Knott and McCorkle take top spots at Illini Prairie Conference meet
By Fred Kroner
Senior Hayden Knott and sophomore Aidan McCorkle were individual conference champions for St. Joseph-Ogden in the Tuesday (June 1) Illini Prairie Conference boys’ track and field meet at Bloomington Central Catholic.
Knott maintained his hold on the top spot in the shot put (53 feet) and the discus (168 feet, 1 inch), events he has not been beaten at throughout the regular season.
McCorkle was victorious in the 400 meters. His time was 51.76 seconds.
In the team race, SJ-O totaled 107 points and finished second to Monticello, which accumulated 150 ½ points. Third-place Stanford Olympia ended with 88 ½ points in the 10-school meet.
Brandon Mattsey was a two-event runner-up for the Spartans at conference. He placed second in the 1,600 meters (4:47.44) and in the 3,200 meters (10:32.13).
Brady Buss (200 meters, 23.10 seconds) and Brock Trimble (discus, 134 feet, 5 inches) secured third-place finishes.
Two SJ-O sprint relays also copped third-place finishes.
The 400-meter foursome of Buss, McCorkle, Tyler Burch and Jonathan Poulter was third in 44.50 seconds.
The 800-meter unit of Buss, Poulter, Burch and Ethan Vanliew was third, crossing the finish line in 1:35.70.
The 3,200-meter relay, featuring Spencer Wilson, Carson Maroon, Charlie Mabry and Luke Stegall was fourth in 8:50.74.
The other SJ-O relay entry, the 1,600 squad, took fifth. The runners were Vanliew, Logan Wolfersberger, McCorkle and Braden Clampitt. Their cumulative time was 3:48.23.
Clampitt had top-10 performances in both hurdles races. He took fifth in the 300 hurdles (46.59) and ninth in the 110 hurdles (19.84).
Burch was a double-placer individually, too, taking sixth in the 200 meters (23.97 seconds) and seventh in the 100 meters (11.76 seconds).
Other Spartan runners with top-10 finishes in the league meet were Elijah Mock (fourth in the 3,200 meters in 10:44.89), Buss (fifth in the 100 meters in 11.42 seconds), Lukas Hutcherson (seventh in the 30 hurdles in 49.16 seconds), Mabry (ninth in the 800 meters in 2:13.59) and Wilson (10th in the 800 meters in 2:16.52).
Four other SJ-O athletes fared well in field events.
Justice Wertz was fifth in the pole vault (8 feet), McCorkle was sixth in the long jump (18 feet, 11 inches), Max Shonkwiler was eighth in the shot put (40 feet, 4 inches) and Trimble was 10th in the triple jump (36 feet).
SJ-O returns to action on Wednesday (June 9) in a Class 1A sectional meet it will host.
