Shoaf clears 7-feet at Judah Christian’s Field of Dreams

By Fred Kroner

Mahomet-Seymour senior C.J. Shoaf raised his own school record in the boys’ high jump by clearing 7 feet for the first time in an outdoor meet on Monday (May 24) at Champaign Judah Christian’s Field of Dreams.

In a field of nine jumpers, Shoaf was the only one to jump higher than 5-10. He didn’t have any misses until he tried to clear 7-2, which he nearly made on his second attempt.

He also captured a victory in the 110-meter high hurdles, stepping to a hand time of 13.93 seconds. Shoaf also ran the 200 meters and captured a third-place finish, with a time of 22.34 seconds.

Shoaf’s victories were the only two for M-S, which placed third in the eight-team Uni High Invitational. Monticello (202 points) was the meet champion, followed by Urbana Uni High (92 points). M-S ended with 91 points.

Two Bulldog relays placed second.

The 400-meter foursome of Skyler Yancy, Deangelo Highey, Tyler Lewis and Cole Marshall stopped the clock in 47.12 seconds.

Lewis ran the leadoff leg of the runner-up 800-meter entry. He was joined by Will Parrott, Clayton Kessler and Nick Golden. Their combined time was 1:38.35.

M-S had third-place finishes from three individuals as well as a relay.

Avery Seaman was third in the 400 meters (59.23 seconds). Yancy was third in the long jump with a personal-best 19 feet, 11 inches. Parrott tied for third in the high jump (5 feet, 6 inches).

The 1,600-meter relay was also third. Sharing the baton were Yancy, Marshall, Nathan Lundstrom and Joe Taylor. Their cumulative time was 3:47.94.

Taylor ran seventh in the 300-meter hurdles (51.90 seconds) and Yancy took sixth in the 200 meters (23.41 seconds).

The Bulldogs had at least two top-10 performers in all six of the field events.

Jacob Hope was fourth in both the shot put (30 feet, 5 ½ inches) and the discus (89 feet, 5 inches). Deandre Hughey was eighth in the discus (76 feet, 6 inches) and ninth in the shot put (26 feet, 4 ½ inches).

Also in the shot put, Keegan Pogue was seventh (28 feet, 10 ¼ inches).

Pole vaulters placers were Kessler (fourth at 11 feet, 3 inches), Thomas Carpenter (tied for fifth at 7 feet, 8 inches) and Landon Nurmi (tied for fifth at 7 feet, 8 inches).

Two high jumpers besides Shoaf and Parrott were among the leaders. Nurmi was sixth (5 feet, 4 inches) and Ryken Kirby was seventh (5 feet, 2 inches).

In the triple jump, Marshall was fifth (37 feet, 6 inches) and Jacob Louis was seventh (35 feet, 7 inches). Gabe Labbe (16 feet, 7 inches) joined Yancy as top-10 long jumpers. Labbe ended in ninth place.

Other M-S runners among the top 10 were Preston Wilkins (fourth in the 800 meters, 2:29.17), Karsten Waisath (fourth in the 1,600 meters, 4:58.71), Erik Christianson (sixth in the 100 meters, 11.81 seconds) Jayvon Irwin (seventh in the 100 meters, 11.83 seconds), Wyatt Bohm (eighth in the 110-meter high hurdles, 22.13 seconds), Alex Carpenter (eighth in the 400 meters, 1:15.18) and Grant Smysor (ninth in the 1,600 meters, 5:16.92).

M-S returns to action on Tuesday (June 1) at Catlin.