SJ-O boys cross country wins Regional Championship
By Fred Kroner
For the third consecutive year and the 16th time in school history, the St. Joseph-Ogden boys’ cross-country team ran away with a regional championship.
Coach Jason Retz’s Spartans took top honors on Saturday (Oct. 21) in the 12-school Chrisman Class 1A regional.
Led by the top two runners in the 92-person field – seniors Carson Maroon and Aden Armstrong – SJ-O accumulated 33 points and edged La Salette (37 points) for the team title.
Other schools advancing to the sectional by placing among the top seven were third-place Urbana Uni High (86), followed by Heritage (138), Paris (144), Villa Grove (178) and St. Thomas More (196).
SJ-O’s first five runners covered the 3-mile course within 69 seconds of one another.
Individual champion Maroon was clocked in 16 minutes, 17.80 seconds, just .63 ahead of runner-up Armstrong (16:18.43).
Both Maroon and Armstrong earned All-Regional status for placing among the top five runners overall as did fifth-place finisher, Spartan junior Jack Fisher (16:38.11).
The Spartans’ other regional competitors were sophomore Lance Retz (11th in 17:26.34), freshman Colin Burnett (13th in 17:27.26), senior Holden Jones (36th in 18:53.20) and junior E.J. Beckett (49th in 19:42.98).
The St. Teresa Sectional will be held on Saturday (Oct. 28) at South Shores Park, in Decatur, with the boys’ race beginning at 11 a.m.
To advance to state from the 21-school meet, teams need to finish among the top six. Individuals can qualify for state – if they are not on an advancing team – by placing among the first 10 runners not on an advancing team.
