By FRED KRONER
fred@sjodaily.com
*photo by Cindy Berry Rajlich
All eight of St. Joseph-Ogden’s entries in the girls’ Class 1A division of the Illinois Prep Top Times indoor state meet at Illinois Wesleyan University registered season-best performances on Friday.
Included in that was a drop of nearly 29 seconds by the 3,200-meter relay, which emerged as the meet champions.
The first-place finishing foursome featured freshman Kailyn Ingram, junior Jillian Plotner, senior Cassidy Bagby and junior Hannah Rajlich. They were timed in 9 minutes, 59.76 seconds.
“This meet is always a great midseason meet to see some very talented teams that we will not see again until the outdoor state meet in May,” SJ-O girls’ coach Kelly Steffen said. “Our girls have trained very hard up to this point, but know there is more work to be done in order to be ready to run on the big blue track (at Eastern Illinois University) in May.
“We add some events outdoors (400 relay, discus, 300 hurdles), so we are hoping to gain some depth there, and work to figure out how we can make the best showing as a team in a month and a half.”
Steffen was pleased by the breakthrough made by the distance relay foursome.
“For the past few years, our 4×8 has fallen one place short of being champions,” Steffen said, “so this team was hungry. Kailyn Ingram did a phenomenal job leading off and keeping in the pack to set up our veterans for an excellent finish.”
Two other SJ-O relays fared well.
The 800-meter unit placed fourth in 1:51.15. Sharing the baton were Maclayne Taylor, Atleigh Hamilton, Hope Rajlich and Hailey Birt.
Steffen needed to make a late substitution in the foursome, inserting Hope Rajlich on the day of the meet.
“After Rylee Sjuts woke up with the stomach flu, our girls did an excellent job making adjustments to still run a strong relay,” Steffen said. “There are some very competitive sprint relays this year, so our performance leaves us hungry to drop our times for outdoors.”
The 1,600-meter group stopped the clock in 4:18.72 and earned a fifth-place finish. The relay included Danie Kelso. Hope Rajlich, Hamilton and Taylor. When Sjuts was scratched, Hope Rajlich was added to that relay as well.
“Like our 4×200, our girls had to step up to make adjustments without senior Rylee Sjuts,” Steffen said. “They raced hard and ended up with a fifth-place finish. Great efforts, but hungry to drop that time outdoors.”
Hamilton added a fourth-place individually in the long jump (16 feet 11 1/2 inches).
“Atleigh Hamilton had a great long jump competition,” Steffen said. “After fighting a foot injury during the offseason, she was ranked 11th going into Top Times.
“She improved her seed mark by seven inches to get fourth place.”
Taylor took sixth in the 60 meters (8.08 seconds).
“Maclayne Taylor ran only her second 60-meter of the season (in the prelims) and qualified for the final,” Steffen said. “It was a very close race and she finished sixth in the final. Looking for a breakthrough outdoor season this year for Mac.”
Three Spartans ended among the top 12 in the 1,600 meters.
Plotner placed eighth (5:32.12), Bagby was ninth (5:33.01) and Hannah Rajlich was 11th (5:33.16).
“Jillian Plotner got eighth place with an excellent double back from the 4×800,” Steffen said. “She made a strong decision mid-way through the race to push herself to the next level to get that eighth-place medal.”
Also competing in the Class 1A division was Villa Grove/Heritage’s Meike Herbrandt. She ended 21st in the 60 meters (8.53 seconds).
Boys’ track and field
St. Joseph-Ogden athletes secure top 10 finishes in three out of five events in which they participated at the unofficial indoor state meet at the Shirk Center, in Bloomington, on Friday.
The top performance was by the 800-meter relay, which captured the runner-up position.
The relay consisted of Lane Gaskin, Kaleb Harshbarger, Aiden Meyer and Brady Buss. They were timed in 1 minute, 35.86 seconds.
Morrison won the event in 1:34.43.
Gaskin took fifth individually in the 200 meters (23.51) and Meyer finished 16th in the 60 meters (7.29 seconds).
SJ-O’s 1,600-meter relay earned a ninth-place finish.
The team’s runners were Gaskin, Aaron Wagner-Dillman, Meyer and Harshbarger. They were timed in 3:42.76.
The Spartans’ other competitor was pole vaulter Nolan Peacock, who cleared 12 feet and ended 15th.
Baseball
St. Joseph-Ogden
Crayton Burnett became the third Spartan with a shutout this spring as he blanked visiting Urbana 2-0 on Thursday.
Burnett pitched six innings of no-hit ball and struck out 12.
Adam Rose pitched the seventh, yielding one hit, but registering three strikeouts.
Offensively, the Spartans were led by Nick Boggs with two hits and an RBI. Burnett also drove in a run.
On Friday, Drew Coursey’s single was the lone hit for the Spartans (4-3) in a 2-0 loss at Morton.
The Potters scored both of their runs in the first inning.
Keegan McCarty (1-1) pitched the first four innings and suffered the loss. He allowed five hits and struck out two.
The Spartans return to action today at Salt Fork.
Oakwood
Noah Ruch, Elijah Harden and Brady Howard had two hits apiece for Oakwood, which rallied for a 4-3 triumph at Fisher on Friday.
Harden drove in two runs. Koby Fletcher delivered one hit and one RBI for Oakwood, which ended with eight hits.
Isaiah Ruch picked up the pitching victory with four innings of two-hit relief. Ruch struck out four and walked one.
The Comets scored three runs in the fifth inning to rebound from a 2-0 deficit.
On Saturday, visiting Tuscola scored six runs in the top of the first inning and never trailed en route to a 16-5 win at Oakwood.
Howard, Harden, Brayden Hobick and Isaiah Ruch all collected two hits for the Comets (2-2). Harden and Ruch had two RBI apiece.
Andy Hohn pitched the first three innings and suffered the loss. Jacob Spear worked the final four innings.
Oakwood returns to action on Tuesday at home against Paxton-Buckley-Loda.
Villa Grove/Heritage
The Hawks (3-4) scored runs in six of seven innings and held an 18-12 edge in hits, but dropped an 11-8 non-conference decision on Friday at Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin.
Ryan Cheatham totaled four hits and teammate Carson Howard had three hits for the Hawks.
Cheatham drove in four runs and Howard had two RBI.
Every Heritage starter had either a hit or drew a walk.
Squad members collecting two hits were Noah Davison, Kane Davison, Evan Wilson, Nick Coffin and Austin Grimm.
The Hawks return to action on Tuesday at Judah Christian.
Softball
St. Joseph-Ogden
The Spartans continued to display their long-ball prowess, belting three home runs and increasing the team total to seven over the past two games, in Thursday’s 8-6 triumph over visiting Normal West.
Hannah Dukeman homered for the second game in a row. Bailey Dowling and Kaylee Ward also swatted home runs.
Dowling totaled three hits and drove in two runs. Dukeman had two hits and two RBI.
Ashtyn Cromwell (2-0) pitched a complete game and picked up the victory.
On Saturday, SJ-O (4-0) produced its first shutout of the season, blanking IVC 4-0 in Chillicothe.
Zoey Witruk pitched a complete game and struck out nine.
Dukeman had two hits for the Spartans and Ward drove in two runs.
SJ-O is 1-0 in Illini Prairie Conference games.
The Spartans return to action on Wednesday at home against Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin.
Oakwood
The Comets were shut out at Fisher, 2-0, on Friday in their first game of the season.
Kerrigan Shafer and Karson Rupp collected the Oakwood hits. Both players had singles.
Shafer took the loss. In three innings pitched, she yielded four hits while walking one and striking out one.
Heritage
The Hawks (1-4) lost games by the 10-run rule on consecutive days.
Heritage dropped an 11-1 decision to Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin on Thursday at home and fell to Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond 21-3 on Friday.
Against A-L/A-H, Gracyn Allen was 2-for-2 and teammate Kenzie Davison hit a triple and drove in a run.
Heritage returns to action on Tuesday at home against Salt Fork.
