By Michael Belmont

Gargoyle sports editor


Posted Friday, May 11, 2007, The OG, boys track & sports

GIBSON CITY — Senior Nick Pratt won the high jump as the boys track team finished fourth out of five teams at the Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley Invitational Thursday.

Pratt jumped 5 feet, 10 inches, narrowly beating out his second-place competitor from El Paso-Gridley.

The Illineks also got top three finishes from sophomore Kareem Sayegh (300 hurdles, third place, 54.1 seconds), and junior Frankie McFarland (shot put, third place, 40-2).

The 4x200 and 4x800 relay teams both placed third with times of 1:47.2 and 9:51.2, respectively.

Uni rested many of its top 400 and 800 runners for the Mahomet Invitational on Saturday.

Host GCMS won the meet with 156 points while runner-up Heyworth finished with 147. Paxton-Buckley-Loda came in third with 89, followed by Uni with 56 and El Paso-Gridley with 44.

The Illineks begin their postseason May 18 when they compete in the 16-team Class A Tuscola sectional. The IHSA state meet will be held May 25-26 at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

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: see above

• 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

Remaining meets: see schedule