By Fred Kroner
St. Joseph-Ogden will be represented at the state cross-country meet in both the boys’ and the girls’ races.
The entire SJ-O boys’ squad advanced by virtue of a fourth-place finish on Saturday (Oct. 28) in the Class 1A IHSA Sectional that the Spartans hosted at Dodds Park, in Champaign.
To qualify, schools needed to place among the top six teams in the 21-team field or individually finish among the top 10 runners not on an advancing team.
The top five SJ-O runners – a group that included five underclassmen – crossed the finish line within 33.23 seconds of one another in the 2.95-mile race.
Leading the way was Jack Fisher, who captured 26th place in 16:29.38.
Teammates following him were Lance Retz (28th in 16:29.98), Carson Maroon (37th in 16:45.990, Aden Armstrong (41st in 16:52.05), Mason Guido (50th in 17:02.61), Ethan Blackburn (51st in 17:02.88) and Holden Jones (69th in 17:20.23).
The Spartans’ lineup consisted of one senior, three juniors, two sophomores and one freshman. The senior is Blackburn.
Sectional team champion Decatur St. Teresa had a composite score of 77 points. SJ-O’s team tally was 164 points.
SJ-O returns to action on Saturday (Nov. 5) in the Class 1A state meet at Detweiller Park, in Peoria. The Class 1A boys’ race will start at 10 a.m.
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SJ-O sophomore Savanna Franzen secured her advancement by placing 13th in the 149-runner girls’ field. Her time for the 2.95-mile layout was 18 minutes, 35.28 seconds.
As a team, SJ-O took 10th place with a composite score of 271. Meet champion Tolono Unity had a score of 40 points.
The other Spartan participants were Hannah Monk (61st in 21:09.72), Sydney Steinbach (69th in 21:35.14), Sophia Kasper (82nd in 21:58.25) and Kaytlyn Baker (93rd in 22:26.66).
The SJ-O lineup consisted of one senior (Baker), one sophomore and three freshmen.
The Class 1A girls’ state meet will be on Saturday (Nov. 5) at Detweiller Park, in Peoria. The Class 1A girls’ race will be the first of six state finals for the day, and will begin at 9 a.m.
