SJO boys’ cross country finishes second at Sectional Meet

By Fred Kroner

With three Spartans placing among the top 15 runners on Saturday (Oct. 28), St. Joseph-Ogden finished second in the 21-school IHSA Decatur Class 1A boys’ cross-country sectional meet and qualified its entire team for state.

This is the third consecutive state tournament berth for SJ-O under veteran coach Jason Retz.

Senior Carson Maroon was the ninth-place runner in a field of 157 contestants. His 3-mile time was 16:03.54. Senior Aden Armstrong was 11^th in 16:06.35 and junior Jack Fisher was 15^th in 16:19.30.

Fisher was the second junior finisher at the sectional held at South Shores Park.

All seven SJ-O sectional participants placed among the top 56.

Sophomore Lance Retz was 29^th (16:47.34), junior Mason Guido was 35^th (17:03.80), freshman Colin Burnett was 39^th (17:06.26) and freshman Nate Farney was 56^th (17:30.48).

In the team race, Tuscola captured the sectional championship with 74 points. SJ-O was the runner-up with 89 points.

The other six schools that automatically advanced their full teams to state were La Salette (137), Clinton (197), Tolono Unity (208) and St. Teresa (215).

The SJ-O boys will run at state at 10 a.m. on Saturday (Nov. 4) at Detweiller Park, in Peoria.

Last year, the Spartans placed 18th at state. In 2021, the team finished in sixth place.