2017 Meet The Team Mahomet-Seymour Boys Cross Country

   As a Freshman, Riley joins the team after running cross country in junior high for three seasons.   Riley qualified for State his 7th and 8th grade seasons. He placed 83rd as a 7th grade runner and 53rd as an 8th grade runner. Riley adjusted to the high school training and racing quickly. Riley often pushed our top runner in some of the toughest early workouts. Riley ran a very strong first race. He ran a 16:34 at the Charleston Invitational. Riley's time earned him the 2nd spot on our team's fastest freshman top time list for the Charleston Invitational. Riley earned a medal by placing 21st overall and 8th for our team. Riley went on to be one of the few freshmen runners we have had that have broken 30 minutes on our South Mahomet run. Riley made his way onto the News Gazette Prep Cross Country Leaders List in September. Riley ran a strong race at the Springfield Invitational freshman race. He won the meet with a fast time of 10:37 on a hilly and soggy course. This earned him the 2nd fastest time ever run on that course by a Mahomet freshman. Riley earned a medal for winning the meet and helped lead his team to the team title. His time was a 30 second lifetime best effort. Riley earned enough letter points after the Springfield race to earn his first Varsity letter. Riley ran in the varsity race at the Peoria Notre Dame Invitational against 68 other teams. Riley tied his lifetime best with a 16:34. He ran 7th for the team. He helped his team place 2nd beating out 19 other State ranked teams and 3 nationally ranked teams. Riley's time earned him a spot on our team's fastest top freshman times list for the PND Invite. Riley helped his team run the fastest top 7 runner average we have ever had at the Peoria Notre Dame Invite. Ryan had another great race at the East Peoria Invitational. He ran 7th for the team and helped them win the 23 team invitational. He ran a lifetime best of 16:30. This was the 4th fastest freshman time we have had in 10 years. He helped his team earn a State ranking of 2nd for the week and a national ranking of 36th. Riley made his way onto the News Gazette Prep Cross Country Leaders List in October. Riley ran a season best time at the Metamora Invitational. He improved 23 seconds to run a 16:07. This earned him the 4th fastest freshman spot on our team's fastest times list. He now holds the 7th fastest freshman time of any Mahomet runner in the past 44 years. Riley had a great race at the Conference meet. He was the individual meet champion in the open race with a personal best 3 mile time of 16:23. This was an 11 second improvement. He helped lead his team to win the race with a low score of 16. He was faster than 4 of the 7 other team's fastest runner showing how strong of a runner he is. He ran the 3rd fastest freshman time on our fastest freshman times list for the Conference meet which we have been running for 45 years. Riley ran fast enough to earn a spot on our team's State meet roster. Riley went on to have a great week of practice the Regional meet week. He broke 5 minutes in the mile for the first time in his life. He ran a 4:55 to earn a spot on our team's Old Dog club. Riley ran a lifetime 3 mile personal best at the Regional meet with a time of 16:09. He ran 4th for the team to help them win. He helped them run the fastest top 5 and fastest top 7 runner average our team has ever had in the 45 year history at the Regional meet. He ran the 2nd fastest time ever run by a Mahomet freshman in the Regional meet in 45 years. He place 15th in the meet with a 12 second improvement on his previous best 3 mile time. Riley earned our fastest freshman award for the 2014 season. Riley made his way onto the News Gazette Prep Cross Country Leaders List in November. Riley ran a great Sectional race. He ran 5th for the team and earned a spot on our State team. He ran a lifetime best of 16:03. This helped our team run the fastest top 5 runner average and top 7 runner average we have had in our 45 year history at the Sectional meet. Riley became the 5th fastest freshman in any race by any Mahomet runner in 45 years. He also earned the 4th fastest freshman time we have had at the Sectional race. Riley ran a great race at the State meet. He ran a 15:48 to place 78th. This was the fastest freshman time ever run by a Mahomet runner at the State meet. He earned Illinois Elite Status by dyestat.com. He helped his team run the fastest top 7 runner average at State. He helped his team win our program's first state trophy by placing 2nd. He earned a medal by placing 2nd as a team. He earned our team's fastest freshman award his freshman year. He joined our team's 15 minute 3 mile runner club by breaking into the 15s.
    As a sophomore, Riley opened up his season at the Charleston Invitational. He ran a 17:36. His time was fast enough to earn him a spot on our team's fastest sophomore times list at the Charleston Invitational. He earned himself a spot on the News-Gazette Prep Cross Country Leaders list in September. Riley had a huge improvement at the Springfield Invitational. He helped lead his team to a 2nd place team finish. Riley placed 6th overall which earned him a medal. He improved 29 seconds in a week to run a season best time of 17:08. He earned a spot on our team's fastest sophomore times list for the Springfield invite. He earned enough points after his second race to earn his second cross country varsity letter. Riley earned his way onto our sub 30 South Mahomet loop again as a sophomore. Riley had a great break through at the Peoria Notre Dame Invitational. He cut off 49 seconds to run a 16:19. He earned a spot on our teams 16 minute 3 mile club. Riley ran the 9th fastest sophomore time for a Mahomet runner at this invite. Riley ran a strong race at the East Peoria Invitational. He ran a 16:38. His time earned him the 11th spot on our team's fastest top sophomore list at this invite. Riley placed 28th in the meet helping his team win the invite. Riley earned a spot on the News-Gazette Prep Cross Country Leaders List in October. Riley joined our Old Dog club by breaking 5 minutes in the mile. Riley ran a season personal best time of 16:05 at the Metamora Invitational. This was a 14 second improvement from his season best. Riley earned a medal by placing 35th in the meet becoming one of the few Mahomet runners to ever medal in this invite. Riley ran the 7th fastest sophomore time by a Mahomet runner at this invite. He ran the 19th fastest time ever run by a sophomore Mahomet runner in any race in the past 46 years. Riley led most of the way in the Conference open race. He ended up finishing a strong 5th place with a time of 16:13. This was a 10 second improvement from his last year's conference race. Riley helped his team win the open race with a low score of 17. He earned the 10th spot on our team's fastest sophomore times list at the Conference meet. Riley earned a spot on our State series roster. Riley was injured going into the Regional meet and he was going to be held out to rest him. With a last minute injury by one of our other runners, Riley showed amazing loyalty by stepping in to make sure our team had a full roster. Riley ran a 16:45 and helped his team win the meet with the lowest top seven runner average we have had in 46 years in the Regional meet. Riley earned the 14th fastest time by a Mahomet sophomore in the Regional meet in the past 46 years. Riley had a very competitive race at the Sectional meet. Despite the horrible wind and rain he still ran a 16:23 to place 33rd. He placed 5th our his team helping them win the Sectional meet advancing them to State. He became a 2 time State qualifier. He earned the 13th spot on our team's fastest top sophomore times at the Sectional meet. Riley also earned a spot on the News-Gazette Prep Cross Country Leaders List in November. Riley set up his team to place 2nd in State. Riley and his teammates earned at medal at the State meet for placing 2nd.
   As a junior, Riley entered the season after finishing a great track season. He earned All-State honors in the 3200 meter relay. He trained harder than ever in the summer by running 500 miles. He joined our team's 500 mile club. Riley helped lead his team in a pack to win the 13 team Charleston Invitational with a perfect score. Riley took the runner-up spot to earn a medal. He ran a 15:52 to earn a spot on our team's 15 minute 3 mile club. He earned the 3rd fastest time ever by a Mahomet junior at this invitational. He improved 1 minute and 43 seconds from his time at this meet last year. Riley earned a spot on the News-Gazette Prep Cross Country Leaders list in September. Rile ran with his teammates in a tight pack to win the Springfield Invitational. They finished 6 runners in 1 second spread. Riley earned a medal for his high place. He earned his third varsity XC letter after this meet. He earned a top spot on our team's fastest junior top times list at the Springfield Invitational. Riley had a great race at the Peoria Notre Dame Invitational. Despite the course being slow from being wet, Riley still ran a lifetime best of 15:17. He finished 24th overall and helped his team place 2nd in the 72 team invitational. He helped his team beat 23 State ranked teams and 2 nationally ranked teams. Riley earned elite status for his time by MileSplit. He earned the 5th spot on our team's fastest junior times list for the PND Invite. He ran a lifetime best by 31 seconds. He earned a medal for his high place. Riley ran a solid race at the East Peoria Invitational. He ran in a pack with his team to place 1st-6th to win the 21 team invitational with a perfect score. He ran the 7th fastest junior time for a Mahomet runner at this meet in the 12 years we have raced at this invite. Riley earned a medal for his 3rd place finish. He improved 1 minute and 3 seconds from his East Peoria time a year ago. Riley joined our team's old dog sub 5 minute mile club by breaking 5 minutes in the mile. He joined our sub 5 for 5 club. Riley broke into the 14s for the first time at the Metamora Invitational. He ran a 14:55 to become one of only 11 Mahomet runners to break 15 in 47 years. Riley won a medal by placing 5th. He helped his team win the 26 team invitational with 20 points. He earned a spot on our team's 14 minute 3 mile club. Riley earned the 3rd spot on our fastest junior times list at the Metamora Invitational. He earned a spot on the News-Gazette Prep Cross Country Leaders list in October. Riley was runner up at the Conference meet. He ran a 14:49 for his lifetime best. This was 28 second improvement from his season best 3 mile. He improved 84 seconds from his 2015 conference time. Riley earned Elite status for his time from Milesplit.com. He earned a medal for placing 2nd and All-Conference status. He ran the fastest time ever by a Mahomet junior at the Conference meet. He also ran the fastest time ever by a junior in the Cornbelt conference meet ever by any runner in any school. Riley helped our team to a Regional Championship. He placed 6th. He ran a 15:15 which earned him the 3rd fastest time on our team's fastest junior list at the Regional meet. He earned elite status by Milesplit.com for his great Regional time. He helped his team run the fastest top 5 and top 7 runner average we have ever had at this meet. Riley improved 1 minute and 30 seconds from his 2015 Regional time. He ran a great race at State. He ran a 14:49 which earned him the 4th spot on our team's fastest junior times list at State. He placed 13th earning a medal and All-State status. He helped his team win State as a team so he earned a second medal for that. He helped our team tie 2 State records. They set the most amount of All-State runners with 6. Only 2 other teams in 71 years have accomplished this. They also ran the fastest top 5 team average of any non AAA team in 71 years. Riley earned our team's most valuable award and Bulldog award along with his State team. He earned our team's fastest junior award for running a 14:49. He earned a spot on the News-Gazette Prep Cross Country Leaders list in November. Riley earned Elite Status from his performance at State. He went on to earn a spot on the News Gazette Prep Cross Country Leaders List in December. He earned First Team All Area Honors. He earned Elite status by milesplit for his time at the Nike Cross Nationals Midwest Regional race where he ran a 15:50 to place 60th. He helped his team place 3rd. Riley's team won an at-large bid to qualify for the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland. Riley led his team and placed 104th at the Nike Cross Nationals with a 16:57 on a very muddy course. He helped his team place 17th at Nationals. Riley helped his team earn a national ranking as high as 13th throughout the season. In the final rankings his team earned a 17th in the nation spot.
   As a senior, Riley stepped in as one of the strongest team leaders we have had. He really went out of his way to encourage the young runners and to take care of them. His character really set a high standard for our team. Riley earned a spot on our 400 mile club despite fighting an injury mid summer. Riley ran a solid race at the Charleston Invitational with a time of 16:05. He spent much of the race helping his teammates stay in the pack. Riley's time was still in the top 10 fastest senior times we have had at this invite. He placed 11th earning himself another medal. He helped his team win the invite. Riley went on to run a 15:50 at the Charleston Invitational. This earned him the 5th fastest senior time we have had at this meet. We have only had a handful of runners break 16:00 on this tough course. He placed 7th to earn a medal. He earned enough letter points to earn his 4th varsity letter in XC. He earned a spot on the News-Gazette prep cross country leaders list in September. He ran a sold race at the Peoria Notre Dame race. He placed 39th to earn a medal. He ran a 15:31 which earned him the 7th spot on our team's fastest senior times list for the PND invite. He ran a season best by 19 seconds. He helped his team place 9th. We held Riley out of the East Peoria Invitational to keep him healthy. Riley earned our team's most consecutive days in a row award for his great commitment to running. Riley had a nice comeback at the Metamora Invitational. He placed 7th overall to earn a medal. He helped his team win the 29 team invitational. He ran a 15:28 for a season best and to earn the 10th spot on our team's fastest senior times list at the Metamora Invitational. Riley helped his team win the conference meet with a 1-2-3 finish. He placed 3rd earning a medal and all-conference honors. He ran a season best 3 mile time by 19 seconds with a 15:31. He earned the 10th spot on our team's fastest senior times list at conference. He earned a spot on our State meet roster for the 4th year. He earned a spot on the News Gazette Area Cross Country Leaders List in October. Riley ran a 15:03 at the Regional meet. This was his season best by 25 seconds. He ran the 5th fastest time ever run by a Mahomet runner at the Regional meet. He helped his team run the fastest top 5 and top 7 runner average we have had at the Regional meet in our 48 year history at the meet. He placed 4th to earn All-Regional status and a medal. Riley helped his team win the Sectional meet with a 3rd place finish. He earned a medal and All-Sectional status for his finish. He ran a 15:09 which earned him the 5th spot on our team's fastest senior times list at the Sectional meet. He became a 4 time State qualifier. He helped our team run the 2nd fastest top 5 runner average and 2nd fastest top 7 runner average at the Sectional meet in our 48 years of attending the meet. He earned a spot on the News Gazette Area Cross Country Leaders List in November. Riley had one of the best races of his career at the right moment. He ran a lifetime 3 mile best for a 21 second improvement. He ran a 14:48. This earned him a spot on our team's 14 minute runner club. His time earned him the 4th spot on our team's fastest senior times list at State. He helped his team run the 2nd fastest top 5 runner average at State. He placed 4th which earned him All-State status again this year. He helped his team win the State championship for a second year. He earned a medal for being part of our State championship team and for being an All-State runner. Riley won the Flying Dutchman award for placing in the conference, Regional, Sectional, and State meets. Riley earned first team All-Area honors from the News-Gazette.