PAXTON — Senior Michelle Mehnert ran her fastest 3-mile race of the year as she led her teammates to a state-qualifying third-place finish at Saturday's Class 1A Paxton-Buckley-Loda sectional.

Mehnert herself placed second overall out of 130 runners. She covered the muddy PBL course in 18 minutes, 40.6 seconds. Stephanie Brown of Tri-Valley won the race with a time of 18:14.9.

"I felt pretty good," Mehnert said. "I definitely took it out slow. There were a lot of girls who went out fast, then just kind of died. I was able to kind of come back strong that last mile. I was sub-6 [minutes] the last mile."

Mehnert's time was not only her fastest of the year, it was the second fastest she's ever clocked. Only the 18:06 she ran at last year's state meet was better.

"She's showing every time out that she's in control of her race," Uni head coach Doug Mynatt said. "She has that kind of confidence in her abilities. She's able to go out, run her race plan and finish well, finish high in the pack, high in the field. She's put herself in a position where she may come off with a win [next week at state]."

Mehnert placed seventh at the 2006 state meet after running second at the Stanford Olympia sectional. Two of the runners who finished ahead of her in the state finals have graduated, so a top-five showing this year is entirely possible.

As for the Illineks as a team, Saturday's third-place finish was not what the defending sectional champs had hoped for.

Sixteen scoring teams participated in the PBL meet. St. Joseph-Ogden won the title with 78 points. Teutopolis was second with 119, followed by Uni with 127. The other two qualifying schools were Beecher (128) and Tri-Valley (174).

All five teams will compete Saturday in the Class 1A state finals at Detweiller Park in Peoria.

After Mehnert, junior Elaine Gu ran the course in 20:10.8, good for 14th place. Senior Shivani Khanna finished in 25th place (20:41.4), followed by sophomore Isaure Hostetter, 60th (21:55.9); senior Jennifer Roloff, 61st (21:57.6); sophomore Katherine Allen, 75th (22:29.9); and sophomore Elizabeth Russell, 81st (22:35.4).

Last year the Illineks won the Stanford Olympia sectional championship and went on to place fourth at state. But a few Uni runners were under the weather at PBL, and the effects were apparent in the final placings. The most affected was Russell, who usually keeps pace with Gu and Khanna.

"Elizabeth was out sick from school this week, so she's still recovering from that illness," Mynatt said. "If she bounces back like I'm assuming she will, we'll be in good shape [for state]."

Even with the third-place finish, Mynatt saw plenty of good things at the meet.

"We had three seasonal bests," he said. "Michelle ran a seasonal best, Elaine ran a seasonal best, and Jennifer Roloff ran a seasonal best. I was very pleased to see Jennifer running like that after such a long layoff [from injury]. She's definitely deserving of some good times and a good end to her season; I was very pleased to see that. With Isaure running like she did up there with Jennifer, that's a positive move for the team as well."

Only one week remains in a season that began with high hopes for a top-three finish at state. Except for the first meet of the year, when the team easily won the Kickapoo Kickoff Classic (defeating St. Joseph-Ogden, among others), the Illineks have rarely been free of injury or illness. If they can get healthy by Saturday, their goal of bringing home a trophy can still be achieved.

"Going into the season we knew we were going to go to state and we knew were going to make it, so we were operating on that," Mehnert said. "We peak at state, not here. We know that's the race that's going to count. No matter what we get here, use it to get angry and go get it at state.

"We're hungrier than we were last year. We were ranked at the beginning of the season; we've kind of lost that between injuries and people getting sick; it's been really hard. But this week we should be able to gear up and be ready to run fast."

Mynatt said he likes his team's prospects heading into the finals.

"We've got our front runner out there with Michelle, who's showing she can do what she wants to on the course," he said. "How that stacks up against the rest of the field we'll find out. But the rest of the team seems to be much more positive right now than they were mid-season. They sort of hit the doldrums there for a while. End of the quarter's over now; people can relax a bit and focus on this last week pushing for state."

According to Mehnert, the key this week will be to resist the temptation to go all out in practice. The moderation will pay off when it's crunch time.

"We just kind of need to give our muscles a chance to rebuild, a chance to recover," she said. "It's hard, because coming off of sectionals, coming out at third — we wanted to win it, obviously — you want to be angry, and you want to be going and working hard at practice again. But you have to rest and make it all count at state."

CLASS 1A PAXTON-BUCKLEY-LODA SECTIONAL MEET AT A GLANCE

TOP FIVE SCHOOLS

• 1st: St. Joseph-Ogden, 78 pts
• 2nd: Teutopolis, 119 pts
• 3rd: Uni High, 127 pts
• 4th: Beecher, 128 pts
• 5th: Tri-Valley, 174 pts

TOP FIVE RUNNERS

• 1st: Stephanie Brown, Tri-Valley, 18:14.9
• 2nd: Michelle Mehnert, Uni High, 18:40.6
• 3rd: Cara Feeney, St. Thomas More, 18:52.2
• 4th: Hannah Hogan, St. Joseph-Ogden, 18:53.6
• 5th: Sidney Long, St. Joseph-Ogden, 18:54.9

UNI HIGH RESULTS

• Michelle Mehnert, senior, 2nd, 18:40.6 (2 pts)
• Elaine Gu, junior, 14th, 20:10.8 (11 pts)
• Shivani Khanna, senior, 25th, 20:41.4 (21 pts)
• Isaure Hostetter, sophomore, 60th, 21:55.9 (46 pts)
• Jennifer Roloff, senior, 61st, 21:57.6 (47 pts)
• Katherine Allen, sophomore, 75th, 22:29.9
• Elizabeth Russell, sophomore, 81st, 22:35.4

MORE PHOTOS: CLASS 1A PAXTON-BUCKLEY-LODA SECTIONAL MEET

Michelle Mehnert stayed with the pack early in the PBL sectional race. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)

Junior Elaine Gu (269) gains on St. Joseph-Ogden's Amanda Holmes (218) and Amber Stierwalt (221) and Heyworth's Lauren Dixon (146). Gu would finish the race ahead of all three. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)

Senior Shivani Khanna (271) passes Jessica Britto (116) of Bismarck-Henning. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)

Gu (269) would finish the race in 14th place out of 130 runners. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)

Mehnert (272) gets ready to pull ahead of Tuscola's Lindsay Trioke. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)

Sophomore Isaure Hostetter (270) ran the course in a time of 21:55.9, good for fourth among the Illineks. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)

Senior Jennifer Roloff (274) stays even with Beecher's Maureen Schwer. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)

Saturday's meet was the first sectional for sophomore Katherine Allen (268), who is new to the team this year. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)

Roloff (left) challenges St. Thomas More's Corinne Walker. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)

Allen maintains a lead over Clifton Central's Karley Jenson (left) and Newton's Shelby Matson. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)

Khanna placed 25th with a time of 20:41.4. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)

Mehnert begins to leave SJO's Hogan behind. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)

Sophomore Elizabeth Russell (275), who usually keeps pace with Gu and Khanna, was under the weather Saturday and finished in 81st place. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)

The race took a lot out of the runners. Hostetter (left) placed 60th, followed by Roloff (274) in 61st. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)