SJO boys’ cross country wins Illini Prairie Conference meet
By FRED KRONERfred@mahometnews.com Paced by three top-10 runners, the St. Joseph-Ogden boys’ cross-country team captured the team championship on Tuesday (Oct. 3) in the Illini Prairie Conference meet at Chillicothe IVC.Carson Maroon was the conference’s individual titlist, running the 3-mile course in 16 minutes and 8 seconds. His margin of victory in a race with 64 competitors was 5.10 seconds.Aden Armstrong (16:38.50) was fourth for SJ-O and teammate Lance Retz finished in ninth place (17:08.60).Other Spartans in the varsity race were Jack Fisher (17th in 17:39.70), Holden Jones (27th in 18:16.10), Colin Burnett (31st in 18:36.80) and Nate Farney (47th in 19:44.70).SJ-O’s team score was 56 points. Runner-up Pontiac had 67 points and was followed by Tolono Unity (68 points) in the nine-school event.In the boys’ open race, three Spartans placed among the top 20 in a race with 39 participants.Joe Griebat was fifth in 19:28.10. Hayden Douglas was 11th in 19:57.00 and E.J. Beckett was 18th in 20:40.60.There were no team scores in the open division.SJ-O will return to action on Saturday (Oct. 14) in the Patroit Invitational at Detweiller Park, in Peoria.
