (11 feet).
The Bulldogs placed third in both the varsity and freshman-sophomore segments of the six-school meet.
New Lenox Providence won both team titles, scoring 80 varsity points (to M-S’ 66) and 82 freshman-sophomore points (to M-S’ 58).
Placing second individually for M-S were varsity pole vaulter Alex Carpenter (11 feet), frosh-soph triple jumper Quinten Goodie (personal-best 10.75) and frosh-soph discus thrower Cody Barnhart (96 feet, 5 inches).
Other Bulldog varsity leaders were Caleb Boykin (fourth in the discus at 120 feet, 4 inches, and eighth in the shot put at 39 feet, 8 inches), Matthew He (seventh in the long jump at 16 feet) and Keenan Olivero (10th in the triple jump at 30 feet, 7 inches).
Placing well for the freshman-sophomore squad were Jackson Davis (third in the pole vault at 9 feet), Jack Meyer (fourth in the long jump at 16 feet and seventh in the triple jump at 31 feet, 11 inches), Oliver Smith (seventh in the discus at 90 feet, 7 inches and ninth in the shot put at 34 feet, 9 inches), Goodie (seventh in the long jump at 15 feet, 4 inches) and Austin Crull (10th in the shot put at 34 feet).
Two varsity relays were triumphant as were two of the school’s freshman-sophomore relay entries.
Taking top honors at the varsity level were the 400-meter and medley relays.
The 400 relay consisted of Travis Hoffman, Jayvon Irwin, Cole Marshall and Deangelo Hughey. Their combined time was 44.22 seconds.
The medley relay featured Lukas Carey, Grant Smysor, Alex O’Brian and Hayden Grotelueschen. Their time was 9:05.31.
The M-S freshman-sophomore relay took first as did the 3,200-meter unit.
Sharing the baton on the frosh-soph medley were Gavin Fan, Corban McMinn, Ben Schultz and Kaleb Kasper. Their cumulative time was 9:45.08.
The winning frosh-soph 3,200-meter relay included Lukas Nykaza, Auggie Gaudio, Henry McMurry and Kasper. They stopped the clock in 9:13.59.
Two other varsity relays ran in the No. 2 spot, the 800- and 3,200-meter groupings.
The 800 posted a time of 1:39.70. The relay runners were Niklas Minnich, Brock Kellenberger, He and Ryken Kirby.
The 3,200 foursome of Ethann Peterka, Joshua Franklin, Kaden Jackson and Blake Dillman crossed the finish line in 8:46.71.
The other two M-S relays to place among the top five were both freshmen-sophomore entries.
Running on the fifth-place 400-meter unit were Camden Wood, Meyer, Landen McConkey and Dylan Smith. Their time was 50.27 seconds.
The frosh-soph 800-meter relay unit of Raife Humes, Elias Welch, Arthur Hofbauer and Landen Dowers placed fifth (1:51.32).
M-S will return to action on Friday (April 28) at the St. Joseph-Ogden Spartan Classic.
