St. Joseph-Ogden Girls’ Cross-Country Team Advances to State for 27th Time in 36 Years with Strong Third-Place Finish at Sectionals
By Fred Kroner
For the 27th time in the last 36 years, St. Joseph-Ogden’s entire girls’ cross-country team has qualified for state.
The Spartans secured their advancement on Saturday (Nov. 2) by finishing third in the 20-team Cumberland Class 1A Sectional at Mattoon’s Lake Land College.
Two SJ-O runners garnered top-10 finishes in a race with 144 competitors.
Savanna Franzen was seventh, running the 3-mile course in 18 minutes and 1 second. Grace Bressner, the day’s first freshman placer, was 10th in 18:27.0.
Other SJ-O leaders were Tessa Walker (15th in 19:26.8), Abigail Bello (45th in 20:50.7), Sydney Steinbach (77th in 22:22.6) and Kiah Riesel (113th in 24:50.9).
Tolono Unity won team honors (79 points), followed by Shelbyville (126 points) and SJ-O (137 points).
SJ-O will return to action on Saturday (Nov. 9) in the IHSA state meet at Peoria’s Detweiller Park. The Class 1A girls’ race will begin at 9 a.m.
The state appearance for SJ-O in girls’ cross-country will be the 15th for the school in the last 18 years.
