Malcolm Taylor begins the final leg of the 4x800 relay at the 2007 Class A outdoor state finals. Austin Rundus is in the background. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)

CHARLESTON — Uni's 4x800-meter relay team took top honors Saturday at the Charleston Indoor Boys Invitational at Eastern Illinois University's Lantz Fieldhouse.

The squad of junior Isaac Chambers, senior Jacob Olshansky, senior Austin Rundus, and junior Malcolm Taylor ran the event in 8 minutes, 33.36 seconds (fully automated time) to lead a field of 25 Class A teams.

Monticello was second with a time of 8:35.04, but no other team was close to the Illineks. Third-place Beecher was almost nine seconds off the pace (8:42.01).

The performance marked a significant improvement for the Illineks over last year's Charleston meet, when the same runners placed fourth out of 25 teams and ran a time of 8:41.13.

Uni's other relay team that competed Saturday, the 4x400, placed sixth out of 36 Class A squads. Chambers, Rundus, sophomore Nathan Smith, and Taylor recorded a time of 3:41.13, a little more than four seconds behind first-place Rochester (3:36.75).

Overall, 66 schools competed at the invitational: 36 in Class A, 30 in Class AA.

Uni finished the day tied for 14th in Class A with 13 points.

Besides the relay team members, the following Illineks placed in the top 20 in their individual events:

• Sam Imlay (sr), 800 run, 2:12.41 (12th/60)
• Frankie McFarland (sr), shot put, 43 ft, 1 in (13th/42)
• Kareem Sayegh (jr), 200 dash, 25.36 (18th/37); triple jump, 35-6.75 (20th/25)
• Nathan Smith (so), 800 run, 2:13.45 (18th/60)

Charleston was the team's final indoor meet before the Illinois Prep Top Times Indoor Classic.

The IPTT event, which will take place March 28 for Class A schools, is the unofficial state meet for indoor track and field. The meet will be held at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington.

For the boys, the 4x800 and 4x400 teams have met the IPTT qualifying times. For the girls, sophomore Tuli Bera (55 dash) and senior Ruth Welch (800 run) have made the IPTT cut.

At last year's IPTT meet, the boys 4x800 team — featuring the same runners as this year — placed fifth out of nine squads (8:38.03). Welch, meanwhile, ran the 800 in 2:38.41 to finish 12th out of 14 runners.

Uni Results: Charleston Indoor Boys Invitational

Long jump

• Noel Knox, 15 ft, 8.5 in (27th/33)

Shot put

• Frankie McFarland, 43-1 (13th/42)
• Mike Renner, 39-2 (22nd/42)

Triple jump

• Kareem Sayegh, 35-6.75 (20th/25)

4x800-meter relay

• Isaac Chambers-Jacob Olshansky-Austin Rundus-Malcolm Taylor, 8 minutes, 33.36 seconds (1st/25)

55-meter dash

• Langston Allston-Yeagle, 7.80 (54th/60)

800-meter run

• Sam Imlay, 2:12.41 (12th/60)
• Nathan Smith, 2:13.45 (18th/60)

1,600-meter run

• Jacob Olshansky, 5:09.04 (24th/59)
• Sam Imlay, 5:11.46 (25th/59)

200-meter dash

• Kareem Sayegh, 25.36 (18th/37)

4x400-meter relay

• Isaac Chambers-Austin Rundus-Nathan Smith-Malcolm Taylor, 3:41.13 (6th/36)

Note: All times were recorded using Fully Automated Time