Posted Friday, May 19, 2006, The OG, sports

[Note: This story was updated Sunday, May 21, to include additional information from the IHSA.]

The 3,200-meter relay team of seniors Cameron Cropek and Kangway Chuang, freshman Malcolm Taylor, and sophomore Austin Rundus won the Tolono (Unity) Class A sectional title tonight with a personal-record time of 8 minutes, 15.42 seconds.

The team will compete Friday in the Class A state finals at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

The boys easily won the sectional championship, defeating second-place St. Thomas More (8:25.58) by 10 seconds.

The Illineks' time was almost eight seconds faster than their previous best, 8:23.30 at the St. Joseph-Ogden Spartan Classic on April 28. The boys beat the automatic state-qualifying time by almost seven seconds (8:22.00 manual timing, 8:22.24 fully automated timing).

The outcome was never in doubt as soon as Cropek opened up a lead in the first leg. Chuang built on the lead, then Taylor and Rundus pulled away from the field. Rundus crossed the finish line with no challengers within striking distance.

According to the IHSA, 33 Class A teams qualified for the 4x800 state finals. Preliminary heats will be held Friday, with the 12 top teams advancing to Saturday's championship race. Uni's sectional time was the fifth fastest in the state. Here is the top five.

[Note: The times listed below are the most recent figures provided by the IHSA; they were posted at 10:04 a.m. on Sunday. They are slightly different from the times reported by site managers immediately after sectionals on Friday. Also, Monticello qualified for state with the 13th-fastest time, but that is deceptive. The Sages ran an extraordinary 8:01.30 at the News-Gazette Honor Roll Meet on Monday, faster than any time recorded at the 16 sectionals.]

1. Sparta, 8:05.84
2. Newton, 8:11.34
3. Oregon, 8:12.54
4. Princeton, 8:14.04
5. Uni, 8:15.74

No other Uni team members qualified for state. (To advance, athletes had to finish in the top two in their events or meet automatic qualifying standards.)

Cropek was the closest to making state individually, finishing third in the 1,600 run (4:46.36) by slightly less than four seconds. Rundus placed fourth in the same event (4:58.36). In the 800, Taylor placed fourth as well (2:11.37).

In other events:

• Jeremy Pillow, 400, fifth (55.27)
• Zhe Gao, 3,200, fifth (10:59.90)
• Uni 1,600-relay team, fifth (3:43.71)

Overall, the Illineks scored 30 points, good enough for sixth place in the 15-school meet. St. Joseph-Ogden placed first with 140 points.

— Gargoyle staff