2021 Meet The Team Mahomet-Seymour Boys Cross Country

   As a freshman, Taylor joins our team with junior high cross country and track experience. Taylor has shown himself to be very driven and motivated. He started the summer off with strong miles until he broke his toes. He worked his way back from this injury. We held him out of the first meet to allow him to get fully healed. Taylor opened up his high school career with a solid race. He did well coming off an injury without having full workouts. He broke 20 minutes to run a 19:58 at the Monticello triangular meet. He placed 31st overall. Taylor had an improvement at the Peoria Notre Dame Invitational where he cut off 16 seconds. He ran a 19:42 to place 293rd in the fresh/soph race. He helped his team place 15th in the meet. Taylor earned a spot on the News-Gazette Prep Cross Country Leaders List in October.

   As a sophomore, Taylor had a great summer training year. He ran enough miles to earn a spot on our team's 400 mile club. Taylor's first race was at the Springfield Invitational. Despite it being a very challenging course he still managed to run a lifetime best. He ran a 19:40. This time was fast enough to earn him the 44th spot on our team's fastest top sophomore times list for the Springfield Invitational. He helped our varsity team place 6th out of 20 plus teams. He represented our varsity team well. Taylor had a major breakthrough at the Peoria Notre Dame Invitational. He broke into the 18's for the first time. He had a major improvement of 1 minute and 31 seconds. His time was fast enough to earn him the 43rd spot on our team's fastest top sophomore times list for the Peoria Notre Dame Invitational. He helped our fresh/soph team place 16th out of 79 teams represented. Taylor earned enough varsity letter points after this meet to earn his 2nd Varsity XC letter. Taylor ran fast enough to earn a spot on the News Gazette Prep Cross Country Leaders List in September. Taylor ran a lifetime best at the Normal U-High Invitational. He cut off 9 seconds to run a 18:00. His time was fast enough to earn him the 21st spot on our team's fastest sophomore top times list at the U-High Invitational. Taylor cut another 11 seconds off at the Metamora Invitational. He broke into the 17s for the first time with a 17:49. Taylor earned the 33rd spot on our team's fastest sophomore top times list for the Metamora Invitational. Taylor had an amazing Conference meet. He ran 9th for the team and ran a lifetime 3 mile best on our very challenging course with a time of 17:50. He earned a spot on our team's fastest sophomore times list at the conference meet. He earned a spot on the News-Gazette's leaders list in October. He earned a spot on our team's State series roster. Taylor earned our team's most improved runner award. He cut off 1 minute and 53 seconds in a year. Taylor won our team's sportsmanship award. Taylor won our team's scholar athlete award as a sophomore.

   As a junior, Taylor had a strong summer of running. He earned our 800 mile club award. He earned our York 1000 mile club award. He earned the title of captain. He opened up his junior year by winning the Charleston Invitational #3-4 runner flight race. He ran a 16:44 to earn a spot on our team's 16 minute 3 mile club. He earned a medal for his 4th place finish in the 13 team invitational. He helped our team win the meet. He earned a spot on our team's fastest junior times list at the Charleston Invitational. He really showed how much his training paid off. He went on to earn a spot on our Old Dog club. In his second meet he continued to dominate by placing high in the SJO Spartan Classic. He helped our team win the meet. Taylor improved his time to a 16:18. His improvement was so good that he earned the #36 spot on our most improved over a career list. He earned our team's 3 month most consecutive days in a row award. Taylor showed that he is one of the toughest in the area. He placed 4th overall in the Urbana meet and ran 2nd for our team. He helped our team win the meet. Taylor ran a 16:22 at the Conference meet. He placed 5th. This earned him a medal and All-Conference honors. He earned a spot on our team's fastest junior times list at the Conference meet. He helped our team win the Conference meet. Taylor ran a 16:45 at the Monticello Invitational. He earned a spot on our team's State series roster. He earned a varsity letter as a junior. Taylor gave his all at the Regional meet. He finished in the top 15 of the Regional meet. His efforts helped our team win the Regional meet and advance to the Sectional meet. He earned a spot on our team's fastest junior times list at the Regional meet. He was one of the fastest Mahomet times in our 50 plus years at the Regional meet. Taylor won our team's scholar athlete award as a junior. Taylor helped our team place 4th in the Sectional meet and qualify to the unofficial State meet. He ran well enough to earn a spot on our team's top fastest junior times list at the Sectional meet. Taylor had one of his greatest races at the State meet. He ran aggressive from the start and put himself in the top of the lead pack. He ran a gutsy middle part of the race and finished very high in his flight. He earned a spot on our team's fastest junior times list at State. He finished 4th for our team and helped our team place 2nd in State.

   As a senior,