St. Joseph-Ogden Secures Strong Third-Place Finish at Unity High School Boys Track Invitational
By Fred Kroner
St. Joseph-Ogden’s 1,600-meter relay was victorious on Friday (April 19) in the 15-school Unity High School boys track and field invitational.
The Spartans’ relay foursome of Colin Wayland, Logan Smith, Spencer Wilson and Tim Blackburn-Kelly was timed in 3:32.87.
SJ-O placed third in the team standings with 68 points. Team champion Maroa-Forsyth totaled 100 points.
The Spartans had two runner-up finishes and three third-place performances.
Placing second were Lance Retz (personal-best 4:39.25 in the 1,600 meters) and Brock Trimble (148 feet, 5 inches in the discus).
The team’s third-place finishers were Tanner Siems (5 feet, 8 inches in the high jump), Charlie Schmitz (12 feet, 1 inch in the pole vault) and Blackburn-Kelly (40 feet in the triple jump).
The Spartans also had three fourth-place performers: Wyatt Wertz (44.45 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles), Jackson Ennis (140 feet, 9 inches in the discus) and Vance McComas (37 feet in the JV shot put).
SJ-O had four other athletes register top-10 finishes in field events: Cam Wagner in the varsity shot put (41 feet, 1 inch), Brennan Oleynichak in the JV shot put (34 feet, 3 inches), Ennis (40 feet, 5 inches in the varsity shot put) and Colton Overstreet (19 feet, 2 inches in the long jump).
Kyler Swanson secured two of the team’s other top-10 placements in running events. He was sixth in the 300-meter hurdles (45.14 seconds) and seventh in the 110-meter hurdles (personal-best 17.34 seconds).
The school’s other top-10 individuals were: Joe Griebat (sixth in the 800 meters in a personal-best 2:07.26), E.J. Beckett (sixth in the 3,200 meters in a personal-best 11:08.25), Jack Fisher (seventh in the 1,600 meters in a personal-best 4:52.15), Swanson (seventh in the 110-meter high hurdles in a personal-best 17.19 seconds) and Cyrus Zadeh (10th in the 3,200 meters in a personal-best 11:42.48).
Besides the 1,600 relay, SJ-O had three other varsity relays and two JV relays which recorded top-10 finishes.
The varsity 800-meter relay grouping of Wilson, Wayland, Logan Smith and Wertz took third in 1:33.41.
The varsity 400-meter relay, featuring Grant Smith, Wayland, Logan Smith and Blackburn-Kelly ended fourth in 44.55 seconds.
The varsity 3,200-meter foursome of Nate Farney, Aiden Hundley, Brody Weaver and Tyler Hess were timed in 9:12.32. They were fifth.
The Spartans’ JV 400-meter relay wound up in fifth place. The runners were Gunnar George, Jack Wear, Alex Acosta and Waylon Jones. Their time was 47.57 seconds.
The SJ-O 800-meter JV unit of Weaver, George, Jones and Brayden Waller placed seventh in 1:42.55.
SJ-O will return to action on Tuesday (April 23) in the Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley Invitational.
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On Saturday (April 20), Carson Maroon competed in the Distance Night In Palatine event.
Maroon ended fifth in the 1,600 meters (personal-best 4:18.53) and was sixth in the mile run (personal-best 4:20.14).
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On Saturday (April 20), SJ-O athletes won three events in the eight-school Monticello Freshmen-Sophomore Invitational.
Sophomore Colton Overstreet was the winner in the 110-meter hurdle race (17.55 seconds). Freshman Waylon Jones captured first place in the long jump (18 feet, 3 inches).
The Spartans’ put together the winning 1,600-meter relay with four freshmen. The featured runners were Jones, Tyler Hess, Aiden Hundley and Nate Farney. They were timed in 4:00.62.
SJ-O had runner-up finishes from Hundley (800 meters in a personal-best 2:16.13) and Brennan Oleynichak (127 feet, 1 inch in the discus).
Overstreet added a third-place finish in the 300-meter hurdles (47.53 seconds) and Farney placed third in the 800 meters (personal-best 2:20.01).
In fourth for the Spartans were Hess (59.81 seconds in the 800 meters) and Vance McComas (36 feet, 7 inches in the shot put).
Jack Wear ran fifth in the 100 meters (12.50 seconds) and Oleynichak was sixth in the shot put (35 feet, 2 inches).
Other Spartans among the top 10 individually were Brayden Waller (personal-best 26.53 seconds in the 200 meters) and Cyrus Zadeh (personal-best 5:41.13 in the 1,600 meters).
SJ-O’s 400-meter relay claimed third place. The runners were Gunnar George, Wear, Jones and Waller. Their combined time was 47.77 seconds.
