By Gargoyle sports staff
Posted Sunday, Oct. 8, 2006, The OG, sports

MAHOMET — Sophomore Malcolm Taylor broke his personal record by 25 seconds en route to a ninth-place finish at Saturday's Mahomet-Seymour Invitational.

Taylor ran the three-mile course in 16 minutes, 14 seconds. His previous best was 16:39, recorded at the Tuscola Invitational on Sept. 16. (Click here for coverage of that meet.)

Uni placed 10th among 17 teams, scoring 295 points. Mahomet-Seymour won the invite with 78 points.

Junior Austin Rundus, who missed several meets in September due to injury, placed 51st, with a time of 17:41. Other results for the Illineks were:

— Nathan Smith, freshman, 18:57, 84th
— Marquis Wang, senior, 19:20, 95th
— Jack Snyder, freshman, 19:22, 97th
— Andrew Weatherhead, freshman, 19:30, 101st
— Cheng Luo, sophomore, 19:40, 103rd

The boys will run compete Monday at the Amboy Invitational.

Given his steady improvement, Taylor has a strong chance to qualify individually for the Class A state finals even if his teammates don't advance. To do that, Taylor will have to finish among the first five runners at Uni's regional meet who are not members of the first five placing teams, and he will have to be among the first seven runners at his sectional meet who are not members of the first five placing teams.

Uni will compete in the St. Joseph regional Oct. 21 at Kickapoo State Park. A week later, Stanford Olympia will host the sectional. The state finals will take place in Peoria on Nov. 4.

2006 VARSITY RESULTS
(Meets at the U of I Illini Meadows in bold; courses are three miles unless otherwise indicated)

Aug. 29: Kickapoo Kickoff Classic, 6th (points to be posted)
Top Uni runner: Austin Rundus, 3rd overall (17:30)

Sept. 2: Chrisman Cowchip Classic, 8th (50 pts)
Top Uni runner: Malcolm Taylor, 1st in No. 2 flight (17:11)

Sept. 5: Twin City Championship, 5th (87 pts)
Top Uni runner: Malcolm Taylor, 4th overall (17:41)

Sept. 9: Peoria Woodruff Invitational, 19th (points to be posted)
Top Uni runner: Malcolm Taylor, 23rd overall (16:44)

Sept. 12: Home Meet, 2nd (39 points)
Top Uni runner: Malcolm Taylor, 1st overall (17:29)

Sept. 16: Tuscola Invitational, 12th (279 pts)
Top Uni runner: Malcolm Taylor, 6th overall (16:39)

Sept. 19: Clinton Quad Meet, 4th (72 pts)
Top Uni runner: Malcolm Taylor, 3rd overall (17:32)

Sept. 23: St. Joseph-Ogden Spartan Classic, 19th (441 pts)
Top Uni runner: Malcolm Taylor, 15th overall (16:12, 2.95-mile course)

Oct. 7: Mahomet-Seymour Invitational, 10th (295 pts)
Top Uni runner: Malcolm Taylor, 9th overall (16:14)