By FRED KRONER
fred@sjodaily.com
Atleigh Hamilton participated in both events that St. Joseph-Ogden won in the Illini Prairie Conference track and field meet this week.
The 10-school event was held at Bloomington Central Catholic. It started on Tuesday and, due to weather issues, concluded on Wednesday.
Hamilton was the individual winner in the long jump (16 feet, 8 inches) and ran a leg on the Spartans’ 1,600-meter relay.
Sharing the baton with Hamilton on the victorious relay Rylee Sjuts, Danie Kelso and Ashlyn Lannert. They were timed in 4 minutes, 21.12 seconds.
Lannert and Sjuts ran second and third, respectively, in the 300-meter hurdles. Lannert crossed the finish line in 51.71 seconds, just ahead of Sjuts (51.76 seconds).
Spartan Abby Behrens was third in the high jump (4-10) and ninth in the 400-meter dash (1:10.60). Hamilton was third in the 400 meters (1:00.76).
SJ-O relays captured third in the 400-, 800- and 3,200-meter distances.
The 400 foursome featured Kelso, Sjuts, Hailey Birt and Hamilton. They were clocked in 52.22 seconds.
The 800 unit included Hope Rajlich, Kelso, Birt and Jenna Albrecht. Their collective time was 1:53.51.
The 3,200 relay consisted of Kailyn Ingram, Ava Knap, Addie Allen and Jillian Plotner. They finished in 10:36.85.
In both the 1,600- and 3,200-meter open runs, the Spartans had two top-eight placers.
Plotner was sixth in the 1,600 (5:30.77) and Hannah Rajlich was eighth (5:48.16).
In the 3,200, Hannah Rajlich was sixth (12:05.47) and Ally Monk was seventh (12:42.54).
SJ-O’s Angie Chahine was sixth in the 100-meter hurdles (19.45 seconds). Birt took seventh in the 200-meter dash (28.30).
Ingram ran eighth in the 800 meters (2:40.27).
Other field-event placers were Albrecht (fourth in the triple jump, 30-1); Hope Rajlich (fourth in the long jump, 14-3) and Payton Vallee (fourth in the discus, 105-4, and seventh in the shot put, 28-8).
In the team chase, Monticello accumulated 162 points to win the championship. SJ-O’s third-place team totaled 95 ½ points.
SJ-O returns to action on Friday when it hosts the Lady Spartan Classic.
Boys’ track and field
The Spartans had top-nine placers in 12 events in the Illini Prairie Conference track and field meet, which required two days to finish. The final events wrapped up on Wednesday at Bloomington Central Catholic.
SJ-O had three individual conference champions, including two-event winner Hayden Knott.
Knott took top honors in the shot put (48 feet, 5 inches) as well as the discus (145-2).
Aiden Meyer was the top sprinter, winning the 100 meters in 11.10 seconds.
Meyer was a top placer in two other events. He was the runner-up in the 400 meters (51.80 seconds) and ended fourth in the 200 meters (23.22), just in front of teammate Lane Gaskin. Gaskin was fifth in 23.45 seconds.
In the 3,200 meters, Isiah McCune and Brandon Mattsey came in back-to-back. McCune was seventh in 10:32.68 and Mattsey was eighth in 10:45.62.
Hurdler Braden Clampitt was ninth in the 110-meter event (20.42) and high jumper Ethan Vanliew placed sixth (5-8). In the 100 meters, Brayden Grimsey was ninth in 11.84 seconds.
The Spartans had second-place performances from their 400 relay (44.30 seconds) and 800 relay (1:33.83).
The 400 foursome featured Dwight Colvin, Meyer, Kaleb Harshbarger and Gaskin. The 800 unit consisted of Colvin, Brady Buss, Harshbarger and Gaskin.
The SJ-O 1,600 relay was fifth in 3:45.12 and the 3,200 foursome was eighth in 9:45.94.
Sharing the baton in the 1,600 event were Keanen Swanson, Buss, Vanliew and Harshbarger.
The 3,200 relay included Elijah Mock, Luke Stegall, Charlie Mabry and Swanson.
Monticello captured the team crown with 141 points. SJ-O placed fifth in the 10-school field with 74 points.
SJ-O returns to action on Friday in the Clinton Carnival.
Baseball
SJ-O dropped a 2-1, eight-inning non-conference decision at Charleston on Wednesday.
Crayton Burnett pitched the first seven innings, yielding four hits and one run. He walked four and struck out six.
Reliever Zach Martinie gave up the decisive run with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. He walked one and struck out one
Nicholas Boggs and Sam Wesley each wound up with two hits for the Spartans. Wesley scored the lone SJ-O run.
Each school finished with six hits.
SJ-O (17-7-2) returns to action, weather permitting, today at home against Monticello.
