By FRED KRONER
The Spartans worked their way up in the team standings on Friday (Nov. 6) in the unofficial Class 1A boys’ cross-country state meet at Chillicothe.
Competing as SJOXC since the meet – sponsored by ShaZam Racing – was not sanctioned by the IHSA, the Spartans stood in 11th as a team after the first mile, ninth after the second mile and seventh at the conclusion of the 5-kilometer race.
Runners representing Elgin compiled a team composite of 90 points and captured the team title. SJOXC was seventh with 208 points.
In the final 1A state rankings, compiled by milesplit.com, SJ-O was rated 10th.
Jason Retz, who coached the Spartans throughout the IHSA portion of the season, was pleased to have a send-off race to complete the season.
“We were thankful to have one more opportunity to race,” Retz said. “Although it was not the state meet, we were happy we were able to end the season with some of the best teams in the state.
“The men and women have worked very hard to get where they are and I know as coaches we are extremely lucky to work with such high-class kids.”
Senior Brandon Mattsey was the leader for SJOXC. He ended in 33rd with a final time of 17 minutes, 13.25 seconds.
Mattsey was appreciative of the efforts of meet-organizers to pull off the unofficial state meet, which was contested in flights with everyone’s times collated at the end to produce the final result.
“We were very thankful for the obvious long hours that were put into making such a meet possible,” Mattsey said.
The top five SJOXC runners had a split of 48 seconds, the second-best among the 19 teams competing in 1A.
Following Mattsey were: freshman Carson Maroon (43rd in 17:25.79), junior Luke Stegall (67th in 17:44.97), junior Charlie Mabry (70th in 17:49.93) and junior Elijah Mock (79th in 18:01.74).
The team’s other state participants were senior Logan Wolfersberger (88th in 18:11.65) and freshman Spencer Wilson (102nd in 18:29.45).
“I’m glad we were able to have a state experience,” Stegall said. “I already miss it and am looking forward to the next meet.”
The gap between the top seven runners was 1:16.
The boys’ race at Three Sisters Park featured 158 total participants.
Tracking the individuals throughout the race reveals how the SJOXC team was able to improve its positioning.
Mattsey stood in 40th entering the final mile. Maroon was 62nd after the first mile. Stegall was 107th after the first mile. Mabry was 77th after the second mile. The final SJOXC scoring runner, Mock, was 95th after the first mile.
Wolfersberger and Wilson both gained ground after the opening mile. Wolfersberger was 93rd one-third of the way through the race while Wilson was 111th at the same juncture.
