Franzen, Knap place in top 5 at Peoria Heights Invitational

By Fred Kroner

Despite having two of the first four finishers, the St. Joseph-Ogden girls’ cross-country squad was edged out for team honors by Tolono Unity on Saturday (Oct. 16) in the 28-team Peoria Heights Invitational at Detweiller Park.

Tolono Unity had a team composite score of 81 points. SJ-O, ranked sixth in the latest Class 1A girls’ state poll by milesplit.com, had a score of 88 points.

Third-place Monticello ended with 95 points and was followed by Robinson (184).

Spartan freshman Savanna Franzen was the individual runner-up, completing the 3-mile course in 18 minutes and 18 seconds.

Senior teammate Ava Knap placed fourth in 18:28.3.

Rounding out the list of SJ-O competitors was senior Kailyn Ingram (14^th in 19:08.5), sophomore Chloe Burkhalter (33^rd in 20:14.0), senior Addie Allen (36^th in 20:23.7), senior Taryn Sexton (50^th in 20:43.5) and junior Kaytlyn Baker (112^th in 22:33.1).

SJ-O had one entry in the open race. Sophomore Chloe Allen was 24^th in 25:26.9.

SJ-O returns to action on Saturday (Oct. 23) in the 15-school Chrisman Class 1A regional.