Three Bulldogs move onto Class 2A State series
By Fred Kroner
Senior Shaelin Ruzich qualified for state in two events, junior Cece Abramson advanced in one event and junior Elizabeth Sims also moved on in one event on Wednesday (June 2) for Mahomet-Seymour in the Class 2A girls’ track and field sectional meet at Kankakee.
Ruzich was dominant in the 300-meter hurdles. Her winning time of 50.20 seconds gave her a margin of victory of nearly three-fourths of a second.
All sectional champions moved on to state, which for Class 2A will be on Friday (June 11) at Eastern Illinois University, in Charleston. The prelims and finals will all be held on the same day.
Also advancing was the runners-up in each of the 18 events as well as others who met pre-determined times, distances or heights.
Ruzich and Abramson met the standard in the pole vault. Ruzich placed second at the sectional, clearing 10 feet, 7 inches. Abramson was fifth, but matched the Class 2A qualifying mark of 9 feet, 9 inches.
Ruzich is a first-time state-qualifier in each of her events. Abramson placed 11th at state as a freshman in the pole vault in 2019, the last year a state meet was conducted by the IHSA. Also in 2019, Sims captured 14th at state in her specialty, the 3,200 meters.
On Wednesday, Sims was the runner-up in the 3,200 meters (12 minutes, 21.64 seconds) to secure her advancement.
She also ran a leg on the third-place 3,200-meter relay, which just missed a state-qualifying berth. Joining her were Chloe Allen, Ava Boyd and Callie Jansen. Their cumulative time was 10:26.96.
As a team, M-S placed fourth in the 12-school field at Kankakee.
Normal University High was the sectional team titlist with 130 points. Runner-up Eureka had 122 points, followed by Kankakee (107), M-S (52) and Paxton-Buckley-Loda (49).
The Bulldogs had top 10 placers in 15 of 18 events.
Double placers in individual events were Gwen Tee, Hailee McCall-Ochs and Ariana Lingard.
Tee took fourth in the shot put (32 feet, 5 inches) and eighth in the discus (86 feet, 4 inches). McCall-Ochs ended sixth in the shot put (31 feet, 1 inch) and ninth in the discus (85 feet).
Lingard ran seventh in the 100 meters (13.11 seconds) and eighth in the 200 meters (27.55 seconds).
Other field events placers for M-S were Grace Rodebaugh (tied for fourth in the high jump at 4 feet, 7 inches) and Lauren Burr (fifth in the long jump at 15 feet, 3 inches).
Three other runners, along with three relays, were among the sectional leaders.
Emily Bednar placed fourth in the 1,600 meters (5:55.66). In the 800 meters, Boyd and Jansen finished in step with one another. Boyd was seventh in 2:40.09. Jansen was eighth in 2:40.10.
The Bulldogs’ 400-meter relay ran to a fourth-place finish. Ruzich, Lingard, Mallory Carr and Burr were collectively timed in 51.50 seconds.
In the 800-meter relay, Carr, Chloe Merkle, Hannah Hofbauer and Meah Beacham teamed up to place sixth in 2:01.62.
The 1,600-meter unit of Allen, Carr, Beacham and Burr ended sixth in 4:35.74.
The M-S seniors were Carlotta Balucani, McCall-Ochs, Ruzich, Tee and Caitlin Thomason.
