MSJH girls’ cross country team rallied to a 3rd place finish at IESA 4A State. This is the best finish at Mahomet-Seymour Junior High for girls’ cross country.
Congratulations to Paige Jansen on being named to the All-State Team.
Team Results:
1. Arlington Heights Thomas (80)
2. Mt. Prospect Lincoln (82)
3. Mahomet-Seymour (134)
4. Minooka (143)
5. Lemont Old Quarry (197)
6. Batavia Rotolo (205)
Individual Results:
18. Paige Jansen (12:16)- ALL-STATE FOR THE 2nd year in a row- 8th grader
32. Ashley Martin (12:26)- LIfetime PR- 7th grader
34. Chandler Mills (12:29)- Lifetime PR- 7th grader
42. Roya Beere (12:37)- Lifetime PR- 7th grader
44. Norelle Eilts (12:39)- Lifetime PR- 8th grader
102. Jane Hartman (13:16)- 7th grader
122. Ava Cvengros (13:27)- 8th grader
MS alternates for IESA state were Phoebe Graham, Jilyan Clark, Emma DeWitt and Rilynn Nelson.
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Coach Martin reflects on how the team accomplished a historic moment:
Today, our runners showed up BIG for us. After our police escort out of town, on an amazingly decorated bus, we went to the line relaxed and confident.
With so many competitive runners packed into a pretty small space, there are bound to be some issues. Well, we were the ones that took the brunt of those issues, as two of our top five were knocked down by a competitive team to our left as they cut in on the tangent of the long uphill start.
With both Paige and Ava down within the first 50 feet, we realized that we were facing the adversity that we had talked about—the kind that only a solid team can navigate. Well, the Bulldogs did just that. By the mile mark, Paige had found her way back into all-state contention.
The rest of the Bulldogs were led by Norelle Eilts through the mile—something Norelle is famous for. All season, she (Eilts) was the one that our young runners looked to for setting the pace. We asked Norelle to take a risk as we needed her to get out strong and be the point person for the rest of her team.
By the mile mark, Ashley Martin and Chandler Mills had closed the gap, and all three of them were running together. Not far behind was Roya Beere, a young runner who is still learning what she is capable of. With all four of our runners just seconds apart in the most competitive field of runners in all of the state, our girls did it! They ran as a team—we called this the power of “WE” this season.
With Ava working to get back in the mix, we found Jane Hartman to step up and be the 6th runner for us. This was her first showing at the state meet, and we are excited about what she learned that will benefit her next season.
Ava finished the race and celebrated with her team. Something that only a young runner can do if they understand the importance of being a great teammate and having great teammates. After being named all-sectional team last week, with the best race of her career, we knew that this would be hard for her. Ava was poised to be in our top five again today, but we don’t know how she would have done if she hadn’t been shoved down, but what we do know is that she is celebrated for facing adversity and pushing through.
At the state meet, the timing company has checkpoint mats that collect data and report live results. At the mile mark, our team was in 5th. By the finish, we were in 3rd. This much movement rarely happens in the last mile. We had talked about this at practice. Paige knew this, so she capitalized on some of the complacency of the top runners and moved up 13 spots in the last mile. Ashley took over 9 spots and Chandler passed 6, with both narrowly missing out on all-state honors.
This year’s field was the most competitive I have seen for quite some time. In fact, we would have had three all-state runners this year if the times were the same as last year.
To dig even deeper into the data, when we put our times in with all classes at the state, we still would have finished 3rd overall, edging out Shelbyville, something that we weren’t able to do all season. Class 4A state played host to the strongest teams in the state, with the top 3 being the top amongst all of the data.
Going into the meet, we knew that 4A was competitive this season, and our sights were set on Minooka, who was a team that has bested us for a few years and as recently as three weeks ago. We don’t get the opportunity to race against most of the northern schools, so it is hard to set goals related to their data; for that, I used to think we were at a disadvantage.
But at the state meet, it was an advantage. They didn’t get to see us! When reading over predictions for the class 4A state title contenders, Mahomet-Seymour was not in the mix. An analyst in the state neglected to look deeper into what a small town in central Illinois could do. With an enrollment of nearly 500 students less than some of the biggest schools in our class, these small-town kids showed up in a big way! When we moved to 4A last year, out of 4 classes, we knew that we would have some big mountains to climb. We are doing that.
Personal records by Ashley Martin, Chandler Mills, Roya Beere, and Norelle Eilts all played a part in making today great. Personal records are rare at the state meet due to the stress of the day. These four rounded out our top 5. On top of all of this, Paige was able to edge out her top 4A competitor of the season, Bloomington’s number one runner, who earned the sectional title just a week ago.
We celebrated our team! We recognize those that were alternates and those that were not even on the post-season roster. We had a team deep in talent this season. I do not doubt that we would have won a JV state title if that was possible. Knowing that some of the state’s best didn’t even get to run today is tough, but we are thankful they stepped up to play other roles—supportive roles. Along with many of our boys’ post-season team members, we were supported along the whole course today. The bulldogs not running today were spread out all over the course, as requested by their competing teammates, in challenging spots. Thankful for those who played those roles when asked!
Rolling back into Mahomet with the lights and sirens of Cornbelt Fire and Mahomet PD was a great way to celebrate, but more importantly, build for the future. Seeing so many of our community members out celebrating us builds momentum. Today’s race was a compilation of many years of hard work and a lot of supportive families who continue to believe in us.
As the coaches reflected on the season and what we saw, we are excited about next season. We will be returning a lot of our members, but to know we have so many who saw success and want to be a part of that, the future looks great for Mahomet-Seymour running. We are so thankful for this community!
The power of “WE”—We trained together, We raced together, We finished together, and We celebrated together. Pretty powerful to know that this race didn’t depend on one runner—it was a team effort. Pretty certain this is why the athletes were poised and confident, relaxed and reassured, at the starting line. There was no pressure to save the day, only the confidence of knowing WE were all in this together.
All results can be found at
https://results.shazamracing.com/meets/41239/events/xc/1512899.
So much great data can be found here, including the fact that our top 5 runners were only 22 seconds apart!
On behalf of the most amazing coaching staff of Matt Mills, Conan Jurkowski, Lori Clark, Laurel Pauza, and student-volunteer Mollie Schifo.
Coach Lisa Martin
This Week in Bulldog Athletics - Overtime 