PAXTON — Last week at St. Joseph-Ogden, senior Malcolm Taylor dazzled spectators with a state-caliber performance in the 400-meter dash.

This week at Paxton-Buckley-Loda, he quadrupled the distance and still came out on top, eclipsing his old cross-country rival from PBL, Felix Cardoso, by almost 11 seconds to win the 3,200 run.

Taylor's performance was one of several Uni highlights at Tuesday's PBL coed meet. Despite the rainy and windy weather as well as illnesses and injuries to several Illineks, Uni was still able to place in multiple events.

The girls in review

The Uni girls won every running event they entered. Senior Ruthie Welch led the team with the most victories, placing first in three events.

She won the 800 (2:30.9) and 1,600 (5:51.9), then ran the first leg of the girls 4x400 relay. Welch and freshman Ashley Huddson, sophomore Katherine Allen, and junior Lizzy Warner won the event, finishing a full 26 seconds ahead of second-place GCMS (5:02.80).

Warner also placed second in the 800 with a time of 2:39.3, followed by fellow junior Deborah Ladd, who placed fifth (3:10.8).

Sophomore Tuli Bera continued to impress in sprint events, winning the 200 dash (28.34) and leading off for the first-place 4x200 team (1:57.50). Bera and teammates Allen, sophomore Rachel Harmon, and junior Rachel Skoza outran second-place GCMS (2:05.30) by almost eight seconds.

In field events, senior Angie Jin placed fourth in the long jump, covering 13 feet, 4 inches. Senior Linda Song placed 11th in both the discus (46-3 1/2) and shot put (20-6).

Overall, the girls finished the meet in third place (37 points), behind second-place PBL (77) and winner GCMS (116).

Next for the Illineks: They will compete Friday at the annual Unity Girls Invitational in Tolono.

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

The boys in review

Leading the way for the boys team was Taylor, running in the 3,200 for the first time this season.

Taylor competed with PBL's Cardoso neck-and-neck throughout the majority of the race. In the end, though, Taylor pulled through, beating Cardoso by approximately 50 meters. Taylor came in first with a time of 10:35.8, while Cardoso finished more than 10 seconds behind (10:46.0).

Junior Isaac Chambers placed in the 3,200 as well, coming in third (11:25.5). In addition to competing in the two mile, Chambers placed second in the 400 dash (57.0).

With senior Jacob Olshansky out for the meet, head coach Doug Mynatt sent in a new 4x800 team. Consisting of senior Sam Imlay, freshman Ziran Shang, freshman Albert Anastasio, and sophomore Nathan Smith, the squad came in third (9:55.0).

Smith and Imlay went on to compete in the 800, placing third (2:18.6) and fourth (2:21.5), respectively.

Frankie McFarland earned a first-place title in the shot put, covering a distance of 43-3, followed by fellow senior Mike Renner, who placed second (39-6). McFarland also took second place in the discus (119-3), while Renner came in seventh (80-0 1/2).

Overall, Uni (61 points) edged out Fisher (59) for third place, behind runner-up GCMS (67) and winner PBL (77).

Other top five finishes by the Uni boys:

300-Meter Hurdles
2nd Place (46.10) — Carter Hutchens
5th Place (50.10) — Nick Zukoski

110-Meter Hurdles
4th Place (19.00) — Nick Zukoski

1,600-Meter Run
3rd Place (5:45.90) — Buck Walsh
4th Place (5:50.20) — Albert Anastasio
5th Place (5:50.50) — Ziran Shang

200-Meter Dash
4th Place (25.72) — Langston Allston-Yeagle
5th Place (26.70) — Terry Qi

4x400-Meter Relay
2nd Place (3:46.60) — Isaac Chambers, Nathan Smith, Sam Imlay, Malcolm Taylor

Triple Jump
5th Place (35-4 1/2) — Kareem Sayegh

Next for the Illineks: The freshman-sophomore boys will compete at PBL again on Wednesday; the entire team will compete in the Unity Boys Invitational on April 18.

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