By Michael Belmont

Gargoyle sports editor

Posted Tuesday, May 15, 2007, The OG, girls track & boys track & sports

Senior Paige Martin clears 10 feet, 6 inches

Monday night to set a personal record in the

pole vault. She won the event at the News-

Gazette Honor Roll Meet. (Gargoyle photo)

(click to enlarge)

URBANA — The boys 4x800 relay and senior pole vaulter Paige Martin each won first place at the News-Gazette Honor Roll Meet at the University of Illinois Track & Field Stadium Monday night.

Martin shattered her previous personal best 10-foot vault by 6 inches using a different kind of pole she borrowed from a Centennial vaulter. Martin's three closest competitors each vaulted 9-0. They were from Unity, Prairie Central, and Class AA Mahomet-Seymour.

Martin's 9-9 vault at sectionals last week was good enough to qualify her for the Class A state finals, which will take place Friday and Saturday at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

Out of the field of 48 qualifying vaulters, Martin's performance at sectionals put her at 10th. Six of the girls who outperformed Martin in sectionals vaulted 10 feet, well below Martin's 10-6 showing at the N-G Honor Roll Meet.

“I feel much more optimistic,” Martin said. “Now I know I can beat 10 feet easily. Hopefully [this performance] will boost my confidence going into state.”

Martin said the pole she used in the Honor Roll Meet was stiffer than the one she usually uses. She will try to borrow a similar pole from Urbana's coach for the state meet.

Also on Monday, the boys 4x800 relay team of sophomore Isaac Chambers, juniors Jacob Olshansky and Austin Rundus, and sophomore Malcolm Taylor won the event by a solid margin of more than 5 seconds.

The News-Gazette reported their final time at 8 minutes, 24.04 seconds, but the individual split times reported by Uni's coaching staff add up to 8:23.5. In any event, the Illineks easily outran second-place Monticello, which clocked in at 8:29.97.

According to the Uni coaches, Chambers ran 2:06.5, Olshansky 2:12.5, Rundus 2:04.1, and Taylor 2:00.4. Taylor's time was a personal best.

The Uni squad ran its seasonal-best time of 8:21.8 Saturday at the Mahomet-Seymour Invite.

At last year's N-G Honor Roll Meet, Monticello set the meet record of 8:01.30 on its way to a first-place finish. Uni's relay of Rundus, Taylor, and then-seniors Kangway Chuang and Cameron Cropek finished second at that meet with a time of 8:33.88.

Meanwhile, the girls 4x800 relay team and senior 400 runner Nicolas Pratt also achieved top three finishes Monday night.

Sophomore Lizzy Warner, senior Aria Collopy, and juniors Shivani Khanna and Ruthie Welch combined to place second with a season record 10:09.8, while Pratt took home third with a season-best time of 51.52.

Mahomet-Seymour ran the girls 4x800 in 9:46.2 to win the event. The Illineks cut almost 3 seconds off their sectional-championship time of 10:12.34, finishing ahead of third-place Monticello (10:17.4) by almost 8 seconds.

Last year's Illinek squad of Welch, Khanna, then-freshman Laura Hazlett, and then-senior Josie Chambers also placed second to Mahomet-Seymour but ran 10:25.01.

This year's squad heads into Friday's state prelims ranked 17th out of 41 qualifying teams. Only 12 teams will advance to Saturday's medal round.

Alonzo Bender of Class AA Danville won the boys 400 with a time of 51.14, while St. Joseph-Ogden's Zach Flessner placed second with a time of 51.36.

The Class A automatic state qualifying time in the boys 400 is 51.7 if the timing is done manually, 51.94 if done automatically. Either way, if Pratt can repeat his N-G Honor Roll performance at the Tuscola sectional on Friday, he will make the cut for state.

Pratt's time Monday was a fraction faster than the 51.9 he ran Saturday at the Mahomet-Seymour Invite, where he placed second behind teammate Taylor (51.7). Taylor didn't compete in the N-G 400.

In the final event involving a Uni athlete, freshman Elizabeth Russell placed sixth in the 1,600 with a time of 5:49.15. Russell ran her personal best of 5:39.23 at sectionals on Friday.

Mahomet-Seymour's Amy Clawson won the girls 1,600 with a time of 5:21.78.

Russell heads into Friday's state prelims ranked 23rd out of 38 qualifiers.

The boys will begin their postseason Friday when they compete in the 16-team Tuscola sectional. Familiar opponents in the sectional include St. Joseph-Ogden, Unity, and St. Thomas More.

2007 GIRLS VARSITY TRACK & FIELD RESULTS (OUTDOOR)

March 29: Gibson City Meet (at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 5th (out of 5 teams), 30 pts

• STORY: Relay teams run season bests at Indoor Classic (Outdoor results included in story)

• EVENT RESULTS (top 3 finishes):

— 100: Rachel Skoza (so), 2nd, 14.35

— 3,200: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 3rd, 13:56.7

— 4x200 relay: Skoza, Katherine Allen (fr), Angie Jin (jr), Lizzy Warner (so), 3rd, 2:03.08

— 4x400 relay: Skoza, Allen, Russell, Warner, 2nd, 4:41.6

— high jump: Russell, 3rd, 4-8

— triple jump: Russell, 1st, 30-0

March 31: Champaign County Meet (at Urbana H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: No overall team standings were compiled

• STORY: Uni athletes take first in three events at county meet

• EVENT RESULTS (top 5 finishes):

— 400: Lizzy Warner (so), 4th, 1:09.8

— 3,200: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 5th, 14:01

— 4x200 relay: Rachel Skoza (so), Katherine Allen (fr), Cheyenne Stewart (fr), Warner, 4th, 2:00.1

— 4x400 relay: Skoza, Allen, Linda Ly (fr), Warner, 1st, 4:49

— 4x800 relay: Shivani Khanna (jr), Elaine Gu (so), Aria Collopy (sr), Ruthie Welch (jr), 1st, 10:48

— high jump: Russell, 3rd, 4-6

— long jump: Angie Jin (jr), 4th, 14-1

— triple jump: Russell, 1st, 29-11

April 10: Gibson City Tri-Meet (at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 2nd (out of 3 teams)

• STORY: Uni athletes win 11 events against GCMS, PBL

• EVENT RESULTS (top 3 finishes):

— 200: Cheyenne Stewart (fr), 2nd, 31.04

— 400: Aria Collopy (sr), 1st, 1:07.41; Ruthie Welch (jr), 2nd, 1:08.6

— 800: Shivani Khanna (jr), 1st, 2:40.1; Elizabeth Russell (fr), 2nd, 2:45.6

— 1,600: Katie Easley (sr), 2nd, 6:56.8

— 3,200: Elaine Gu (so), 2nd, 13:02.6

— 4x200 relay: Rachel Skoza (so), Katherine Allen (fr), Stewart, Lizzy Warner (so), 1st, 2:00.6

— 4x400 relay: Welch, Khanna, Skoza, Warner, 1st, 4:38.7

— 4x800 relay: Warner, Collopy, Welch, Khanna, 1st, 10:48.9

— long jump: Angela Jin (jr), 3rd, 12-1

— triple jump: Russell, 1st, 28-9

April 13: Unity Girls Invitational (at Unity H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 11th (out of 21 teams)

• STORY: Relay teams run seasonal bests at Unity Invite

• EVENT RESULTS (top 10 finishes):

— 400: Lizzy Warner (so), 8th, 1:04.87; Aria Collopy (sr), 9th, 1:06.17

— 800: Ruthie Welch (jr), 3rd, 2:32.51

— 1,600: Elaine Gu (so), 4th, 5:55.02

— 4x400 relay: Welch, Elizabeth Russell (fr), Collopy, Warner, 5th, 4:33.48

— 4x800 relay: Welch, Collopy, Russell, Gu, 2nd, 10:39.24

— long jump: Angie Jin (jr), 8th, 13-07.25

— triple jump: Russell, 8th, 29-07.50

April 20: Falcon Invitational (at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 11th (out of 16 teams)

• STORY: Illineks tune up for sectionals with Falcon Invitational

• EVENT RESULTS (top 5 finishes):

— 800: Ruthie Welch (jr), 5th, 2:35.77

— 1,600: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 3rd, 5:46.41; Shivani Khanna (jr), 5th, 5:47.14

— 4x400 relay: Welch, Khanna, Aria Collopy (sr), Rachel Skoza (so), 5th, 4:37.85

— 4x800 relay: Welch, Collopy, Khanna, Elaine Gu (so), 2nd, 10:31.07

— Distance medley relay: Skoza, Gu, Linda Ly (fr), Katherine Allen (fr), 3rd, 4:56.25

April 24: Unity Dual Meet (at Unity H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 2nd (out of 2 teams)

• STORY: none. In several of the events, Uni faced no competition; in others the competitors were overwhelmingly from Unity High. The meet gave both teams a chance to experiment with different lineups. “The best thing about the meet was we learned how to compete against ourselves — how to push ourselves,” said junior Shivani Khanna.

April 27: Monticello Lady Sages Invitational (at Monticello H.S)

• TEAM FINISH: 14th (out of 21 teams)

• STORY: Martin, 4x800 team excel at Lady Sages Invitational

• EVENT RESULTS (top 15 finishes):

— 200: Rachel Skoza (so), 12th (semifinals heat), 29.79

— 400: Lizzy Warner (so), 10th, 1:05.84; Aria Collopy (sr), 12th, 1:06.55

— 800: Shivani Khanna (jr), 5th, 2:31.17; Ruthie Welch (jr), 7th, 2:33.44

— 1,600: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 5th, 5:49.10; Elaine Gu (so), 7th, 5:51.76

— 300 low hurdles: Paige Martin (sr), 14th, 55.60

— 4x200 relay: Skoza, Katherine Allen (fr), Cheyenne Stewart (fr), Rachel Harmon (fr), 10th, 2:01.31

— 4x400 relay: Welch, Khanna, Collopy, Warner, 7th, 4:26.79

— 4x800 relay: Warner, Khanna, Gu, Welch, 3rd, 10:15.50

— Triple jump: Martin, 7th, 30-0; Russell, 11th, 28-10.5

— Pole vault: Martin, 2nd, 9-0

May 4: Lady Spartan Classic (at St. Joseph-Ogden H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 9th (out of 18 teams)

• STORY: Shorthanded Uni turns in strong performance at Lady Spartan Classic

• EVENT RESULTS (top 6 finishes):

— 1,600: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 6th, 5:52.63

— 4x200 relay: Rachel Skoza (so), Katherine Allen (fr), Cheyenne Stewart (fr), Rachel Harmon (fr), 5th, 1:57.11

— 4x400 relay: Skoza, Russell, Aria Collopy (sr), Lizzy Warner (so), 6th (tie with St. Thomas More), 4:31.28

— 4x800 relay: Warner, Shivani Khanna (jr), Collopy, Ruthie Welch (jr), 3rd, 10:22.01

— Triple jump: Paige Martin (sr), 2nd, 31-6

— Pole vault: Martin, 1st, 10-0

May 10: Class A Sidell (Jamaica) Sectional (at St. Joseph-Ogden H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: not applicable (this was for pole vault only)

• STORY: Martin wins sectional title in pole vault

• EVENT RESULT:

— Pole vault: Paige Martin (sr), 1st, 9-9 (IHSA state qualifier) (automatic state qualifying standard: 8-6)

May 11: Class A Sidell (Jamaica) Sectional (at Catlin H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 8th (out of 16 teams)

• STORY: Illineks advance to state meet in three events

• EVENT RESULTS (top 6 finishes):

— 400: Lizzy Warner (so), 6th, 1:05.55 (automatic state qualifying time: 1:02.04)

— 800: Ruthie Welch (jr), 4th, 2:35.83; Shivani Khanna (jr), 5th, 2:35.97 (automatic state qualifying time: 2:27.24)

— 1,600: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 2nd, 5:39.23 (IHSA state qualifier) (automatic state qualifying time: 5:36.24)

— 4x800 relay: Warner, Aria Collopy (sr), Khanna, Welch, 1st, 10:12.34 (IHSA state qualifier) (automatic state qualifying time: 10:23.74)

— Triple jump: Paige Martin (sr), 5th, 31-6; Russell, 6th, 30-10.5 (automatic state qualifying standard: 33-5)

May 14: News-Gazette Honor Roll Meet (at U of I Track & Field Stadium)

• TEAM FINISH: not applicable

• STORY: see above

• EVENT RESULTS (all finishes)

— 1,600: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 6th, 5:49.15

— 4x800 relay: Lizzy Warner (so), Aria Collopy (sr), Shivani Khanna (jr), Ruthie Welch (jr), 2nd, 10:09.8

— Pole vault: Paige Martin (sr), 1st, 10-6 (school record)

Remaining meets: see schedule

2007 BOYS VARSITY TRACK & FIELD RESULTS (OUTDOOR)

March 29: Gibson City Meet (at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 5th (out of 5 teams), 17 pts

• STORY: Relay teams run season bests at Indoor Classic (Outdoor results included in story)

• EVENT RESULTS (top 3 finishes):

— 110 hurdles: Nick Zukoski (fr), 3rd, 21.1

— 300 hurdles: Zukoski, 3rd, 57.8

— shot put: Frankie McFarland (jr), 3rd, 41-11.5

April 10: Gibson City Tri-Meet (at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 3rd (out of 3 teams)

• STORY: Uni athletes win 11 events against GCMS, PBL

• EVENT RESULTS (top 3 finishes):

— 400: Nick Pratt (sr), 1st, 54.06; Isaac Chambers (so), 3rd, 56.84

— 800: Malcolm Taylor (so), 1st, 2:10.1

— 3,200: Nathan Smith (fr), 3rd, 11:56.1

— 110 hurdles: Nick Zukoski (fr), 2nd, 21.4

— 4x200 relay: Carter Hutchens (so), Noel Knox (so), Cheng Luo (so), Kareem Sayegh (so), 1st, 1:46.0

— 4x400 relay: Pratt, Taylor, Jacob Olshansky (jr), Chambers, 1st, 3:53.2

— 4x800 relay: Taylor, Austin Rundus (jr), Chambers, Olshansky, 1st, 8:54.2

— long jump: Pratt, 3rd, 17-10

— shot put: Frankie McFarland (jr), 2nd, 41-3

April 20: Unity Boys Invitational (at Unity H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 9th (out of 13 teams)

• STORY: 4x800 team wins at Unity Invite, on pace for state

• EVENT RESULTS (top 10 finishes):

— 400: Nick Pratt (sr), 5th, 54.51; Isaac Chambers (so), 10th, 56.31

— 1,600: Jacob Olshansky (jr), 10th, 5:10.09; Sam Imlay (jr), 10th place, 5:10.09

— 3,200: Jack Snyder (fr), 10th, 11:46.42

— 110 hurdles: Nick Zukoski (fr), 8th, 21.19

— 300 hurdles: Carter Hutchens (so), 10th, 49.79

— 4x400 relay: Chambers, Rundus, Olshansky, Pratt, 4th, 3:42.34

— 4x800 relay: Chambers, Olshansky, Austin Rundus (jr), Malcolm Taylor (so), 1st, 8:39.08

— high jump: Pratt, 9th, 5-2

— long jump: Pratt, 4th, 18-3

— triple jump: Kareem Sayegh (so), 9th, 34-0

— shot put: Frankie McFarland (jr), 8th, 40-7

April 24: Unity Dual Meet (at Unity H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 2nd (out of 2 teams)

• STORY: none. In several of the events, Uni faced no competition; in others the competitors were overwhelmingly from Unity High. The meet gave both teams a chance to experiment with different lineups.

April 27: St. Joseph-Ogden Spartan Classic (at SJO H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 7th (out of 17 teams)

• STORY: 4x800 places first, 4x400 makes school history

• EVENT RESULTS (top 5 finishes):

— 400: Malcolm Taylor (so), 3rd, 52.55; Nick Pratt (sr), 4th, 52.72

— fresh/soph 400: Isaac Chambers (so), 3rd 55.00

— 4x400 relay: Chambers, Austin Rundus (jr), Taylor, Pratt (sr), 3rd, 3:34.49 (school record)

— 4x800 relay: Chambers, Jacob Olshansky (jr), Rundus, Taylor, 1st, 8:25.72

May 10: Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley Invitational (at GCMS High School)

• TEAM FINISH: 4th (out of 5 teams)

• STORY: Pratt leads Illineks at GCMS Invitational

• EVENT RESULTS (top 3 finishes):

— 300 hurdles: Kareen Sayegh (so), 3rd, 54.1

— 4x200 relay (members to be posted): 3rd, 1:47.2

— 4x800 relay (members to be posted): 3rd, 9:51.2

— high jump: Nick Pratt (sr), 1st, 5-10

— shot put: Frankie McFarland (jr), 3rd, 40-2

May 12: Mahomet-Seymour Invite (at Mahomet-Seymour H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 10th (out of 16 teams)

• STORY: May 12 boys meet: Taylor, Pratt dominate 400 run at Mahomet; 4x800 looks strong

• EVENT RESULTS (top 8 finishes):

— 400: Malcolm Taylor (so), 1st, 51.7; Nick Pratt (sr), 2nd, 51.9

— 4x400: Isaac Chambers (so), Austin Rundus (jr), Taylor, Pratt, 5th, 3:36.5

— 4x800: Chambers, Jacob Olshansky (jr), Rundus, Taylor, 2nd, 8:21.8

May 14: News-Gazette Honor Roll Meet (at U of I Track & Field Stadium)

• TEAM FINISH: not applicable

• STORY: see above

• EVENT RESULTS (all finishes)

— 400: Nick Pratt (sr), 3rd, 51.52

— 4x800 relay: Isaac Chambers (so), Jacob Olshansky (jr), Austin Rundus (jr), Malcolm Taylor (so), 1st, 8:23.5

Remaining meets: see schedule