Spartan state qualifiers head to IHSA boys’ track and field State meet next weekend
BY FRED KRONER
fred@sjodaily.com
Three individuals and three relays will represent St. Joseph-Ogden in the Class 1A state meet.
The Spartans scored 55 points in the sectional meet they hosted on Friday and finished fourth in the 15-team field. The meet champion, Salt Fork, amassed 111 points.
The SJ-O individual qualifiers are Nolan Peacock (pole vault), Lane Gaskin (200 meters) and Hayden Knott (shot put).
Peacock was the runner-up, clearing 11 feet, 9 inches.
Gaskin placed fourth and was timed in 23.00 seconds. Knott was also fourth, with a best mark of 49 feet, 3 ¼ inches.
Two of the SJ-O qualifying relays featured the same runners and emerged as sectional champions.
Sharing the baton in the 400- and 800-meter relays were Brady Buss, Aiden Meyer, Dwight Colvin and Gaskin. Their collective 400 time was 43.49 seconds. In the 800, the posted a 1:31.00 mark.
The Spartans finished sixth at sectional in the 1,600-meter relay, but still bettered the pre-set state standard.
The relay runners were Gaskin, Kaleb Harshbarger, Meyer and Ethan Vanliew. They stopped the clock in 3:31.58.
SJ-O had 13 other individuals and one other relay that achieved top 10 finishes at sectional, but didn’t advance to state.
The 3,200-meter relay took third with Keanen Swanson, Eric Poe, Isiah McCune and Brandon Mattsey combining for a time of 8:35.97.
Swanson had top top 10 placements individually.
He was sixth in the triple jump (37-9) and eighth in the long jump (17-4).
Knott was fourth in the discus (132-1), Colvin was ninth in the 200 meters (24.05) and Vanliew was ninth in the high jump (5-5).
In both the 1,600 and 3,200 races, SJ-O teammates came in back-to-back.
McCune was eighth in the 1,600 meters (4:51.22) and Mattsey was ninth (5:06.48).
In the 3,200, Elijah Mock was fifth (11:29.33) and Luke Stegall was sixth (11:33.35).
Other top Spartans were Nathan Emmert (fourth in the long jump, 18-10); Conrad Miller (seventh in the pole vault, 8-3); Braden Clampitt (ninth in the 300 hurdles, 47.94) and Brayden Grimsey (10th in the 100 meters, 11.93).
The Spartans’ state-qualifiers return to action on Thursday in the state preliminaries at EIU.
