Hornets Win Sectional Championship

The Nashville Hornets boys track team won their second consecutive IHSA Class 1A Sectional Championship. Back Row: Tyson Huge, Head Coach Tom Taylor, Daymeon Baugh, Gavyn Lietz, Issac Sexe, Caleb Klein, Landon Davis, Gavin Love, Jackson Aulds, Jace Matecki, Assistant Coach Doug Kell. Front Row: Graham Speedie, Derek Kirgan, Brandon Schnitker, Caleb Zgonina, and Bryan Meyer. Not Pictured: Tabor Kozuszek.
By Brent Huelsmann
Domination, one word to describe the Nashville Hornets boys track team’s performance at the IHSA Class 1A Chester Sectional on May 16. Nashville finished with 158 points, 77 points ahead of second place. Wesclin finished in second, followed by Lebanon in third, Sparta in fourth, and Mater Dei in fifth. Nashville qualified for the IHSA Class 1A State Track Meet in 10 of the 18 events at the meet.
The Hornets were strong in both field events and running events as they qualified in four field events and six running events. To qualify for state, athletes had to finish in the top two in the event or qualify based on time or distance. Overall the Hornets will send eight athletes to the IHSA Class 1A State Meet at Eastern Illinois University on May 24.
In the running events, the Hornets came out of the gate strong as the team of Tabor Kozuszek, Caleb Zgonina, Gavin Love, and Brandon Schnitker won the 4X800M Relay with a time of 8:27.84.
The Hornets would grab three top two finishes in the running events as well. Schnitker won the 800M Run with a time of 2:03.99, followed closely by Zgonina with a time of 2:05.46. Nashville would also finish first and second in the 110M High Hurdles with as Gavyn Lietz finished first with a time of 15.73 and Jackson Aulds crossed the line with a time of 16.16.
The third 1-2 finish of the day for the Hornets would come in the 400M Dash. Schnitker won the race with a time of 51.52, and Kozuszek would finish second with a time of 52.06.
Lietz would win the 300M Hurdles with a time of 42 seconds to qualify for state.
Nashville would also qualify in the final running event of the night as Daymeon Baugh, Kozuszek, Zgonina, and Schnitker would cross the line first in the 4X400M Relay with a time of 3:35.42.
In the field events, Lietz would qualify in two more events as he won the Pole Vault as he cleared 12’08”. Lietz would finish second in the Triple Jump with a jump of 41’0.25”.
Baugh would win the Triple Jump with a jump of 41’3”.
Derek Kirgan finished second in Shot Put with a throw of 45’3.25”
Kozuszek finished second in the High Jump as he cleared 5’11”.
After the meet, Hornets coach Tom Taylor talked about winning Sectionals. “Our goal was to duplicate our conference performances. The men did better than that. Every single person came and did their job. Individual events for a team score. We’ve got a few more things to work on but mostly a lot of fine-tuning and keeping a competitive mentality. We don’t want to got up to Eastern to participate. With the number of events we have, we want to score as many points as possible. It is an amazing group with a great work ethic and they love to compete.
The Hornets that advanced to State will compete in the IHSA Class 1A State Track Prelims at Eastern Illinois University on May 24. Field Events begin at 10 am.