Knap, Franzen place in top 30 at First to the Finish Invitational

By Fred Kroner

St. Joseph-Ogden’s state-ranked girls’ cross-country team had two runners place among the top 30 individuals on Saturday (Sept. 11) in the First to the Finish Invitational at Peoria’s Detweiller Park.

Ranked seventh in Class 1A by milesplit.com, SJ-O elected to compete in the Class 3A race at Peoria. The meet had separate races for the 1A, 2A and 3A schools.

Against the 304 runners in the 3A race, SJ-O’s Ava Knap was 26^th, finishing the 3-mile course in 18 minutes, 43.5 seconds.

Teammate Savanna Franzen was 29^th in 18:50.9.

The Spartans’ other competitors were Kailyn Ingram (112^th in 20:16.7), Chloe Burkhalter (164^th in 21:26.7), Taryn Sexton (169^th in 21:32.0), Addie Allen (177^th in 21:36.5) and Maddison Clampitt (201^st in 22:10.1).

Team honors were captured by Naperville North (100 points), followed by Minooka (115) and Naperville Central (134). SJ-O placed 15^th among the 35 teams with 453 points.

In a combined open race for runners in 1A, 2A and 3A, SJ-O had two entries.

Kaytlyn Baker was 190^th in a field of 595 runners with a time of 24:03.1. Chloe Allen was 489^th with a final time of 29:38.7.

SJ-O returns to action on Tuesday (Sept. 14) at Kickapoo State Park against Monticello.