By Michael Belmont

Gargoyle sports editor


Posted Monday, May 14, 2007, The OG, boys track & sports

Junior Austin Rundus, shown above in a

dual meet with Unity on April 24, is aiming

for a repeat trip to state in the 4x800.

(Gargoyle photo) (click to enlarge)

MAHOMET — Competing against Class A and AA runners, sophomore Malcolm Taylor and senior Nick Pratt placed first and second in the 400-meter dash at the Mahomet-Seymour Invite Saturday.

Taylor won the event with a time of 51.7 seconds, while Pratt finished close behind in 51.9 seconds. The third-place runner from Stanford Olympia finished in 52.3 seconds.

“I've been really impressed,” junior teammate Austin Rundus said of Pratt and Taylor's performances in the 400 late this season. “They've been dropping a lot of time. The competition with each other has really helped them out.”

The 4x800 relay team of sophomore Isaac Chambers, junior Jacob Olshansky, Rundus, and Taylor finished second with a seasonal-best time of 8:21.8, easily outpacing the rest of the Class A field. Monticello was a distant third at 8:27.3.

Uni's time was faster than the automatic state qualifying standard of 8:22.24 (fully automated), the first time this season the squad has achieved that milestone.

Class AA power Mahomet-Seymour cleared the competition to win the event in 8:14.2.

Uni's 4x400 relay of Chambers, Rundus, Taylor, and Pratt also ran strong, clocking in at 3:36.5 for a fifth-place finish.

“We were pleasantly surprised,” Taylor said of the Illineks' performance. “We did better than we thought we would.”

Uni came in 10th overall at the 16-team meet. The Illineks scored 31.5 points, placing ahead of Bloomington Central Catholic (29), Danville (23), Prairie Central (23), Delavan (15), Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley (14), and Riverton (9.5).

Finishing just ahead of Uni were Normal U-High (35) and Henry-Midland (34) in eighth and ninth, respectively.

Host Mahomet-Seymour breezed to the top of the standings with 162 points, followed by Pontiac with 65.

On Monday, the boys and girls 4x800 relays will both compete at the News-Gazette Honor Roll Meet at the University of Illinois track stadium.

Senior Paige Martin will also compete in the pole vault, as will Pratt in the 400 and freshman Elizabeth Russell in the 1,600.

With the Class A boys sectionals coming up Friday at Tuscola, the Illineks remain confident but realistic about their chances to advance to the IHSA state finals, which will be held May 25-26 at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

“Our sectional is not one of the stronger sectionals for the [4x800],” Rundus said. “We're probably the favorites.”

Last year, the 4x800 team of then-seniors Cameron Cropek and Kangway Chuang, Taylor, and Rundus won the Tolono (Unity) sectional with a time of 8:15.42. The squad went on to place 10th at state.

The 4x400 relay also has a shot of making the state finals this year, albeit with slimmer odds. The squad set a school record in the event on April 27 with a time of 3:34.49 at the Spartan Classic in St. Joseph.

Additionally, Pratt and Taylor are within reach of the automatic qualifying time for the individual 400.

“There are two teams that are definitely ahead of us [in the 4x400], so we'll probably have to get the state qualifying time, which is 3:32 [3:31.74],” Rundus said. “We're 2 seconds off that. It's possible; it just depends on how people feel.”

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: see above

• 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

Remaining meets: see schedule