ST. JOSEPH — Competing in their first coed outdoor meet of the year, the Uni boys and girls track teams won first place in eight events Thursday at St. Joseph-Ogden High School, led by Malcolm Taylor's blistering performance in the 400-meter dash.

Taylor won that race in 50.79 seconds, more than a full second faster than the Class A state qualifying time of 51.94 (fully automatic timing).

Other first-place individual winners were sophomore Tuli Bera (100 dash, triple jump) and Lizzy Warner (400) for the girls, and Frankie McFarland (discus, shot put) for the boys.

Also topping the field were the girls 4x400 relay team (Ruthie Welch, Katherine Allen, Ashley Huddson, Warner) and the boys 4x800 (Isaac Chambers, Sam Imlay, Jacob Olshansky, Taylor).

Five teams competed in the SJO meet on both the boys and girls sides: Uni, SJO, St. Thomas More, Paxton-Buckley-Loda, and Hoopeston Area.

The Uni girls (68 points) finished second overall to SJO (215), while the Uni boys placed fourth (60), slightly behind third-place PBL (64). The SJO boys took first place with 142 points.

The girls in review

Running in the 100 dash for the first time this season, and having only recently returned from competing in the 55 dash at the Illinois Prep Top Times Indoor Classic, Bera recorded a winning time of 13.30. In the triple jump, her first-place distance was 31 feet, 0 inches.

Welch was also returning from competing at IPTT, making this her first outdoor meet of the year. The senior led off the girls 4x400, which finished with a winning time of 4:26.16, dropping approximately 15 seconds from the Champaign County Girls Meet the previous weekend.

Welch placed second in the 800 with a time of 2:29.36. Although the FAT qualifying time for state in this event is 2:27.24, Welch has already broken this barrier at IPTT.

No Illinek besides Taylor met an IHSA qualifying standard at the SJO meet, but Warner came the closest, winning the 400 in 1:2.55, half a second away from the FAT mark of 1:02.04.

In long jump, junior Rachel Skoza placed second with 13-10. She also finished second in the 200 with a time of 29.68.

Finally, the girls 4x100 relay, consisting of sophomore Linda Ly, junior Deborah Ladd, senior Angie Jin, and sophomore Cheyenne Stewart, placed third with a time of 57.01.

For more details about how the girls fared, visit the Gargoyle Scoreboard.

The boys in review

Leading off for the boys was the 4x800 team, recording a time of 8:35.6. The race was particularly exciting as Taylor was able to fill an approximate 100-meter gap between Uni and SJO. While Taylor was sprinting the last 200 meters, another competitor slowed to a stop to allow Taylor to pass and the two collided. Nonetheless, after tripping, Taylor was able to regain his balance and speed to defeat SJO by two seconds.

Taylor, along with Chambers, also competed in the 400 dash, finishing first (50.79) and fourth (55.25), respectively.

In field events, McFarland's winning distances were 127-3 in the discus and 42-5 1/2 in the shot put. The senior is less than seven feet away from qualifying in the shot (49-0).

Uni's only second-place finish on the boys side came courtesy of the 4x400 team (Chambers, Nathan Smith, Olshansky, Taylor).

Illinek athletes placed third in three events: the 3,200 run (Buck Walsh, 11:47.28), the 4x200 relay (Langston Allston-Yeagle, Noel Knox, Carter Hutchens, Kareem Sayegh, 1:41.91), and the triple jump (Sayegh, 34-2 1/4).

For more details about how the boys fared, visit the Gargoyle Scoreboard.

Tuscola freshman-sophomore girls meet

Two days after the SJO contest, Uni competed in the Tuscola freshman-sophomore meet for girls. Sophomore sprinter Rachel Harmon and freshman hurdler/long jumper Fiona Weingartner were unable to participate due to injuries. (They also sat out the SJO meet.)

Medals went to athletes placing in the top three of their events. Winning individual medals were Tuli Bera, first place, sophomore 100 dash (13.3), and Ashley Huddson, third place, freshman 400 dash (1:05.0).

Also winning medals were the members of the first-place 4x100 relay team: Cheyenne Stewart, Katherine Allen, Huddson, Bera (55.6).

Next up for Uni track is a coed meet Tuesday at PBL.

For more details about how the freshman-sophomore girls fared, visit the Gargoyle Scoreboard.