MSJH kicks off cross country season strong
BY DANI TIETZ
dani@mahometnews.com
It’s the largest Mahomet-Seymour Junior High School cross-country squad in the history of the school.
With 123 current runners, MSJHS faced a very competitive Unity Junior High team in Tolono Thursday night.
While the Rockets came out on top in all four individual races: sixth-grade girls, then boys’ and seventh- and eighth-grade girls and also the boys’ run, the Bulldogs answered the challenge of the 2018 2A IESA State Championship team.
“As we exited the bus with some very anxious runners entering their first race as a Bulldog, we left the meet with a lot of positive results,” head coach Lisa Martin said.
Martin said veteran runners were supportive of the sixth-grade runners, helping them focus on their individual goals that were a benefit to the team.
MSJHS sixth-grader Haley Reed placed third, finishing the mile at 6 minutes, 31 seconds. She was followed by Hadley Grotelueschen in fifth, Isabel Lietz in sixth and Cora Tandy in ninth place.
Augustus Gaudio finished in second (5:51) in the boys’ sixth-grade race. Landyn Hannah (5th), Emmet Kerans (6th), Ethan Peterka (8th), Henry McMurry (9th) and Chase Dockham (10th) rounded out the top 10 in a field of 38 runners.
Placing in the top 10 in the seventh- and eighth-grade two-mile race were Avah Turner (5th), Ava Boyd (6th), Reese Gallier (9th) and Emmaline Culp (10th).
Seventh-grader Ty Clark led the boys’ in the seventh-eighth grade race (12:31). Finn Randolph was right behind him (5th), Isaac Warren, who led the pack early, placed sixth, and Lukas Nykaza (8th) and Davin Tietz (10th) finished in the top 10 in a field of 51 runners.
“Some athletes learned what it was like to push through some intense pain, others found their role to be encouraging and supportive of struggling teammates and others took on the role of leading the races,” Martin continued.
“Whatever the case, the growth that we have already seen this season is proof that the Bulldogs will once again be a team to be reckoned with.”
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