Franzen and Burkhalter advance to IHSA State meet
By Fred Kroner
Two St. Joseph-Ogden girls continued their cross-country seasons on Saturday (Oct. 28) by virtue of their performance in the IHSA Decatur Class 1A sectional.
In addition to the top six teams in the 20-team meet, the first 10 individuals not on an advancing team qualified for state.
Junior Savanna Franzen placed 11th overall, completing the 3-mile course at South Shores Park in 19 minutes, 25.04 seconds.
She will be joined at state by senior Chloe Burkhalter, who ended 24th overall in a field of 148 runners with a time of 20:11.79.
Burkhalter captured the 10th and final qualifying berth and secured her advancement by a scant margin of .17.
Two other Spartans also ran at the sectional.
Freshman Kiah Riessl was 106th (23:18.60) and sophomore Sydney Steinbach was 109th (23:29.99).
Franzen and Burkhalter will run in the first state race on Saturday (Nov. 4) at Detweiller Park, in Peoria. They will be at the starting line at 9 a.m.
