MONTICELLO — Senior Frankie McFarland won two titles and junior Malcolm Taylor ran the fastest Class A 400-meter time in the state Friday night at the Monticello track and field sectional.

In all, Uni advanced to next week's IHSA state meet in four events: shot put, discus throw, 400 dash, and 4x800 relay. Scoring 40 points, the Illineks finished the night in sixth place at the 17-team sectional. Host Monticello won the meet with 132 points.

McFarland's big night

McFarland won the discus with a throw of 133 feet, 3 inches. Senior Gavin Meador of Fisher was second with a distance of 128-10.

Athletes qualified for the May 23-24 state meet at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston if they placed in the top two of their events or met automatic qualifying standards. The automatic mark in the discus was 143-0.

The Notre Dame-bound McFarland also outthrew the field in the shot put. His winning toss went 45-10 1/2, a foot farther than the 44-10 1/2 recorded by second-place Brandon Noe of St. Thomas More. The automatic standard was 49-0.

Neither of McFarland's performances was a personal best. His PR in the shot put is 46-4, which came at the May 1 Paxton-Buckley-Loda Varsity Invite. His PR in the discus is 141-1, which he recorded at the April 28 Spartan Classic in St. Joseph. Both distances are school records.

Nevertheless, McFarland met his goal of advancing to state in both events. He said he will spend the coming week working with his throwing coach, Loarn Robertson of Human Kinetics, to prepare for Friday's state prelims at EIU's O'Brien Stadium. If he makes the first-day cut, he will compete Saturday in the state finals.

McFarland's two championships are a testament to his rapid development as a field athlete. He had never competed in track and field until his junior year. Now he owns two school records and a trip to state.

Taylor aiming for state title

Also heading to Charleston next week are Taylor, winner of the 400 dash, and the 4x800 relay team of junior Isaac Chambers, senior Austin Rundus, senior Jacob Olshansky, and Taylor. The relay squad, which made it to state last year with the same runners, placed second.

Taylor won the 400 championship with a time of 49.2 seconds, edging out sophomore Ben Asmus of Heyworth by two-tenths of a second (49.4). The junior's time was on a par with his News-Gazette Honor Roll winning mark of 49.26, but shy of his school-record personal best of 48.99.

Still, Taylor's performance ranked as the fastest in all of Class A. Out of 38 qualifiers from 16 sectionals, only Taylor and Asmus ran a sub-50. Moreover, the Monticello sectional was the fastest in the state, with four qualifiers and two sub-50s.

Indeed, only eight Class AA runners were faster than Taylor. Assuming that he remains healthy, he would most likely enter Friday's 400 prelims as the favorite to win the Class A title.

Return of the 4x800

The 4x800 squad also had an outstanding night, even though Monticello won the event. The Uni squad turned in a season-best 8 minutes, 14.9 seconds, a full second faster than the previous season best of 8:15.9, recorded six days earlier at the Mahomet-Seymour Bulldog Invite.

Chambers, Rundus, Olshansky, and Taylor have run faster only one other time: at last year's state finals, when they placed seventh in Class A with a school-record 8:11.30.

Monticello won Friday's race in 8:10.5, the fastest in Class A. And even though the Illineks didn't come home with the 4x800 championship, they far exceeded their performance from last year, when they won the Tuscola sectional in 8:27.53 — a time that looks glacial compared to this year's.

In fact, Uni ran the third-fastest 4x800 in Class A. Out of 34 qualifying teams in 16 sectionals, only Monticello and Byron (8:12.7) were better.

Heading into the state prelims, Monticello would have to be considered the favorite in the relay, but Uni has a legitimate shot at a top five — perhaps even a top three — finish.

Also earning points for Uni but not advancing to state was the 4x400 team of Chambers, Rundus, sophomore Nathan Smith, and Olshansky. The squad placed fifth out of 11 teams, recording a time of 3:38.60. The qualifying standard is 3:31.5 manual timing, 3:31.74 fully automatic.

All in all, next weekend should be a lot of fun for Uni track and field fans. See you in Charleston.

CLASS A MONTICELLO SECTIONAL AT A GLANCE

TEAM SCORES

1. Monticello 132
2. Bloomington Central Catholic 88
3. St. Thomas More 66
4. Fisher 57
5. Heyworth 55
6. UNI HIGH 40
7. Warrensburg-Latham 35
8. LeRoy 25
9. Macon Meridian 19
10. Decatur St. Teresa 12
11. Cerro Gordo 10
12. Tri-Valley 9
13. Bloomington Cornerstone Christian 2
13. Clinton 2
13. Blue Ridge 2
16. Argenta-Oreana 1

CLASS A MONTICELLO SECTIONAL: UNI RESULTS

TO QUALIFY FOR THE CLASS A STATE FINALS

Athletes must finish in the top two of their respective events or meet the state-qualifying standards in their events to advance to the May 23-24 IHSA state finals at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. The qualifying standards are listed below with the events Uni athletes participated in.

TIMING

The Monticello sectional used manual timing for all running events.

UNI PLACINGS

4x800-Meter Relay
• 2nd place (8:14.90) / 9 teams — Uni High (Isaac Chambers, Austin Rundus, Jacob Olshansky, Malcolm Taylor) *
• Class A qualifying standard: 8:22.0 manual timing / 8:22.24 fully automatic timing (F.A.T.)
* IHSA Class A state qualifier

Discus
• 1st place (133-3) / 24 throwers — Frankie McFarland *
• Class A qualifying standard: 143-0
* IHSA Class A state qualifier

3,200-Meter Run
• 8th place (11:13.70) / 17 runners — Buck Walsh
• 12th place (11:47.70) / 17 runners — Jack Snyder
• Class A qualifying standard: 10:05.0 manual timing / 10:05.24 F.A.T.

100-Meter Dash
• 15th place (12.50) / 26 runners — Kareem Sayegh
• 20th place (12.80) / 26 runners — Terry Qi
• Class A qualifying standard: 11.0 manual / 11.24 F.A.T.

Long Jump
• 16th place (15-11 1/2) / 19 jumpers — Noel Knox
• Class A qualifying standard: 21-0

4x200-Meter Relay
• 8th place (1:46.30) / 11 teams — Uni High (Terry Qi, Frankie McFarland, Noel Knox, Kareem Sayegh)
• Class A qualifying standard: 1:33.7 manual timing / 1:33.94 F.A.T.

400-Meter Dash
• 1st place (49.20) / 25 runners — Malcolm Taylor *
• Class A qualifying standard: 51.7 manual / 51.94 F.A.T.
* IHSA Class A state qualifier

1,600-Meter Run
• 7th place (4:53.60) / 22 runners — Sam Imlay
• 8th place (4:54.50) / 22 runners — Nathan Smith
• Class A qualifying standard: 4:37.0 manual timing / 4:37.24 F.A.T.

Shot Put
• 1st place (45-10 1/2) / 29 throwers — Frankie McFarland *
• Class A qualifying standard: 49-0
* IHSA Class A state qualifier

200-Meter Dash
• 10th place (24.40) / 21 runners — Kareem Sayegh
• 15th place (25.50) / 21 runners — Terry Qi
• Class A qualifying standard: 22.8 manual timing / 23.04 F.A.T.

Triple Jump
• 12th place (35-8) / 16 jumpers — Noel Knox
• Class A qualifying standard: 42-0

4x400-Meter Relay
• 5th place (3:38.60) / 11 teams — Uni High (Isaac Chambers, Austin Rundus, Nathan Smith, Jacob Olshansky)
• Class A qualifying standard: 3:31.5 manual timing / 3:31.74 F.A.T.