By Fred Kroner
The final girls’ cross-country state rankings (according to milepslit.com) accurately reflected the order of finish in the Saturday (Oct. 31) 15-school Class 1A Decatur Sectional meet at Hickory Point Golf Course.
Second-ranked Monticello was the team titlist (51 points), followed by fourth-ranked Tolono Unity (69 points), 10th-ranked Marshall (107 points), 12th-ranked Urbana Uni High (130 points) and 13th-ranked St. Joseph-Ogden (150 points).
In previous years, the top five schools would have qualified for the IHSA state finals. However, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has caused that meet to be canceled.
The sectional meet was the final race sponsored by the IHSA this season. SJ-O had qualified full teams for state in girls’ cross-country 13 consecutive years.
On Sunday, SJ-O learned it has received an invitation to compete in an unofficial Class 1A state meet sponsored by ShaZam Racing on Friday (Nov. 6) at Chillicothe.
All seven of the Spartans’ sectional entrants were underclassmen.
The team’s leaders were junior Ava Knap (19th in 19 minutes, 37.3 seconds) and freshman Helene Jones (23rd in 19:49.7).
The next three SJ-O placers improved their times from regionals, which was contested on the same course.
Freshman Chloe Burkhalter was 12 seconds quicker (36th in 20:25.2), junior Malorie Sarnecki was 20 seconds faster (38th in 20:32.2) and junior Kailyn Ingram dropped her time by nine seconds (51st in 20:53.5).
The split between the school’s top five runners was 1:16, an improvement from the regional when the gap was 1:24.
There were 117 runners at the sectional.
The Spartans’ other competitors were junior Ashlyn Lannert (65th in 21:35.9) and junior Addie Allen (70th in 21:47.1).
SJ-O coach Jason Retz was pleased by the Spartans’ performance.
“The women ran some outstanding races to help their team finish fifth,” Retz said. “The women have continued to improve all season and their love for each other showed in the way they raced.”
