By Fred Kroner
fred@mahometnews.com
Four Spartan runners finished either first or second in their respective flighted races on Saturday (Sept. 19) at the Decatur St. Teresa Invitational, helping SJ-O to a runner-up team finish in the 12-school event.
SJ-O’s Helene Jones was the winner of the fourth flight, running the 3-mile layout in 20 minutes, 45.1 seconds.
Three teammates were second in their races: Chloe Burkhalter (fifth flight, 21:00.0), Addie Allen (sixth flight, 21:35.6) and Hanna Eastin (seventh flight, 21:53.9).
Taryn Sexton was fourth in the third flight (21:49.6) while the SJ-O entries in each of the first two flights ended in sixth place: Ava Knap (first flight, 19:47.9) and Malorie Sarnecki (second flight, 21:10.9).
All seven Spartan runners placed in the top half of the 68-runner field, led by Knap, who was sixth overall.
Mount Zion won the team title with 14 points when the seven flighted races were totaled. Runner-up SJ-O had 23 points.
In a 28-runner open race, SJ-O had three of its athletes finish among the top five.
Kailyn Ingram was second (21:05.3), followed by third-place Ashlyn Lannert (21:09.9) and fourth-place Kaytlyn Baker (21:20.3).
SJ-O will return to action on Saturday in the annual Spartan Classic, which will be held at the St. Joseph Community Park.
