Boys cross country: Taylor makes all-state, Uni finishes fourth at state finals

Gargoyle photo by David Porreca (click to enlarge)Senior Malcolm Taylor (212) runs hard in the Class 1A state finals at Detweiller Park in Peoria today. Taylor placed 17th and earned all-state honors; he and his teammates finished fourth, the second best showing by a Uni boys team ever.

By Gargoyle Staff
Published: Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 2:20pm

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CLASS 1A BOYS STATE FINAL AT A GLANCE

When & Where: Saturday, Nov. 8, Detweiller Park, Peoria

Result: Uni placed fourth out of 20 teams

Summary: Senior Malcolm Taylor earned an all-state medal by finishing 17th out of 167 runners as he led his teammates to fourth place at the IHSA Class 1A state meet. It was the second-best performance by a Uni boys team in any sport; only the third-place 1995 cross country squad has done better. There was a 40-second split among the Illineks' top four runners. Six of the seven Uni runners turned in a personal best. Taylor ran 1.5 seconds shy of his PR set last week at sectionals but 16 seconds faster than his time at state last year.

Next Meet: None. The 2008 season is over.

Sophomore Albert Anastasio (206), who finished 32nd in 15:57, missed making all-state by just seven places. Gargoyle photos by David Porreca (click to enlarge)

Junior Nathan Smith (210) finished 43rd in 16:11.

Sophomore Buck Walsh (213) finished 61st in 16:22.

Note: This article was updated on Tuesday with quotes from some of the team members.

PEORIA — The 2008 Illineks capped off a spectacular season by turning in the second-best performance by a boys sports team in school history.

Coached by Doug Mynatt, Uni placed fourth at today's Class 1A state meet, a result surpassed by just one other Illinek boys team: the third-place 1995 cross country squad coached by Bonnie Moxley (now at Mahomet-Seymour).

Although the Illineks finished one spot short of winning a trophy — only the top three teams bring home hardware — team leader Malcolm Taylor ended his Uni cross country career by earning an all-state medal.

The senior placed 17th with a time of 15:42 on the three-mile Detweiller Park course. The top 25 runners at state each win a medal.

Uni, with 167 points, finished 18 points behind third-place Winnebago (149). Westmont was second (123), while Elmwood (which co-ops with Brimfield) won the title (109).

Here is how Uni's seven runners finished:

A total of 167 athletes competed in the 1A boys race.

"It [fourth place] was a little disappointing, but to be fourth out of the hundreds of teams in the state is still really good," said Taylor. "I got all-state, I know a lot of people on my team PRed, so that's good, and you can't ask for more than that."

Allston-Yeagle, a junior, agreed: "At first, I was just like, 'Damn, how did we end up in fourth place?' I felt like we had ran as well as we could run. It hurt, but at the same time, it's fourth in the entire state."

The split among Uni's top four runners was a remarkable 40 seconds. Last week at sectionals, the split was 53 seconds.

That achievement was especially impressive considering how cold it was during the race; at times even a few snow flurries fell.

"My lips were so chapped they were bleeding," Allston-Yeagle said. "I was really impressed with my time because it was freezing. I felt not ready to race when the race started. I don't think I could've run faster …. It was just this feeling of relief and elation."

Six of the seven Illineks ran personal bests; Taylor was just 1.5 seconds short of his 15:40.5 record set last week at the Paxton sectional.

But the senior ran 16 seconds faster than he did at the 2007 state meet, when he placed 29th (15:58) as an individual qualifier.

Taylor's performance made him Uni's first all-state boys runner since Jeff Helfrich also finished 17th (15:37) at the 1998 state meet.

The only Uni boys to do better than 17th were Adam Reynolds in 1997 (fifth, 15:24), Joshua Folk in 1990 (ninth, 15:32), and Damian Marshall in 1995 (11th, 15:41).

Anastasio missed all-state by just seven places and seven seconds; Justin Rehfeldt of Rockford Christian grabbed the 25th and final spot with a time of 15:50.

The Uni sophomore continued his stellar first year on the team by cutting 24 seconds from his sectional time (16:21.4). He also finished one second faster than Taylor did at state last year.

"The guys ahead of me just kind of pulled me along," Anastasio said. "I wasn't even as tired as I was at some of the meets where I ran slower. There's nothing like it, the walls of people on the sides. It was a lot of fun."

Smith dropped almost five seconds off his sectional time (16:15.9), while Walsh trimmed 11 seconds off his (16:33.6).

The battle for Uni's final scoring spot was a close one yet again. For the second straight week, Allston-Yeagle edged out Chambers for fifth among the Illineks, this time by four seconds. The junior ran 12 seconds faster than he did at sectionals (17:20.0); Chambers cut nine seconds off his Paxton time (17:21).

Snyder, Uni's final runner, made the biggest improvement of all, cutting 43 seconds off his sectional time (19:03).

"I was kind of sad and happy," said the junior. "It was a myriad of emotions. Sad because the season's over; I enjoyed the season. I was happy because I had a fairly good race. I don't think I could've done any better under those conditions."

The 2008 Illineks become only the fourth Uni boys team to place in the top 10 at state. They joined the 1995 (third), 1996 (sixth), and 1993 (eighth) teams on that exclusive list.

Now they can look ahead to what promises to be an exciting 2009 campaign. The Illineks will be without Taylor and Chambers, but they will return six of the eight runners who competed in the postseason (junior Andrew Weatherhead ran in place of Snyder at the regional meet). In addition, they will have immense depth to draw upon; this year Mynatt had 26 runners on his team.

"It was a good season; we learned a lot," Anastasio said. "We fell a little short. There’s next year, and we’re going to be strong next year."

Added Snyder: "I think we can at least win a trophy [next year], if not win state. We can have at least three people under 16, and Langston can be low 16s and I can be under 17, and if we have that, we have a real good shot of winning."

From left: Joseph Song, Costas Cangellaris, and Terry Qi cheer on Uni cross country at the state finals. Behind Cangellaris is freshman Juan Chapa. They were among the many Uni fans who took buses to the meet. Gargoyle photo by Brittany Scheid (click to enlarge; click any photo to create your own slideshow)

Junior Langston Allston-Yeagle maintains his lead over senior teammate Isaac Chambers. Remaining Gargoyle photos by David Porreca (click to enlarge)

Junior Jack Snyder (211) ran the three-mile course in a personal record of 18:20. (click to enlarge)

Albert Anastasio heads into the stretch run. (click to enlarge)

Buck Walsh (213) and Nathan Smith (210) keep the pack tight. (click to enlarge)

Malcolm Taylor (212) finished 16 seconds faster than he did last year, when he was an individual qualifier. (click to enlarge)

Jack Snyder cut 43 seconds off his time at sectionals. (click to enlarge)

Isaac Chambers still has track season to look forward to before his Uni career ends. (click to enlarge)

Like Anastasio, Langston Allston-Yeagle had a great first year on the team. (click to enlarge)

Buck Walsh wil return next year to help Uni crack the top three. (click to enlarge)

Nathan Smith will be back as well. He, Anastasio, and Walsh will provide Uni with one of the best groups of 1-2-3 runners in Class 1A next season. (click to enlarge)

Like Chambers, Malcolm Taylor has track season to look forward before his Uni career is over. (click to enlarge)

Taylor at the awards ceremony. (click to enlarge)

Uni Cross Country State Medalists (Boys) *

Malcolm Taylor: 2008, 17th (15:42)

* Source: IHSA Records
** Note: From 1976 to 2006, Illinois boys competed in two classes in cross country, A and AA. Uni was in Class A. Since 2007, the IHSA has used three classes; Uni is in Class 1A.

Uni Cross Country State Medalists (Girls) *

* Source: IHSA Records
** Note: From 1988 to 2006, Illinois girls competed in two classes in cross country, A and AA. Uni was in Class A. Since 2007, the IHSA has used three classes. Uni is in Class 1A.

Top 10 State Finishes by Uni Cross Country Teams (Boys) *

2008: 4th

* Source: IHSA Records

Top 10 State Finishes by Uni Cross Country Teams (Girls) *

* Source: IHSA Records

Uni Individual Results *

* Total field of 167 runners
** Only points scored by a team's top five runners count toward final score, except in tie-breakers

Team Results *

4. UNI HIGH, 167 pts

* Total field of 20 teams, five each from four sectionals

Class 1A All-State Runners (Top 25 Finishers) *

17. Malcolm Taylor, UNI HIGH, 15:42

* Total field of 167 runners

Links:

Complete IHSA Class 1A boys state final results

Comments

November 8, 2008 - 7:32pm — Anonymous (not verified)

Congratulations and look what's coming!

What a pleasure it has been to watch the Uni boys cross country team this season! Congratulations to all the runners and to Coach Mynatt for a championshp season and a strong showing at state! I hope you all enjoyed your year!

The team will miss seniors Isaac Chambers and all-stater Malcolm Taylor (and his juggernaut dreads leading the field!).

But as we say goodbye to this year's seniors, also consider what's on the horizon and the potential for next year...

*Uni could return 3 of the top 10 area runners for 09, including Nathan Smith (jr), Albert Anastasio (so.) and Buck Walsh (so.).

*Albert ran 3 miles under 16 minutes at state this year after only one training season (Is that faster than Malcolm's sophomore PR!?).

*Langston Allston-Yeagle is running near 17 minutes after only one season of distance training.

*A pack of talented Uni runners are following close behind with a good mix of experience, determination and potential. These include freshman Lian Konisgberg who's personal best of 18:19 is (I think) the fastest freshman time at Uni for at least the last 7 years.

The future is a murky place, but there is some amazing potential on next year's team.

With a strong commitment to off-season training and a little luck avoiding injury, Uni can reasonably return 3 runners running below 16 minutes. Several others have the potential to reach that level or beyond.

If the remaining runners seize this opportunity, hold onto your hats in the fall of 09!

GO UNI!!

November 9, 2008 - 12:06am — Anonymous (not verified)

Correction. Malcolm's

Correction. Malcolm's Freshman time was faster than Liams. Pretty sure that's the only person who did better as a freshman over that time span.

November 9, 2008 - 2:18am — Anonymous (not verified)

his name is actually Ian,

his name is actually Ian, not Liam.

November 9, 2008 - 2:08pm — Anonymous (not verified)

Actually, it's Iain.

November 9, 2008 - 2:16pm — Anonymous (not verified)

Iian, actually.

November 9, 2008 - 2:31pm — Elaine Gu (yirangu)

His name is actually Iain.

November 9, 2008 - 1:29am — Jeremiah Methven (not verified)

What about Chris Breault's

What about Chris Breault's 18:08.8 as a freshman in 2001 (wow, was that seven years ago?)!

Anyways, as a former Uni XC runner, I am amazed by what this team has accomplished. Congratulations to Doug and the entire team for a great performance at state.

November 9, 2008 - 10:14am — albert (not verified)

freshman times

Buck ran a 17:30 at sectionals last year.

November 9, 2008 - 11:27am — Anonymous (not verified)

True! I shouldn't have

True! I shouldn't have overlooked Buck! Apologies to Mr. Walsh!

There's another layer of injustice in that omission because of all the men's Uni runners this year he has probably gotten the least attention in the press relative to his level of performance. Buck has run outstanding times as a sophomore.

November 9, 2008 - 12:49pm — Anonymous (not verified)