By Fred Kroner
On Saturday (Nov. 5), St. Joseph-Ogden sophomore Savanna Franzen became the seventh athlete in school history to earn All-State accolades in girls’ cross-country in multiple years.
Franzen toured the 3-mile course at Peoria’s Detweiller Park in 18 minutes, 13.80 seconds and placed 13th in the IHSA Class 1A division.
A year ago, she finished sixth at state.
All-State honors are accorded to any runner who places among the top 25. This year’s elite state field featured 258 runners.
Franzen joins a list of former Spartans who were girls’ cross-country All-Staters more than once.
Leading the way is four-time All-Stater Faith Houston (2014-17), followed by three-timers Chelsea Blaase (2008-11), Amy Roberts (1997-99) and Ashley Wright (1988-90) as well as the other two-timers Hannah Hogan (2004 and 2007) and Marla McKinney (1990-91).
Overall, SJ-O has had 13 different girls’ reach All-State status in cross-country at least one time.
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St. Joseph-Ogden’s boys’ cross-country team brought home an 18th-place finish in the 30-school IHSA Class 1A state meet.
The Spartans’ five scoring runners entered the finish chute within 54.69 seconds of one another. The other two SJ-O competitors were each less than seven seconds behind the team’s No. 5 runner.
The team-leader was freshman Lance Retz, whose 3-mile time was 16 minutes, 58.49 seconds. Retz ended in 85th place in the 255-runner field.
The Spartans’ other participants were: Carson Maroon (116th in 17:14.84), Aden Armstrong (145th in 17:26.80), Ethan Blackburn (150th in 17:29.62), Jack Fisher (177th in 17:53.18), Mason Guido (181st in 17:56.09) and Isiah Mock (191st in 18:00.13).The Class 1A team state champion was Chicago DePaul Prep with a team composite score of 113 points. SJ-O’s tally was 484 and the Spartans shared 18th place with Newton.
