CHARLESTON – Saturday in the 12th annual Charleston Cross Country Invitational, the Mattoon girls’ team made history by winning the event for the first time. The Lady Wave won the six-team meet with 38 points, six better than Mount Zion, at Eastern Illinois University.
“We have come over here for so many years and this is a great race,” said Mattoon coach Eric Haslett. “I can remember a time where we were happy if one girl got a medal (top 25) and today we got five and six in the top 30. That is a credit to their work ethic. They want to keep working harder. We had so many girls that got a personal record today and we are young. They are very excited right now and they are just learning.”
On the boys’ side Mount Zion, the No. 7 preseason ranked team according to dyestat.com, won with 30 points, a whopping 34 better than second-place Mahomet-Seymour in the 10-team meet.
Individually, two Mattoon runners took the title, Whitney Maninfior, a freshman, won the girls’ race with a school-meet and personal record time of 19n minutes, 1 second, while senior Joe Calio defended his title with a time of 15:27, also a personal record.
“You can say Whitney did a great job, but when you look at Victoria Drake and Courtney Considine, it is a team effort and the kids realize that,” said Haslett. “They have very high goals for this season and they are very attainable. It is competitive, but in a very friendly way.”
Mattoon has never finished higher than third (1998, 1999 and 2000).
“It gives them a lot to smile about over the weekend,” said Haslett. “Still a lot to look forward to and I was very happy to hear the girls say ‘this is just the beginning. We are still working.’ I am excited. I feel like a little kid at Christmas time.”
Girls
Maninfior had been waiting to see what she could do in high school. Last year on the first-ever Mattoon Middle School cross country team she finished 74th overall in the Class AA state meet with a time of 13 minutes on the two-mile course as MMS finished 25th as a team. After running the 3.05 mile-course in 19 minutes, 56 seconds last Tuesday to lead all runners, she not only beat all 57 runners Saturday, but shattered the school record of 19:39 set last year by Cassy Shaffer, who is now a sophomore and finished third overall in a time of 19:45.
“I have been waiting to get here for along time,” said Maninfior. “It is so exciting for me. My goal was to get in the 19:20s so I am happy with my time and now my goal is to get in the 18′s. It is a pretty fast course (on grass and a bike trail).”
The race was run with temperatures in the mid 60s and a cool breeze.
“The weather wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” said Maninfior, who was ahead by 10 yards early before taking a 50-yard lead and winning by 30 seconds over second-place Meghan Houk of Urbana. “It was a pretty good day to run.”
Charleston finished fourth with 105 points and was led by Kristen Gisondi, who ran a 22:07, just three seconds faster than her sister Sarah Gisondi, a freshman. The two medaled earning 23rd and 24th place overall. It was Sarah’s first race.
“I am really exited for them to medal,” said Charleston coach Derrick Landrus. “It is a big confidence booster for them. I thought we ran pretty well.”
Shelbyville didn’t have enough runners to compete as a team, but Katelyn Duckett, the No. 6 (Class A) preseason runner in the state, placed fifth overall with a time of 19:56.
“My legs were really tired,” said Duckett. “Coach (Kevin Kramer) said it is probably because of the hard workout Friday and that made a difference as well as this was the first time we have run on the grass. I knew the Mattoon girls would be tough. I was going to try and stay with Whitney Maninfior, but she took off a lot faster than what I have been. Last year I ran a 20:15 (third) and this year I got under 20 so it is better than last year. I have room to improve. I need to get a better finish. It was a tough meet.”
Sullivan-Okaw Valley was led by Hannah Robinson’s 22nd (14th among scoring teams), who finished with a time of 22:00.
“Our times are getting a little better,” said S-OV coach Ted Walk. “We are still rebuilding a little this year (lost No. 1 runner Caitlyn Cordell, who moved) We have a couple new people out, two sophomores so we are getting there. I was happy with the time improvement.”
Boys
Calio was eight seconds faster than Mount Zion’s Caleb Abfall and 13 seconds faster than his time at last year’s meet.
“My goal was to get under 15:40 because that is what I ran last year and my other goal was to win it,” said Calio who was neck-and-neck with Abfall for over a mile. “I had been talking with Caleb Abfall about how we had had been running over the summer. When we were running I was thinking ‘wow, he is doing really well. OK, when do I get to break him?’ He ran great, but it was a good day for the entire team.”
Calio broke Abfall near the two-mile mark as the course began to get hilly.
“I knew that was where I break some people,” said Calio. “I worked at it and it was a good race. My goal now is to get into the 14s by the end of the season and this is one step closer to that goal. Another goal is to try and get the team to state. We ran spectacular today. We are working hard to get that goal.”
Mattoon was fourth overall with 93 points.
“Joe Calio didn’t run Tuesday (dual with Charleston) and it was just a minor thing,” said Haslett. “To see him come out today and win it for the second year in a row was wonderful. John Righter ran in the 15 minute range for the first time (15:59) and I know he was very excited about that. Chris Third finished in the 17 minute range for the second meet in a row. They are happy with where they are at, but they also know they still have more things they want to achieve.”
Charleston finished in seventh place and was led by Riley McInerny, who was third overall with a time of 15:44, a personal record.
“I ran a 16:25 last year (third) so to improve 41 seconds is great,” said McInerney. “The weather was beautiful, a little windy and there were a lot of guys here to push you and that got you motivated to do well. I just tried to stay up there in the top group. I kind of surprised myself by beating some of the Mount Zion runners.”
Landrus said, “Riley ran a very good race. I am real happy with him. He ran a smart race. He was in 12th to 14th place at the mile mark. He looked like he felt good. To try and catch Calio would be a good goal for him now. Taylor Garrett is really talented. His times are similar to what Riley ran last year. He ran a good race today. Those two I am pretty happy with. I don’t expect the No. 3, 4, 5 guys to run with them, but I don’t expect them to be as far back as they were today. We can’t have that big of a gap and I think they have the ability to move up.”
Sullivan was led by Cameron Harvey, who finished ninth overall in 16:11. Last year he was 12th in 16:59.
“The boys’ ran real well,” aid Walk. “Cameron Harvey’s goal was to finish in the top 10. We had a lot of people step up for us. Matt Garrelts ran No. 2 for us and everyone ran a great race. Micah Plank was third, Walker Herzog was fourth, which is a nice addition and Kent Hanson was fifth. Our times were a little better than I had hoped for and we finished about where I thought we would (fifth place).
Both Walker and Hanson also play football.
“The team was excited to race against Drew Bandelow, who moved to Mount Zion,” said Walk. “He was our No. 2 most of the time last year. The guys are excited to see him and it is a little extra rivalry.”
Bandelow finished 20th overall in 17:02.
“This was the first test and there is nothing like testing yourself against big schools,” said Walk. “That way when you go against schools your own size you are ready for it. It is good to get a big invite out of the way and get some jitters out.”
Shelbyville was led by Clayton Baker, who was 24th with a time of 17:20.
“We will be a lot better by November than Sept. 4,” said Kramer. “We had a bunch of personal records. We are so young with only one senior with any kind of experience and the rest of them are two years or less, but they all beat their times from last year and beat their goal time so overall it was a pretty good day. It was a good day to run. We are kind of the small fish in a big pond over here with all of the big schools, but the kids competed hard and that is what we are looking for. I told the kids our goal this year is to run our best race the last race and that is what we are working for.”
Mattoon is to travel to Springfield for a 9 a.m. Springfield Lanphier Invitational Saturday, while Charleston is to travel to Peoria Woodruff Saturday. Shelbyville is to play host to its won invitational Saturday at 10 a.m., while Shelbyville is to travel to Argenta-Oreana Tuesday for a 4:30 p.m. meet.
BOYS’ TEAM RESULTS
1. Mount Zion 30; 2. Mahomet-Seymour 64; 3. Danville 83; 4. Mattoon 93; 5. Sullivan-Okaw Valley 161; 6. Champaign Central 161; 7. Charleston 187; 8. Effingham 195; 9. Shelbyville 202; 10. Paris 223; no team scores for Decatur Eisenhower, Springfield Lanphier, Urbana
Top 25 results
1. Joe Calio, Mattoon 15:27; 2. Caleb Abfall, Mount Zion 15:35; 3. Riley McInerney, Charleston 15:44; 4. Joe Fritzsche, Mount Zion 15:50; 6. John Righter, Mattoon 15:59; 7. Lucas Prather, Mahomet-Seymour 16:02; 8. Jake Brown, Mount Zion 16:07; 9. Cameron Harvey, Sullivan-Okaw Valley 16:11; 10. Taylor Fatheree, Effingham 16:23; 11. Elijah Johnson, Mahomet-Seymour 16:28; 12. Alex Goodland, Champaign Central 16:31; 13. Jonathan Schaap, Mahomet-Seymour 16:32; 14. Taylor Garrett, Charleston 16:34; 15. John Butcher, Mahomet-Seymour 16:34; 16. Javon Shaw, Danville, 16:41; 17. Matt Cleveland, Danville 16:50; 18. Forrest Smoes, Mahomet-Seymour 16:51; 19. Devante Robinson, Danville, 16:53; 20. Drew Bandelow, Mount Zion 17:02; 21. Nick Toohtman, Mount Zion 17:03; 22. Kyle Hammel, Champaign Central 17; 09; 23. Chris Third, Mattoon 17:15; 24. Clayton Baker, Shelbyville 17:20; 25. Ethan Russell, Mahomet-Seymour 17:26
Other Mattoon results
27. Cooper Collings, 17:33; 36. Adam Sowers, 18:06; 42. Jacob Perry 18:33; 72. Colton Dodson 20:38
Other Sullivan-Okaw Valley results
29. Matt Garrelts 17:42; 35. Micah Plank 18:01; 39. Walker Herzog 18:20; 52. Kent Hanson 19:00; 57. Bill Brown 19:12; 68. Cody Carman 20:11
Other Charleston results
59. Jay Daniels, 19:14; 61. Tristan Grayling 19:16; 65. Austin Heise 19:28; 66. Grant Olson 19:51; 67. Zach Steidl 19:51
Other Shelbyville results
43. Aaron Thomas 18:34; 45. Seth Applegate 18:44; Zach England 18:45; Alex Matlock 18:46; 58. Myles Foor 19: 14; 62. Matt Bagwell 19:18
GIRLS’ TEAM RESULTS
1. Mattoon 38; 2. Mount Zion 44; 3. Champaign Central 78; 4. Charleston 105; 5. Effingham 107; 6. Sullivan-Okaw Valley 141; no team scores for Urbana, Shelbyville
Top 25 results
1. Whitney Maninfior, Mattoon 19:03; 2. Meghan Houk, Urbana 19:33; 3. Cassy Shaffer, Mattoon 19:45; 4. Kelsey Cramsey, Effingham 19:56; 5. Katelyn Duckett, Shelbyville 19:56; 6. Kim Carter, Danville 20:10; 7. Taylor Green, Mount Zion 20:24; 8. Nicole Choquette, Urbana 20:30; 9. Sarah White, Mount Zion 20:33; 10. Hannah Wright, Champaign Central 20:44; 11. Victoria Drake, Mattoon 20:44; 12. Alicia Pizzo, Shelbyville 21:03; 13. Jenna Bingham, Effingham, 21: 16; 14. Julia Smith, Champaign Central 21:18; 16. Ashlee Jackson Perry, Decatur Eisenhower 21:31; 17. Alisha Larrison, Mount Zion 21:33; 18. Kara Anderson, Danville 21:38; 19. Courtney Considine, Mattoon 21:44; 20. Malorie Harder, Mount Zion 21:59; 21. Madeline Gierach, Mount Zion 21:59; 22. Hannah Robinson, Sullivan-Okaw Valley 22:00; 23. Kristen Gisondi, Charleston 22:07; 24. Sarah Gisondi, Charleston 22:10; 25. Michaela Drake, Mattoon 22:14
Other Mattoon results
30. Carinne Mausehund, Mattoon 22:43; 55. Brittney Tipsword, Mattoon 27:05
Other Charleston results
31. Peyton Sledge 22:49; 38. Missa Borah, 23:23; 40. Codi Martin 23:50; 46. Rachel Miller 24:57; 51. Miranda Randall 25:48
Other Sullivan-Okaw Valley results
41. Hayley Harshman 24:00; 47. Haley Edwards 25:08; 48. Abbey Buxton 25:37; 52. Meredith Murphy 26:04; 56. Emma Adkinson 27:06; 57. Ali Beard 27:47
Other Shelbyville result
34. Kayla Brown 23:17
BOYS’ OPEN RESULTS (top 15)
1. Patrick Tharp, Mount Zion 17:42; 2. Chris Coulton, Mahomet-Seymour 18:05; 3. Noah Gingerich, Mount Zion 18:34; 4. Kyle Appleghist, Mahomet-Seymour 18:37; 5. Dhairan Vahil, Mahomet-Seymour 18:59; 6. Max Collins, Decatur Eisenhower 19:04; 7. Scotter Ellenburg, Springfield Lanphier 19:05; 8. Juwan Lee, Decatur Eisenhower 19:13; 9. Dan Lewis, Mahomet-Seymour 19:17; 10. Logan Seevers, Mount Zion 19:22. 11. Ryan Johnson, Sullivan-Okaw Valley 19:22. 12. Andrew Bell, Mattoon, 19:25; 13. James Williams, Mahomet-Seymour 19:30; 14. Syler Written, Danville 19:33. 15. Tuelcar Viljee, Danville 19:36
Other Sullivan-Okaw Valley results
18. Brock Bales 19:43; 19. Nick Shields 19:44; 28. Aaron Wood 20:13; 29. Patrick Miller 20:20; 33. Bryce Miller 20:42; 36. Hunter Perrine 20:59; 38. Garrett Sparks 21:06; 42. Jordan Waldhoff 21:29; 46. Shane Atchison 21:40; 47. John Manck 21:45; 50. Brody Sparks, 21:52; 64. Riley Wisely 22:59; 25. Josh O’Brien 23:21; 26. Garrett Griffin 23:28; 27. Dalton Williams 23:28; 73. David Puyear 24:46; 76. Wyatt Grohler 25:07
Other Shelbyville results
22. Diennion Martin 19:58; 26. Kyle Brown 20:08; 35. Cory Powers 20:52; 43. Braxton Lape 21:30; 54. Pete Mosley 22:15; 69. Dakota Prazha 23:46
Other Mattoon results
48. Luke Young 21:47; 52. Austin Sherman 22:04
GIRLS’ OPEN RESULTS
1. Jakeenya Evans, Champaign Central 21:51; 2. Nikki Dentzman, Springfield Lanphier 22:23; 3. Sophie Ruiz, Urbana 23:50; 4. Morgan Lowell, Urbana 23:58; 5. Brittany Irwin, Charleston 24:13; 6. Kathryn Gunderson, Champaign Central 24:34; 7. Sara Sunderland, Champaign Central 24:48; 8. Niallan O’Brien, Champaign Central 24:50; 9. Cierra Zimmerman, Champaign Central 24:56; 10. Courtney Health, Paris 25:13; 11. Shasta Bryant, Springfield Lanphier 25:17; 12. Jenna Collins, Sullivan-Okaw Valley 25:42; 13. Hunter Worthey, Mattoon 25:48; 14. Val Lau, Paris, 26:03; 15. Sarah Fritz, Charleston 26:27
Other Sulllivan-Okaw Valley results
17. Heather Clements 27:22; 22. Katie Devore 28;54; 23. Cheyenne Creek 29:00; 28. Elizabeth Priest 31:52
Shelbyville results
18. Allie Paisley 27:28; 25. Megan Martin 30:17
Other Mattoon result
24. Telsey Kinnaman 29:50
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