Spartans place fifth at Patriot Invitational

By Fred Kroner

St. Joseph-Ogden’s top five runners on Saturday (Oct. 15) finished within 40.9 seconds of one another as the Spartans claimed a fifth-place team finish in the 33-school Patriot boys’ cross-country invitational at Detweiller Park, in Peoria.

Riverdale was the meet winner (77 points). SJ-O’s final score was 192 points.

Aden Armstrong placed 27^th for the Spartans in a field of 292 runners. He was timed in 16 minutes, 29.4 seconds for the 3-mile course.

Teammates trailing Armstrong were Lance Retz (29^th in 16:32.3), Mason Guido (41^st in 16:45.8), Carson Maroon (42^nd in 16:45.9) and Ethan Blackburn (66^th in 17:10.3).

Rounding out the varsity lineup were Jack Fisher (69^th in 17:13.1) and Holden Jones (77^th in 17:27.4).

In the 11-team junior varsity race, SJ-O took sixth with 144 points. The JV champion was Pleasant Plains with 67 points.

The SJ-O lineup featured Fabian Lopez (second in 17:26.9), Joe Griebat (third in 17:38.2), Cyrus Zaden (49^th in 20:45.2), E.J. Beckett (68^th in 21:49.1) and Logan Xiao (77^th in 22:43.0).

In the 32-school girls’ varsity race, ninth-place Savanna Franzen led SJ-O to a 10^th-place finish.

Franzen finished the 3-mile course in 18 minutes, 8.2 seconds.

Teammates following her in the 245-runner race were Chloe Burkhalter (29^th in 19:40.2), Hannah Mock (87^th in 21:23.6), Sydney Steinbach (109^th in 22:04.4), Sophia Kasper (119^th in 22:24.6) and Kaytlyn Baker (128^th in 22:42.5).

Tolono Unity was the girls’ meet champion with 55 points. SJ-O’s final tally was 295 points.

The Spartans had no entries in the girls JV race.

SJ-O returns to action on Saturday (Oct. 22) in the 20-school Class 1A Chrisman Regional.