By Sergei Pourmal
Gargoyle co-editor-in-chief
Posted Saturday, April 29, 2006, The OG, sports

For the second Friday in a row, the boys 3,200-meter relay team of seniors Cameron Cropek and Kangway Chuang, freshman Malcolm Taylor, and sophomore Austin Rundus ran a seasonal best, clocking in at 8 minutes, 23.30 seconds to finish second at the Spartan Classic in St. Joseph.

The boys are now barely one second away from cracking the state-qualifying time of 8:22.24 (fully automated timing; manual timing is 8:22.00) and look to cross that threshold at the Mahomet-Seymour Invite on May 13. They were 4.40 seconds behind first-place Monticello, which set a Spartan Classic record (8:18.90).

“The 4x800 is in great shape and on track to make it to state finals,” said senior runner Sam Smyth. “They should come away with the sectional crown with ease.”

Individually, several runners had a successful evening, including Rundus, who placed first in the freshman/sophomore 1,600 with a time of 4:46.50. Senior Cameron Cropek finished fourth in his mile, clocking in at 4:47.80. The automatic state-qualifying times are 4:37.00 manual, 4:37.24 fully automated.

Taylor placed fifth in the freshman/sophomore 400 with a time of 54.72 seconds. Although he will not likely qualify individually this year (the qualifying times are 51.7 manual, 51.94 fully automated), he is promising to be one of Uni's best runners in the years to come.

“Austin ran a great race, obviously, winning the fresh-soph mile,” Smyth said. “Cameron also did well, though he was up against considerable competition in his mile. Both of them have the chance of qualifying after the taper week before sectionals. Kangway also has a chance of qualifying.Malcolm ran his first open 400, and he is certainly one of the fastest freshman in the area.”

Uni will compete in the Class A sectionals on May 19. The Illineks are assigned to the 15-school Tolono (Unity) bracket. The state finals will be held a week later at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.