Smigielski and Zalauf finish in Top 25 at Parkside
By Fred Kroner
Mahomet-Seymour runners secured two of the top 25 positions on Saturday (Sept. 9) in the 55-school Normal Parkside junior high cross-country meet.
Adam Smigielski ran 11th with a 2-mile time of 11 minutes and 11.60 seconds. Caleb Zalauf was 23rd in 11:31.50.
Other team leaders in a race with 384 participants were Noah Crane (39th in 11:40.20), Carter Alderks (55th in 12:07.60), Liam Burwell (57th in 12:08.60), Grant Morphew (111th in 12:40.00) and Elijah Beyer (129th in 12:49.60).
“Coach (Conan) Jurkowsi presented this group with a challenge with his motivational speech,” Bulldog coach Lisa Martin said. “It was to focus on how ‘I’ turns into “We” and the links of a chain that each athlete represents.
“Cross-country is truly a sport that ‘I’ is still important, but only if you focus on how it helps in the component of ‘we.’ The Bulldogs took to the race course and put it all together.”
In the 43-team boys’ open race, four of the first 17 placers were wearing M-S jerseys in an event with 694 participants.
Will Bednar (12:30.20) and Abdel Abdo (12:30.30) placed ninth and 10th, respectively, finishing in step with one another.
Kiptyn Fan wound up in 12th place (12:43.30) and teammate Henry Welch was 17th (12:48.80). They were followed by Bulldogs Grant Smolich (25th in 13:04.00), Greyson Grotelueschen (27th in 13:20.60) and Caleb Atteberry (39th in 13:25.20).
“We had a few athletes in this (open) group with some varsity racing experience,” Martin said. “To know that we are deep in talent means that we get to shake things up and that means changing the lineup from time to time.
“That racing experience has paid off and is what helped propel this team to a strong finish and lots of personal records. It was a really cool experience to see two Bulldogs (Bednar and Abdo) cross the mats at the same time, encouraging each other the whole race.”
