[Note: An earlier version of this story was published on Saturday, Oct. 20.]

KICKAPOO STATE PARK — With junior Malcolm Taylor leading the way, the Uni boys placed second at Saturday morning's Class 1A St. Joseph regional meet, a major improvement over last year's fifth-place showing on the same course.

Host school St. Joseph-Ogden won the meet with 27 points, followed by Uni with 54. The Illineks cut almost 70 points off their score of 123 from last year.

In fact, Uni placed ahead of two schools that beat them in the 2006 regionals: Georgetown-Ridge Farm/Chrisman, which was second last year but fourth on Saturday, and St. Thomas More, fourth in 2006 but sixth this year.

In the individual standings, only Justin Jones of Oakwood ran faster than Taylor. Uni's No. 1 runner covered the 3-mile course in 17 minutes, 6 seconds; Jones clocked in at 16:22.

Taylor placed third in the 2006 regional behind winner Nathan Warstler of Georgetown-Ridge Farm/Chrisman and runner-up David Restad of St. Thomas More, both of whom have since graduated. Taylor ran a time of 16:40.38 last year.

One other Illinek finished in the top 10: freshman Buck Walsh, eighth (17:54).

If any single thing is responsible for Uni's improvement over 2006, it is the tight pack the Illineks formed after Taylor and Walsh. Only 8 seconds separated Uni's third and fifth runners: Austin Rundus, 13th (18:11); Isaac Chambers, 15th (18:18); and Nathan Smith, 16th (18:19).

The team's sixth runner, although he did not count for scoring purposes, was right there with the rest of the pack: Jacob Olshansky, 17th (18:24).

The Illineks will now advance to Saturday's sectional showdown at Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School. The boys finished 14th out of 20 teams at the Stanford Olympia sectional last year.

They will need to place in the top five if they are to become the first Uni boys team to qualify for the IHSA cross country finals since 1997. The state meet will take place Nov. 3 at Detweiller Park in Peoria.

Taylor himself missed out on qualifying for an individual spot at state last year by less than 2 seconds. Oakwood's Jones won the last of the seven individual qualifying spots when he ran the Stanford Olympia course in 16:19.9; Taylor was just behind at 16:21.

With the reorganization of IHSA cross country into three classes this year instead of two, the number of teams participating in the St. Joseph regional was down compared to 2006.

Only six scoring teams ran Saturday, and five automatically advanced to sectionals. Four members of the sixth-place team (Georgetown-Ridge Farm/Chrisman) advanced as individuals. At least two schools that competed in last year's St. Joseph bracket — Paxton-Buckley-Loda and Bismarck-Henning — were assigned to another regional site.

CLASS 1A ST. JOSEPH REGIONAL MEET AT A GLANCE

TEAM RESULTS

• 1st: St. Joseph-Ogden, 27 pts
• 2nd: Uni High, 54 pts
• 3rd: Oakwood/Armstrong-Potomac, 71 pts
• 4th Georgetown-Ridge Farm/Chrisman, 107 pts
• 5th: Judah Christian, 132 pts
• 6th: St. Thomas More, 155 pts

TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS

• 1st: Justin Jones, senior, Oakwood, 16:22
• 2nd: Malcolm Taylor, junior, Uni High, 17:06
• 3rd: Drew Blaase, sophomore, St. Joseph-Ogden, 17:30
• 4th: Mike Nix, senior, St. Joseph-Ogden, 17:35
• 5th: Ethan Ford, junior, St. Joseph-Ogden, 17:41

UNI HIGH RESULTS

• Malcolm Taylor, junior, 2nd, 17:06
• Buck Walsh, freshman, 8th, 17:54
• Austin Rundus, senior, 13th, 18:11
• Isaac Chambers, junior, 15th, 18:18
• Nathan Smith, sophomore, 16th, 18:19
• Jacob Olshansky, senior, 17th, 18:24
• Carl Zielinski, senior, 25th, 18:55

MORE PHOTOS: CLASS 1A ST. JOSEPH REGIONAL MEET

The starting line. Six of the seven Illineks who competed Saturday can be seen here: Austin Rundus (267), freshman Buck Walsh (272), junior Malcolm Taylor (271), senior Carl Zielinski (number obscured), sophomore Nathan Smith (269), and junior Isaac Chambers (265). Behind Smith is junior Jacob Olshansky. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)