Spartans earn Class 1A Sectional Championship

By Fred Kroner

Team sectional champion St. Joseph-Ogden secured 14 state berths on Friday (May 19) in the Class 1A boys’ track and field sectional meet at Westville.

All four SJ-O relays moved on to state as did individuals in six running events and four field events.

Earning sectional championships were Tim Blackburn-Kelley (41 feet, 8 inches in the triple jump), Carson Maroon (10:03.17 in the 3,200 meters and 4:41.68 in the 1,600 meters), Charlie Schmitz (personal-best 13 feet, 2 inches in the pole vault) and the 800-meter relay, which finished the race in 1 minute, 31.37 seconds.

Sharing the baton on the relay, which won its race by .38, were Blackburn-Kelley, Tyler Burch, Jackson Greer and Aidan Moberg.

Those same four runners joined forces on the 400-meter relay for a runner-up finish in 44.12 seconds.

The Spartans’ other two qualifying relays also took second at the sectional.

Featured runners on the 1,600-meter relay were Blackburn-Kelley, Burch, Greer and Maroon. They were clocked in 3:31.59.

The 3,200-meter grouping of Maroon, Lance Retz, Wilson and Aden Armstrong crossed the finish line in 8:41.41.

Retz was part of a 1-2 finish in the 1,600 meters. He trailed teammate Maroon and stopped the clock in 4:46.07.

Besides Schmitz, two other SJ-O state-qualifiers turned in personal-best performances: Holden Jones (second in the 3,200 meters in 10:15.60) and Logan Smith (fourth in the 300-meter hurdles in 41.64 seconds).

Other state-qualifiers for the Spartans were Burch (second in the 100 meters in 11.37 seconds), Garrett Siems (second in the high jump at 5 feet, 11 inches), Brock Trimble (second in the discus at 145 feet, 7 inches).

Four of SJ-O’s non-state-qualifiers, who finished among the top 10 individually, registered their personal bests: Quinn Stahl (fourth in the pole vault at 8 feet, 6 inches), Armstrong (seventh in the 800 meters in 2:10.73), Colton Overstreet (seventh in the triple jump at 36 feet, 7 inches) and Jackson Ennis (eighth in the shot put at 41 feet, 6 inches).

Spartan hurdler Wyatt Wertz captured two of the Spartans’ other top-10 individual performances at the sectional. Wertz took fifth in the 300-meter hurdles (43.70 seconds) and was ninth in the 110-meter high hurdles (17.99 seconds).

The school’s other top-10 placers were Ennis (fifth in the discus at 125 feet, 7 inches), Spencer Wilson (fifth in the 800 meters in 2:03.76), Colin Wayland (sixth in the high jump at 5 feet, 5 inches) and Kyle Meccoli (seventh in the shot put at 41 feet, 10 inches).

SJ-O amassed 129 points to earn the sectional team championship in the 18-school event for the third consecutive year. Runner-up Salt Fork had 84 points.

The Spartans’ state-qualifiers return to action on Thursday (May 25) in the semifinals at Eastern Illinois University, in Charleston.