EAST PEORIA — Mahomet-Seymour’s cross-country team still isn’t slowing down.
The M-S boys ran their eighth meet of the season on Saturday and came away with their seventh team title. With Alex Keeble and William Wolf finishing among the top five runners, the Bulldogs captured the fourth sectional team title in school history, winning the Class 2A meet at East Peoria.
Keeble has been the individual winner in six races this year. He covered the 3-mile course in 15 minutes, 1 second. Wolf was fourth in 15:12.
The exciting part in coach Neal Garrison’s mind is that it didn’t take a series of season-best performances to advance to Saturday’s state meet at Detweiller Park.
“Our guys ran OK,” Garrison said. “The training has paid off and they were strong enough that they were able to win. They have given their hearts to the team and the training.”
The depth on the state’s second-ranked team is such that three individual who didn’t run a week earlier at regionals were in the sectional lineup.
One of those was Riley Fortune, the lone Bulldog to run his personal-best at sectional. He was 27th in 16:03 and was the team’s No. 5 runner.
“He earned his way to racing at state,” Garrison said.
Jack Hyde (14th) and Andrew Walmer (19th) were the team’s other leaders.
Four M-S runners were timed in less than 16 minutes on Saturday and Garrison said, “honestly at state, we hope to get all seven under 16 and we think that’s realistic.”
Keeble is the second sectional champion from M-S. The first was Dan Nielsen in 1990. M-S now has a three-year run on sectional titles.
Class 2A boys at Decatur. Danville’s Caleb Hummer was the sectional champion with the best time by any individual in the five 2A sectionals. He entered the chute in 14:46, which gave him a 36-second margin of victory.
Hummer was the lone senior in the top five for the Vikings, who advanced to state as a team after finishing second to Springfield in the race at the Hickory Point Golf course.
Also in the top five for coach Todd Orvis’ team were juniors Carl Way and Jeremiah Cooley along with sophomores William Powell and Tyler Huckelberry.
Champaign Central’s Ashton Hyatt, who was fifth overall, also secured a spot in the 2A state meet. As a team, the Maroons were sixth in the 12-school field and missed qualifying by one position.
Class 1A boys at Decatur. Monticello followed up its regional title from a week earlier by winning team honors in the 21-school sectional at Hickory Point.
In addition to the Sages, Unity, St. Joseph-Ogden and Urbana Uni High advanced full teams to state.
The sectional champion was Oakwood/Armstrong-Potomac junior Jon Davis. He was timed in 14:43 and beat the runner-up by 40 seconds.
In a photo finish for second place, Mount Zion’s Curtis Reed (15:23.37) edged Tuscola’s Eric Ponder (15:23.43).
Monticello’s leader was Matt Norvell, in fifth place. All of the team’s five scoring runners were among the top 21 in the 162-runner field. The split between the ages’ top five runners was 34 seconds.
“It all comes down to that split,” Monticello coach Dave Remmert said. “It’s good to see they were able to do that. We have some key individuals who are pushing hard and moving themselves up.”
Monticello’s No. 2 runner, Zach Mesplay, had his best 3-mile time of the season as did the team’s No. 6 and No. 7 runners, Alex Helmuth and Logan Peters.
“The kids are having fun and enjoying it,” Remmert said. “I’m pleased with how they ran today.”
Davis, Ponder and ninth-place sawyer Sprague, from Argenta-Oreana, were the area athletes to advance to state as individuals. Davis’ time was the best of any of the five sectional champions in 1A.
Unity was led by sixth-place Andrew Warnes, SJ-O was led by 10th-place Brennan Guido and Uni High was led by 28th-place Marshall Allston-Yeagle. Uni’s five scoring runners finished within 30 seconds of each other.
SJ-O coach Jason Retz was surprised by his team’s finish.
“With 800 meters to go, my first thought was, ‘we are running not very well,’” Retz said. “As I ran to the finish line, Coach (Jim) Acklin said, ‘Holy cow. I can’t believe where we are.’”
Ross Smetzer, who was the team’s No. 5 runner at regional, moved up to the No. 3 position, 14 seconds behind teammate Austin Earp. Gabe Lyons, the No. 6 runner at regional, was a top-five finisher for the Spartans at sectionals.
“Nick Poff was our No. 6 runner, but he ran faster than he has all year and he had knee surgery less than four weeks ago and had 60 percent of his meniscus removed,” Retz said. “He is as mentally tough as they come.”
Class 1A boys at Lisle. Senior Avery Walter, from Prairie Central, placed fifth in 16:59 and was the lone area qualifier.
Class 2A girls at Decatur. Two area runners placed among the top 10 individually and qualified for state. Danville’s Mercedes Elliott was fourth in 18:22 and Centennial’s Rebecca Kaefring was ninth in 18:47. Danville’s team was eighth and did not advance.
Class 2A girls at East Peoria. Mahomet-Seymour’s Lauren Whitehouse finished third to secure a berth at state. Whitehouse was timed in 18:05. M-S’ team finished ninth and did not advance.
Class 1A girls at Decatur. Sectional champion St. Joseph-Ogden, led by freshman Faith Houston, will be joined at state by three other area teams. Also continuing their seasons were third-place Monticello, fourth-place Urbana Uni High and fifth-place Unity.
SJ-O’s top five — which included two freshmen — finished the race within 59 seconds of one another.
“For the last several weeks, the girls have been putting themselves in position from the get-go,” Retz said. “They’re less worried where they were time-wise than where they were position-wise.
“They ran fierce today. They were ready to go against anyone who wanted to take them on.”
Abby Fisher, Abby Gawthorp, Keely Smith and Hayley Grice were the Spartans’ other leaders.
Uni High teammates Arielle Summitt and Annemarie Michael placed second and third, respectively, in a field of 156 competitors. Both ran season-best times. Summitt was clocked in 17:21 and Whitehouse in 17:30.
Unity had two top 10 runners, Nicole Bagwell (fifth in 18:39) and Taylor Renfroe (ninth in 18:50).
Monticello’s Madison Tutich was seventh (18:47).
“I’m very excited about the girls,” Remmert said. “They came into the season without even being noticed and they’re putting it all together at end of the season. We’re relying pretty heavily on freshmen and one junior who was not out last year.”
That junior, Taylor Helenthal, was the Sages’ No. 2 runner at sectional, placing 19th in 19:30.
Arthur Okaw Invitational. The Franklin sisters swept the top three spots in Arthur Okaw’s final tuneup before next week’s national christian-school meet in Tennessee. Jessica Franklin was the winner in 17:46, followed by Alexa Franklin (21:12) and Amanda Franklin (22:08).