Seven Mahomet-Seymour Runners Set Personal Records at Peoria Notre Dame Cross-Country Meet, Finish 21st Among 65 Schools

By Fred Kroner

Seven of the 10 Mahomet-Seymour entries in the varsity division of the Peoria Notre Dame Richard Spring boys’ cross-country meet on Saturday (Sept. 21) ran career-best 3-mile times.

The 65-school varsity division featured 565 runners, primarily Class 3A competitors.

The Bulldogs placed 21^st with 724 points, but among schools in either Class 1A or 2A were second.

The top five M-S finishers recorded new PRs: Auggie Gaudio (32^nd in 15:27.38), Henry McMurry (65^th in 15:42.83), Kaleb Kasper (174^th in 16:24.40), Zach Wilcoski (217^th in 16:38.43) and Tate Bode (262^nd in 16:52.11).

They were followed by teammates Lucas Nykaza (267^th in 16:53.57), Corban McMinn (312^th in 17:14.98), Adam Smigielski (346^th in 17:31.41), Jack Van Hoorn (376^th in 17:42.70) and Liam Burwell (377^th in 17:43.79).

McMinn and Van Hoorn also logged career-best times.

Team honors in the varsity race were garnered by Mason (205), followed by York (222). M-S’ cumulative team score was 724.

In the open division (any runner not entered in the varsity race), the Bulldogs copped a 14^th-place finish out of 47 full teams.

M-S had 441 points. Meet champion Mason compiled 46 points, followed by Prospect (90).

Four Bulldog runners placed among the top 100 – all with personal-best times – in a field of 665 participants.

The team leaders were Tayten Gergen (45^th in 17:15.64), Kiptyn Fan (92^nd in 17:46.01), Henry Welch (97^th in 17:47.44) and Carter Alderks (98^th in 17:48.35).

The other M-S finishers were Gavin Fan (175^th in 18:34.57), Jackson Koontz  (216^th in 19:00.68), Ben Schultz (222^nd in 19:03.35), Blake Patrick (234^th in 19:08.40), Garen Johnson-Farkhoyan (331^st in 20:06.97), Domini Bruns (394^th in 20:43.09), Bernardo Allan-Pinto (430^th in 21:01.88) and Matthew Gray (446^th in 21:11.36).

Patrick, Bruns and Allan-Pinto all established new PRs.

M-S will return to action on Saturday (Sept. 28) in the Peoria Invitational at Illinois Central College, in East Peoria.