By Gargoyle sports staff
Posted Saturday, March 31, 2007, The OG, boys track & girls track & sports

BLOOMINGTON — Both of Uni's 3,200-meter relay teams ran their best times of the season Friday at the Illinois Prep Top Times Class A Indoor Classic.

The meet, held at Illinois Wesleyan University's Shirk Center, is considered the unofficial indoor state finals.

The girls 4x800 team of junior Shivani Khanna, sophomore Elaine Gu, senior Aria Collopy, and junior Ruthie Welch placed seventh out of 14 finalists. They ran a season-best time of 10 minutes, 18.65 seconds — almost 12 seconds faster than their previous best of 10:30.24.

Sherrard won the event with a time of 10:04.26.

“Personally, I was really happy with our time,” Gu said. “We ran 10:30 last year at IPTT, so this is a huge improvement. However, it was unfortunate that we got seventh place because we missed medaling by one spot.

“Our goal going into the race had been to get top five, but all the other teams also cut off a lot of time, and we obviously couldn't do anything to hinder other people's performance. Nevertheless, we ran a huge seasonal best, so I'm happy with that. Our time also qualifies us for outdoor state, which has a cut-off time of 10:23.”

At last year's Indoor Classic, which was held at the University of Illinois Armory, Uni's 4x800 team of Khanna, Gu, then-senior Josie Chambers, and then-freshman Laura Hazlett recorded an unofficial time of 10:29.12 to place ninth out of 16 qualifying teams. (The time was unofficial because the fully automated timing system wasn't working for that particular race.)

“I think we all ran incredibly well for this time in the season,” Khanna said of Friday's performance. “I remember last year when it took until outdoor state for both Ruthie and me to break 2:30 for the 4x800. Elaine and Aria also did excellent jobs in staying with the competition because it was a really fast field this year.”

Also at Friday's IPTT meet, the boys 4x800 squad of junior Austin Rundus, junior Jacob Olshansky, sophomore Isaac Chambers, and sophomore Malcolm Taylor placed fifth out of nine finalists. They ran a season-best 8:38.03, taking more than 3 seconds off their previous best of 8:41.13.

Newton won the event with a time of 8:17.34.

“I was pleased with our performance, but there is a lot of hard work to be done,” Chambers said. “Everybody ran very well, and it's a great start to the outdoor season.”

At last year's Indoor Classic, the boys 4x800 team of Taylor, Rundus, and then-seniors Kangway Chuang and Cameron Cropek ran 8:25.27 en route to a fourth-place finish in a 12-team field.

Meanwhile, in the girls pole vault competition, senior Paige Martin finished sixth out of 13 finalists. She vaulted 9 feet, 6 inches — only 3 inches shy of her previous best of 9-9.

Tyra Woodruff of Byron won with a vault of 10-9.

Martin also competed in the triple jump, placing 12th out of a field of 17. She recorded a jump of 32-6, almost 6 inches better than her previous best of 32-0.5.

Leah Orley of Benton won with a jump of 38-0.25.

In the girls 800 individual run, Khanna and Welch placed 11th and 12th, respectively, in a field of 14 finalists. Khanna's time of 2:33.85 cut 0.22 off her previous best of 2:34.07. Welch ran a 2:38.41; her best time this year was a 2:34.08.

Amy Byers of Carthage won with a time of 2:18.89.

ILLINEK NOTES: Outdoor track gets under way

While Friday's IPTT meet concluded the indoor track season, a five-team meet held Thursday in Gibson City signaled the beginning of the outdoor season.

None of the Uni athletes who qualified for the Indoor Classic competed in the Gibson City contest.

The Uni girls finished fifth with 30 points. Bismarck-Henning (128) won the meet by a margin of 41.5 points over runner-up Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley (86.5). Freshman Elizabeth Russell led the Illineks with a first-place finish in the triple jump (30 feet).

The Uni boys placed fifth with 17 points. Paxton-Buckley-Loda (138) claimed the title by 57 points over Clifton Central/Iroquois West (81).

The following Uni athletes placed in the top three of their individual events:

— Girls 100: Rachel Skoza (sophomore), second place, 14.35

— Girls 3,200: Elizabeth Russell (freshman), third place, 13:56.7

— Girls high jump: Russell, third place, 4-8

— Girls triple jump: Russell, first place, 30-0

— Boys 110 hurdles: Nick Zukoski (freshman), third place, 21.1

— Boys 300 hurdles: Zukoski, third place, 57.8

— Boys shot put: Frankie McFarland (junior), third place, 41-11.5

In the relays, the Uni girls 4x200 team (Skoza, freshman Katherine Allen, junior Angie Jin, sophomore Lizzy Warner) placed third (2:03.8). The girls 4x400 team (Skoza, Allen, Russell, Warner) finished second (4:41.6).

The outdoor season continues today with the Champaign County Girls Meet at Urbana High School. Events begin at 11 a.m.

INDOOR TRACK: OFFICIAL MEET RESULTS

(The times at most of Uni's indoor meets are unofficial and not included here)

March 10: Charleston Girls Indoor Invitational

TEAM FINISH: 10th out of 33 (Class A); 20th out of 55 (both Class A and AA)

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (all results are against Class A competition):

— 55m dash: Rachel Skoza, 35th (out of 55), 00:8.50; Rachel Harmon, 48th, 00:8.85

— 200m dash: Cheyenne Stewart, 27th (out of 32), 00:32.19

— 400m dash: Lizzy Warner, 5th (out of 30), 1:05.36

— 800m run: Shivani Khanna, 6th (out of 56), 2:34.07 *; Ruthie Welch, 7th, 2:34.08 *

— 1,600m run: Elaine Gu 9th (out of 56), 5:58.05; Elizabeth Russell, 14th, 6:08.63

— 55m hurdles: Paige Martin, 14th (out of 37), 00:10.11

— 4x200m relay: Uni (Harmon, Katherine Allen, Angie Jin, Skoza), 29th (out of 34), 2:09.56

— 4x400m relay: Uni (Warner, Skoza, Khanna, Aria Collopy), 11th (out of 29), 4:39.08

— 4x800m relay: Uni (Khanna, Gu, Collopy, Welch), 4th (out of 27), 10:30.24 *

— Pole vault: Paige Martin, 3rd (out of 10), 9 feet, 9 inches *

*Qualified for Illinois Prep Top Times Indoor Classic, March 30, Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington

March 17: Charleston Boys Indoor Invitational

TEAM FINISH: 16th out of 34 (Class A); 30th out of 57 (both Class A and AA)

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (all results are against Class A competition):

— 55m dash: Cheng Luo, 52th (out of 61), 00:7.61; Frankie McFarland, 58th, 00:8.00

— 400m dash: Isaac Chambers, 10th (out of 25), 00:55.17

— 800m run: Malcolm Taylor, 4th (out of 55), 2:05.32; Austin Rundus, 13th, 2:13.89

— 1,600m run: Marquis Wang, 40th (out of 51), 5:37.68; Julian Hartman, 42nd, 5:38.19

— 3,200m run: Jack Snyder, 30th (out of 42), 11:45.16; Nathan Smith, 31st, 11:46.26

— 4x200m relay: Uni (names to be posted), 27th (out of 29), 1:49.92

— 4x400m relay: Uni (Chambers, Olshansky, Rundus, Taylor), 15th (out of 32), 3:47.92

— 4x800m relay: Uni (Rundus, Olshansky, Chambers, Taylor), 4th (out of 25), 8:41.13 *

— Long jump: Kareem Sayegh, 26th (out of 31), 16 feet, 6 inches

— Triple jump: Kareem Sayegh, 19th (out of 25), 34 feet, 3.75 inches

*Qualified for Illinois Prep Top Times Indoor Classic, March 30, Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington

March 30: Illinois Prep Top Times Class A Indoor Classic

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS:

— Girls pole vault: Paige Martin, 6th (out of 13), 9 feet, 6 inches (season best remains: 9 feet, 9 inches)

— Girls triple jump: Paige Martin, 12th (out of 17), 32 feet, 6 inches (previous best: 32 feet, 0.5 inches)

— Girls 800m run: Shivani Khanna, 11th (out of 14), 2:33.85 (previous best: 2:34.07); Ruthie Welch, 12th (out of 14), 2:38.41 (season best remains: 2:34.08)

— Girls 4x800m relay: Uni (Khanna, Gu, Collopy, Welch), 7th (out of 14), 10:18.65 (previous best: 10:30.24)

— Boys 4x800m relay: Uni (Rundus, Olshansky, Chambers, Taylor), 5th (out of 9), 8:38.03 (previous best: 8:41.13)