Sunday, September 7, 2008 11:08 PM CDT
Sporting new look, Smith takes second at invite
By RICK DAWSON, Staff Writer
rdawson@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON -- Aaron Smith’s tightly-cropped hair cut, he says, was prompted by a missions trip he took to Mexico in August.
For three years, former girls’ cross country coach Rob Ulm had unsuccessfully tried to coax him into something different than the shaggier look he displayed at the state track meet in May. Now Ulm has his wish.
“It’s time for a change,” Smith said.
It wasn’t the only one that drew positive feedback from a coach at Saturday’s Charleston Cross Country Invitational at Eastern Illinois University. Smith ran more than a full minute faster than he did in placing 14th in 2007, turning a time of 16 minutes, 25 seconds to take second to Danville’s Josh Viljeval and lead the host Trojans to a third-place finish. Teammate Matt McElwee was fourth.
Mahomet-Seymour won the boys’ meet, while Mount Zion, paced by winner Lauren Hanks, took first in the girls’. Charleston’s girls took eighth. Mattoon’s boys were sixth, with three placing in the top 20, and the Green Wave’s girls had too few runners to post a team score.
By sheer misfortune of pushing the wrong button on his timer, Smith ran the first mile in 5:09, faster than he had hoped. Viljeval caught him in the final 800 meters, putting 10 seconds between them at the finish line. But the time he posted left plenty of room for encouragement.
“He’s the biggest competition I have for the mile (in track),” Smith said. “He’s a lot of fun to run with. He’s a good competitor. Every race is a challenge, every race is fast with him.”
McElwee’s top-five finish was another positive. Defending champion Mahomet-Seymour repeated with five runners in the top 20, but perennial contender Champaign Centennial was absent for the boys’ event.
“I definitely like the competition,” McElwee said. “These bigger events are what I do better in. Having so many guys out there really kicks it up a notch.”
Liz Dole did that for Mattoon’s girls, running a time of 21:52 to place 17th, three spots behind where she finished as a junior. It was the performance of two teammates that fueled her optimism: Selina Johnson, who took 19th, and Courtney Considine, who placed 25th. Their potential has the Wave pondering its depth for the first time in a while.
“Now that we have three, it’s really great,” Dole said. “We’re all
striving for better times each race and hopefully as a team get to sectionals.”
Coach Eric Haslett further opted to use underclassmen Brandi Hall, Corinne Mausehund and Telsey Kinnaman in the open race instead. Each of them cut between three and a half to seven minutes off times they posted earlier in the week.
In the boys’ race, Blake Flood took 17th, Joe Calio 18th and Nick Heller 20th. Ten of Mattoon’s 13 runners on both sides wound up setting personal bests.
“Granted, the temperature was much better and that was good for all of the runners,” Haslett said. “Overall, I can’t remember being happier with a group of kids than I was when I came home from Charleston.”
Charleston’s girls are just trying to get meet-ready. Because of various injuries, Adrienne Mowan didn’t finish and Maggie Ambrose didn’t start. The best time was posted by Megan Diss (24:43), running with a sore hip.
“We’ve got some girls that are broken down a little bit, injured,” coach Brad Oakley said. “Hopefully we can rest up a little bit. The problem is we need to put in some miles for that conditioning. Right now, if we don’t get healthy, it doesn’t matter what we try to put in as far as miles go.”
Contact Rick Dawson at rdawson@jg-tc.com or 238-6855.
Charleston cross country invitational
Boys’ team scores
1. Mahomet-Seymour 56; 2. Danville 71; 3. Charleston 88; 4. Champaign Central 92; 5. Springfield Lanphier 136; 6. Mattoon 162; 7. Decatur Eisenhower 164; 8. Urbana 235; 9. Effingham 237; 10. Paris 248; 11. Sullivan 277
Top 10 individuals
1. Josh Viljeval (Danv.) 16:15; 2. Aaron Smith (Charl.) 16:25; 3. John Pullaman (Mahom.) 16:45; 4. Matt McElwee (Charl.) 16:49; 5. Javon Shaw (Danv.) 16:53; 6. Pat Mazzocco (Central) 16:55; 7. Glynn Davis (Urbana) 17:00; 8. Jordan Fox (Central) 17:05; 9. Carson Hiser (Eisen.) 17:09; 10. Henry Wolf (Mahom.) 17:17
Area boys
12. Jason Lord (Charl.) 17:19; 17. Blake Flood (Matt.) 17:36; 18. Joe Calio (Matt.) 17:38; 20. Nick Heller (Matt.) 17:46; 33. Jay Daniels (Charl.) 18:22; 37. Colin Roberts (Charl.) 18:32; 38. Colin Slabach (Charl.) 18:35; 41. Pat White (Charl.) 18:48; 46. Cameron Harvey (Sull.) 18:58; 47. Michael Giberson (Sull.) 19:00; 54. Devin Patterson (Matt.) 19:32; 55. Mick Wurtsbaugh (Matt.) 19:33; 57. Steve Underwood (Matt.) 19:38; 58. Dane Fitt (Matt.) 20:27; 59. Micah Plank (Sull.) 20:40; 62. Thunder Gasaway (Sull.) 21:17; 66. Chris Maris (Sull.) 21:52; 68. Bill Brown (Sull.) 22:26
Girls’ team scores
1. Mount Zion 34; 2. Decatur Eisenhower 71; 3. Urbana 83; 4. Effingham 106; 5. Danville 120; 6. Paris 125; 7. Champaign Central 153; 8. Charleston 189; 9. Springfield Lanphier 210
Top 10 individuals
1. Lauren Hanks (Mount Zion) 19:54; 2. Neli Crawford (Champaign Centennial) 19:59; 3. Meghan Houk (Urbana) 20:23; 4. Claire Tortorelli (Centennial) 20:27; 5. Audrey White (Centennial) 20:31; 6. Chelsey Watkins (Eff.) 21:05; 7. Andi Maxeiner (Eisen.) 21:05; 8. Emili Maxeiner (Eisen.) 21:08; 9. Anne Higgins (MZ) 21:09; 10. Taylor Green (MZ) 21:11
Area girls
17. Liz Dole (Matt.) 21:52; 19. Selina Johnson (Matt.) 21:53; 25. Courtney Considine (Matt.) 22:57; 40. Megan Diss (Charl.) 24:43; 41. Erin Emmett (Charl.) 24:56; 44. Alexa Wagner (Charl.) 25:23; 46. Stacia Macy (Charl.) 25:38; 51. Heather Clements (Sull.) 26:01; 54. Abbey Buxton (Sull.) 27:29; 55. Maybellean Rienbolt (Charl.) 27:46; 57. Cierra Bough (Charl.) 27:53
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