By Fred Kroner
Two St. Joseph-Ogden entries in the IHSA boys’ state track and field meet qualified for the Saturday (May 28) finals at Eastern Illinois University, in Charleston.
Brock Trimble had the sixth-best Class 1A discus toss in the Thursday (May 26) preliminary round. His best for the day was measured at 153 feet, 6 inches.
In the Saturday finals, Trimble placed seventh at state with a toss of 155-1.
Also reaching the season’s final day was the SJ-O 3,200-meter relay, which cut nearly 32 seconds off its sectional time with an 8-minute, 21.79-second mark in the Thursday prelims.
The foursome of Elijah Mock, Carson Maroon, Luke Stegall and Spencer Wilson had the 10th-best time in the prelims.
In the finals on Saturday, the 3,200-meter relay moved up to seventh place and cut another 9 ½ seconds off its time from the prelims, finishing in 8:12.15.
SJ-O scored six points at state and ended in a tie for 44th place. A total of 78 schools scored points at state.
Trimble and the runners on the 3,200-meter relay all earned All-State laurels.
Trimble became the fourth Spartan of all-time to win a state medal in the boys’ discus. SJ-O’s 3,200-meter relay placed at state for the first time since 2015.
Five other SJ-O state entries had their seasons end in the prelims.
The 800-meter unit of Tyler Burch, Wilson, Colin Wayland and Jonathan Poulter finished one spot out of reaching the finals. The relay finished in 10th place overall with a time of 1:32.32. They were .39 away from the ninth – and final – qualifying team.
The Spartans’ two other relays were further back.
The 1,600-meter grouping of Poulter, Wilson, Logan Smith and Burch took 17th in 3:33.91.
The 400-meter lineup of Burch, Aidan McCorkle, Aidan Moberg and Poulter stopped the clock in 44.55 seconds. They placed 19th.
Individually, Burch wound up 25th in the 100 meters (11.40 seconds) and Charlie Schmitz tied for16th in the pole vault (11 feet, 5 inches).
