Tough schedule helps Spartans place at IHSA Sectionals, Skinner appreciative of senior class
By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
The tradition continues with the St. Joseph-Ogden girls’ cross-country program.
By placing third in Saturday’s Effingham St. Anthony Class 1A Sectional, SJ-O advanced its entire girls’ team to state for the 13th consecutive year and for the 25th time in school history.
They did it by sticking together. The split between the team’s top five runners was 41 seconds. The gap between the second and fifth runners was seven seconds.
“They draw strength from one another on a daily basis,” SJ-O coach Jason Retz said.
In a field of 136 competitors, all seven of the Spartans’ sectional entries finished in the top one-third. The five scoring runners were all among the top 27.
It didn’t start out that way.
“We got cut off early (starting from an outside position) and after 400 meters, it may have looked like we were out of it,” Retz said.
The schedule prepared the team for that type of challenge.
“No one panicked,” Retz said. “Some of the races we were in this year were big fields, with more than 60 schools.”
The Spartans worked their way back towards the front.
“We kept picking people off,” Retz said.
Senior Jillian Plotner was the team leader, placing 11th overall after completing the 3-mile course in 19 minutes, 33.75 seconds.
The next group of Spartans were closely bunched.
Sophomore Ashlyn Lannert was 23rd in 19:57.69, senior Hannah Rajlich was 24th in 19:58.97, sophomore Ava Knap was 25th in 19:59.21 and sophomore Malorie Sarnecki was 27th in 20:04.79.
“They kept their composure,” Retz said. “That’s one reason we try to race as many big meets as we can. If you get to the back of the field, you work your way back up.”
The other SJ-O sectional runners were sophomore Addie Allen (36th in 20:23.21) and senior Ally Monk (40th in 20:38.27).
In the final runnerspace.com Class 1A state poll, SJ-O’s girls were ranked sixth.
Two of the teams ranked ahead of them were also in front of them at the sectional. Meet champion Monticello (53 points) is ranked first in 1A and sectional runner-up Unity (66 points) is ranked fourth.
SJ-O finished third with 110 points, just in front of St. Thomas More (116 points). Fifth-place Urbana Uni High (132 points) also qualified its team for state, which will be Saturday, Nov. 9, at Detweiler Park, in Peoria.
The girls’ Class 1A race will start at 9 a.m.
Retz believes his team could be part of history while seeking its fifth state trophy in the past five seasons.
“We are on track to have five (runners) under 19 minutes,” he said. “No team has ever lost state with five under 19 minutes.
“This is the fastest team year (state-wide) that I have been a part of in seven years at St. Joe. It’s a very competitive year.
‘We may do that (five under 19 minutes) and be sixth, seventh or eighth.”
The potential is there for more, however.
“If we move the pack forward, we could be top five and, on a great day, we could be top three,” Retz said. “Anything in the top eight would be a huge accomplishment.”
St. Joseph-Ogden Boys’ cross-country
After a year’s absence, SJ-O’s boys’ cross-country team is headed back to the state meet.
The Spartans, ranked 25th in the final runnerspace.com state poll, took third place in Saturday’s Effingham St. Anthony Class 1A Sectional.
The top five teams secured automatic advancement to state.
“One of the big keys was our preparation,” Spartan coach Jason Retz said. “We were ready for the course and the (wet) conditions.”
Junior Brandon Mattsey was the team-leader, clocking a 3-mile time of 16 minutes, 56.79 seconds. He finished 13th individually.
Senior Eric Poe came in 22nd in 17:16.29.
“Our third through sixth ran as a group and finished within a few seconds of each other,” Retz added.
The split between those four runners was 12 seconds.
Sophomore Charlie Mabry was 36th in 17:40.73, sophomore Elijah Mock was 42nd in 17:50.26, junior Logan Wolfersberger was 48th in 17:52.28 and sophomore Luke Stegall was 50th in 17:53.66.
In all, there were 148 participants at the sectional.
SJ-O’s other entry was junior Lukas Hutcherson (80th in 18:49.14).
With just one senior in the top seven, the program’s future is bright. Part of that future could arrive this week in the state finals at Detweiler Park, in Peoria.
The Class 1A boys’ race will be on Saturday, Nov. 2, starting at 10 a.m.
“At the beginning of the year, I thought we could be in the top 15,” Retz said. “After the last several weeks, I think they could be top 10.
“They put in a good summer and have continued to work hard.”
Last year’s near-miss served as motivation. SJ-O was within five points of advancing its team to state in 2018.
“Last year, four of our seven had never run a high school regional or sectional before,” Retz said.
There were no close calls when the points were tabulated on Saturday.
Meet champion Monticello had 42 points. Runner-up Urbana Uni High had 96. SJ-O came in third with 158 points. The other teams that moved on to state were fourth-place Unity (162 points) and fifth-place Robinson (173 points).
SJ-O teams have qualified for the boys’ state cross-country meet six of the last seven years and 22 times overall.
St. Joseph-Ogden Football
The Spartans gave up four first-quarter touchdowns on Saturday at top-ranked and unbeaten Williamsville and dropped a 54-26 Class 3A first-round decision.
Williamsville (10-0) accumulated 446 total yards, including 280 on the ground.
Crayton Burnett passed for 111 yards and two touchdowns to Ty Pence. The TD strikes were on plays of 3 and 44 yards. Burnett finished the year with 971 passing yards. Pence hauled in a team-best 19 passes and turned four into TDs.
In the season-finale, Pence totaled 86 yards on four catches. Coby Miller hauled in two receptions.
Keaton Nolan (91 yards rushing) and Jarrett Stevenson (51 yards rushing) each scored one touchdown against Williamsville. Stevenson also added a two-point conversion to raise his team-high point total to 70.
Stevenson led the team in rushing for the season with 601 yards. Nolan finished second with 364 yards on the ground.
Against Williamsville, SJ-O managed 141 rushing yards on 42 attempts.
Payton Cain intercepted a Williamsville pass, his team-leading third of the season.
For the second straight year and the third time in the past four years, the Spartans close with a 5-5 season record and a first-round playoff loss.
“Really enjoyed this group of kids and our senior class,” SJ-O coach Shawn Skinner said. “What you want is to watch kids mature into good young men.
“This group gets it. They were a great group to coach all four years and they were just enjoyable to be with. Will miss them, but can’t wait to see how successful they are as they move on.”
SJ-O has a strong underclassmen nucleus returning, including quarterback Burnett, running back Nolan, receiving leaders Pence and Brady Buss as well as members of a junior varsity squad which compiled a 6-2 season record.
“We had a very successful JV campaign, but those athletes are going to need to spend a lot of time in the weight room if we want to get our program past 5-4 and first round of the playoffs that we are currently at,” Skinner added.
