By Fred Kroner
With its top five runners crossing the finish line within 40.76 seconds of one another, the St. Joseph-Ogden boys’ cross-country team placed sixth on Saturday in the Class 1A IHSA state meet at Detweiller Park, in Peoria.
Seniors Charlie Mabry and Luke Stegall finished within a step of one another, placing 39th and 40th, respectively.
Mabry ran the 3-mile layout in 15 minutes, 51.71 seconds. Stegall closed in 15:52.49.
Teammates closely following them were junior Payton Wendell (58th in 16:10.76), senior Eijah Mock (96th in 16:29.7) and sophomore Carson Maroon (104th in 16:32.47).
The Spartans’ other state runners were junior Ethan Blackburn (128th in 16:47.08) and sophomore Aden Armstrong (151st in 16:56.11).
There were 260 runners in the boys’ Class 1A race.
Team honors were won by Chicago Latin (165 points), followed by Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond (172 points), Chicago DePaul Prep (186 points) and Normal University High (193 points).
SJ-O was sixth with a team composite of 225 points.
