Seniors lead way to SJO Running at Richard Spring Invitational

By Fred Kroner

The state-ranked St. Joseph-Ogden boys’ cross-country team didn’t have enough runners to be scored as a team on Saturday (Sept. 18) in the Richard Spring Invitational at Peoria’s Detweiller Park.

A total of 61 schools entered full teams and there were 457 runners in the varsity division.

Two seniors led the way for SJ-O.

Luke Stegall placed 109^th in 16 minutes, 11.2 seconds for the 3-mile course.

Elijah Mock was 141^st in 16:32.9.

The Spartans’ other varsity participants were Peyton Wendell (196^th in 16:56.5) and Ethan Blackburn (256^th in 17:32.5).

In the freshmen-sophomore race, out of 362 runners, SJ-O sophomore Carson Maroon ran third, finishing the course in 16:08.2.

SJ-O entered a full team and ended 13^th in a 49-team field.

The Spartans’ other participants were: Aden Armstrong (57^th in 17:38.6), Holden Jones (75^th in 17:48.1), Mason Guido (137^th in 18:36.9), Jack Fisher (203^rd in 19:36.0), Joe Griebat (219^th in 19:51.8) and E.J.  Beckett (356^th in 27:20.9).

The team champion was Oak Park-River Forest (71 points), followed by Naperville North (160). SJ-O was 13^th with a team score of 429 points.

St. Joseph-Ogden, ranked fourth in the state in Class 1A by milesplit.com, returns to action on Saturday (Sept. 25) in the Spartan Classic.