By Gargoyle sports staff
Posted Friday, May 18, 2007, The OG, boys track & sports

Senior Nicolas Pratt records a personal best in
the long jump Friday at Tuscola. He qualified for
state in two events: the 400 and 4x400.
(Gargoyle photo) (click to enlarge)

TUSCOLA — The boys track team qualified for the IHSA state finals in three events at tonight's Class A Tuscola sectional: the 3,200-meter relay, 400 dash, and 1,600 relay.

“Fantastic,” said coach Doug Mynatt about the Illineks' evening. “A lot of good performances. Seasonal bests, personal bests, school records, state-qualifying performances.”

A REPEAT TITLE FOR THE 4X800

The 4x800 squad of sophomore Isaac Chambers, junior Jacob Olshansky, junior Austin Rundus, and sophomore Malcolm Taylor won the sectional title in the 3,200, defeating St. Joseph-Ogden by slightly more than 3 seconds.

The Illineks clocked in at 8 minutes, 27.53 seconds, followed by the Spartans at 8:30.67. Both squads will advance to the state meet, which will be held May 25-26 at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

At sectionals, athletes can qualify for state by finishing in the top two of their events or by meeting the automatic state qualifying standard in their events.

This is the second year in a row that the Uni boys have won the 4x800 sectional title.

Last year, the team of then-seniors Cameron Cropek, Kangway Chuang, Taylor, and Rundus placed first in the Tolono (Unity) sectional, recording a time of 8:15.42.

That squad went on to place 10th at state with a mark of 8:11.88.

The Illineks' time tonight was far short of their season best (8:21.8 at the Mahomet-Seymour Invite on May 12), but it was a good indication of the squad's strengths.

When Rundus took the baton to begin the third leg, he was considerably behind his St. Joseph-Ogden counterpart. But that's exactly what he likes.

“I hunt people,” Rundus said. “I run from behind people.”

He methodically made up ground until he was almost even when Taylor took over for the final leg.

“That was the big difference in that race right there,” Mynatt said of Rundus' performance. “If he hadn't closed that up, we're in a lot of trouble.”

By the time Taylor began his two laps, it was clear he could significantly outrun the Spartans' anchor, but he paced himself until the final lap, when he took the lead for good.

“I kind of misjudged my opponents, and I went a little slower than I usually do,” Taylor said. “I got the win, we're going — I'll make sure I'll make up for it at state.”

Said Mynatt of his sectional champs: “They did what they needed to do. They did the bare minimum they needed to do. They won the race, they qualified, [but] not necessarily the way I would have liked to have seen them do it.”

Still, Mynatt likes the squad's chances in the upcoming state meet.

“I know — and I think a lot of other teams and coaches know now — that [with] Austin and Malcolm running three and four, we're going to be catching a lot of people,” he said.

PRATT JOINS THE QUALIFYING CLUB IN TWO EVENTS

In the 400, senior Nicolas Pratt finished third overall, but his time of 51.64 seconds beat the automatic qualifying mark of 51.94.

“I didn't feel like I did as well as I could have, but I'm satisfied,” Pratt said. “It's the second fastest time I've ever had.” (He recorded his fastest time — 51.52 — earlier in the week at the News-Gazette Honor Roll Meet.)

Zach Flessner of St. Joseph-Ogden won the race in 51.21 seconds, followed by Mike Burgess of Tuscola in 51.47.

In the 4x400 relay, the Uni squad of Chambers, Rundus, Taylor, and Pratt also placed third and beat the automatic qualifying time by more than a full second. In fact, the top four teams in the 4x400 were fast enough to qualify for state automatically.

To make sure they took their best shot at qualifying, three of the team members decided not to compete in their strongest individual events. Taylor passed on the 400, while Rundus and Chambers sat out the 800.

“Doug said that if we were feeling good and looking like we could pull something big in the 4x400, he'd just keep us out of our open races,” Rundus said.

Mynatt gave the three runners a choice, and they decided to focus on the relay.

The Illineks ran the event in a school-record 3:30.31; the automatic standard is 3:31.74.

The squad's time was a remarkable 4 seconds faster than the previous Uni record of 3:34.49, which the same runners set April 27 at the Spartan Classic in St. Joseph.

Tuscola won the relay in 3:28.03, followed by St. Joseph-Ogden in 3:29.90. The Illineks beat out the fourth-place Unity Rockets, who nevetheless qualifed with a time of 3:31.07.

In an exciting finish, Pratt overtook Unity's Zebo Zebe, one of the area's top runners, in the final 50 meters or so with an extraordinary burst of speed. According to Pratt, his training with the Uni sprinting team paid off.

“I think something that helped a lot was we did some short 60-meter runs,” Pratt said. “Just having that quick speed at the end really helps.”

PRATT, MCFARLAND TURN IN OTHER NOTEWORTHY PERFORMANCES

Though he didn't advance to state in any other events, Pratt showed his versatility tonight by placing in the high jump and long jump.

He tied for sixth in the high jump with a height of 5 feet, 6 inches. His long jump of 20 feet, 1/4 inch was a personal record and earned fourth place.

Pratt's distance in the long jump was a PR by about 11 inches.

“I've got the technique down,” he said. “I'm not going to be able to do anything in college but just having that helps make me feel good about my senior track year.”

Cody Roberts of Unity won the high jump with a mark of 6 feet, while Lance Dillon of Danville Schlarman won the long jump with a distance of 21 feet, 7 1/4 inches.

Also noteworthy tonight was the performance of junior Frankie McFarland. Though he didn't qualify for state, he set a school record in the discus with a throw of 132 feet, 2 1/2 inches.

John Wienke of Tuscola won the event with a mark of 153 feet, 5 inches.

In just his first year of throwing the discus, McFarland broke a Uni record that had stood for 26 years, according to head coach Doug Mynatt. The previous record of 127 feet, 11 inches had been set in 1981 by Ken Parker.

“That's something I've had athletes trying to break ever since I've been here,” Mynatt said. “For Frankie to come out in his first year and do it like he did it was amazing. It was great to see. I'm glad to see he enjoyed doing it too.”

In all, the evening was a major success for the Illineks, who now look toward the state prelims on May 25.

“I was kind of hoping to get in the 400,” Pratt said. “I didn't think we were going to get in the 4x4. We cut about 4 seconds off our time, which is a really good improvement. I'm really happy because my dad was in track when he was in high school, and I kind of wanted to show myself I could be as good as him.”

Only Pratt will graduate this June, so the other Illineks have the prospect of more state meets to look forward to.

“It's gonna be fun,” Chambers said. “We have next year to work on improving and growing stronger.”

TUSCOLA SECTIONAL MEET IN PHOTOS

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: Illineks impress at News-Gazette Honor Roll Meet

• 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

May 18: Class A Sectional (at Tuscola H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 6th (out of 16 teams)

• STORY: see above

• EVENT RESULTS (top 6 finishes):

— 400: Nicolas Pratt (sr), 51.64, 3rd (state qualifier)

— 4x400 relay: Isaac Chambers (so), Austin Rundus (jr), Malcolm Taylor (so), Pratt, 3rd, 3:30.31 (state qualifiers)

— 4x800 relay: Chambers, Jacob Olshansky (jr), Rundus, Taylor, 1st, 8:27.53 (state qualifiers)

— long jump: Pratt, 20-1/4, 4th (personal record)

— high jump: Pratt, 5-6, 6th

— discus: Frankie McFarland, 132-2 1/4 (did not place in top 6 but set Uni record)

Remaining meets: see schedule