Shoaf, Nofziger, Sims, Scheele and Singer head to state meet
By Fred Kroner
Mahomet-Seymour senior C.J. Shoaf had a day that started well and ended even better on Thursday (June 10).
The track and field standout signed a national letter of intent to continue his career next year at the University of Illinois.
Then, he got on a school bus with his Bulldog teammates and headed off to the Metamora Class 2A sectional meet.
All he did there was compete in four individual events and win four individual events to ensure that he will have a busy day at state on Friday (June 18) at Charleston.
Shoaf took first in the 200 meters by .02, clocking a 22.68 time.
He won by .66 in the 110-meter high hurdles, with a final time of 14.54 seconds.
In the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, his margin of victory was 1.3 seconds. His school-record time was 38.40.
The previous school record in the 300 hurdles (38.93) was set in 2011 by Colton Fender.
Shoaf was also victorious in the high jump, clearing 6 feet, 7 inches.
This season, Shoaf has broken school records in both hurdles events as well as the high jump.
He will be joined at state by four teammates, all of whom helped M-S advance in the 3,200-meter relay.
The grouping of Kyle Nofziger, Matthew Sims, Joseph Scheele and Jonah Singer joined forces for a composite time of 8 minutes, 14.73 seconds.
They finished third at the Metamora Sectional, but bettered the pre-determined qualifying time to advance to state. Interestingly, their time would have won any of the other Class 2A sectionals, meaning the M-S foursome will be the No. 3 seed at state.
Overall, the Bulldogs had top-10 placers in 16 of 18 events.
In five individual events, M-S had two of its athletes among the top 10.
Scheele and Singer ran third and fourth, respectively, in the 1,600 meters. Scheele was timed in 4:31.32. Singer stopped the clock in 4:34.09.
In the 3,200 meters, Nofziger took third in 9:53.72. Teammate Taylor Fan was seventh (4:34.09).
In the 400 meters, Tyler Lewis finished fourth (53.60 seconds) and Nathan Lundstrom was seventh (55.89 seconds).
In the discus, the M-S leaders were third-place Karson McKee (132 feet) and fifth-place Robert Byron (128 feet, 2 inches).
The other event with two Bulldog placers was the pole vault. Clayton Kessler was fourth (12 feet) and Skyler Yancy was seventh (9 feet, 5 inches).
Other field event placers for M-S were Sam Garber (seventh in the shot put at 41 feet, 6 inches, and Will Parrott (third in the long jump at 20 feet).
Scheele took fourth in the 800 meters (2:01.91).
Besides the qualifying relay, the other three Bulldog relays all placed among the top six at sectional.
The 400-meter foursome of Yancy, Deangelo Hughey, Lewis and Cole Marshall ended in fourth (44.68 seconds).
The 1,600-meter unit of Hughey, Lewis, Singer and Lundstrom took fifth in 3:34.83. Hughey’s split was 52.1 seconds.
The 800-meter unit of Yancy, Hughey, Parrott and Nick Golden ran sixth in 1:34.75.
All four of the Bulldogs’ relay entries posted season-best times.
In the team chase, M-S placed second to the state’s top-ranked Class 2A program. Eureka was the meet champion with 102 points. M-S (93 points) was the runner-up, followed by Metamora (64 points) and Normal University High (62 points).
In all, 13 schools competed in the Metamora Sectional.
In the past eight years, the only M-S relays that have earned state medals were in the 3,200-meter relay (in 2016 and 2017).
Shoaf is a returning state medalist. He was sixth in the high jump in 2019 as a sophomore.
Shoaf is trying to become the second athlete from the school to win a state title in the high jump. The 1937 champion was Paul Blue.
All four of the M-S runners on the qualifying 3,200-meter relay are first-time state-qualifiers on the track.
State seeds are based on times, distances and heights from the 11 sectional meets.
Shoaf will be seeded first in the high jump, second in the 300-meter hurdles, tied for third in the 110-meter hurdles and tied for 11th in the 200-meter dash.
With the relay garnering the No. 3 seed, M-S would be on pace to score 32 points at state, which would have meant a top-five finish in Class 2A at each of the last five state meets.
