November 28, 2025 Local Stories in and Around St. Joseph, Illinois

Knott, sprint relay shine at GCMS Invitational

The St. Joseph-Ogden High School boys’ track and field team went two weeks in between competitions.


Blame Mother Nature for that.


But the Spartans made the most of their opportunity on Tuesday at the Falcon Invitational hosted by Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley, finishing fourth at the 11-team meet after being a late addition to the field.


SJO compiled 73 points, just behind Clifton Central (105), Paxton-Buckley-Loda (104) and GCMS (81). Ridgeview (61) rounded out the top five schools.

The Spartans emerged with two first-place finishes as the 400-meter relay team of Dwight Colvin, Aiden Meyer, Brayden Grimsey and Lane Gaskin blazed around the track in 44.48 seconds to top the rest of the relays.


Hayden Knott performed well in the discus, winning the field event with a toss of 138 feet, 3 inches.


SJO added 10 other efforts that resulted in top-five finishes to aid its efforts in Gibson City. Meyer placed second in the 100 with a time of 11.35 and Eric Poe also finished second in the 800 with a time of 2:07.73.


Lane Gaskin in the 200 (23.47), Ethan Vanilew in the 400 (55.73) and the 1,600 relay quartet of Keanen Swanson, Brady Buss, Meyer and Kaleb Harshbarger (3:37.65) all placed third for SJO.


Brandon Mattsey in the 1,600 (4:57.72), Isiah McCune in the 3,200 (10:47.18) and Swanson in the triple jump (37-0.5) all finished fourth, while Swanson in the 400 (56.80) and Vanilew in the high jump (5-6) brought home fifth-place finishes.


SJO is set to return to the track at 4:30 p.m. this Friday when it hosts the annual Spartan Classic. On the girls’ side, SJO is set to compete at both the Monticello Invitational and Urbana Open, with both meets starting at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.

Banner
Related Posts

A numbers game: Interest in golf, girls’ tennis at SJO increase, but both aren’t
board-approved sports

September 9, 2022

September 9, 2022

 St. Joseph-Ogden High School doesn’t want to be mediocre. To Athletic Director Justin Franzen that means making sure student athletes...

DeJarnette to lead soccer program at SJO

May 21, 2020

May 21, 2020

Bill DeJarnette is no stranger to the St. Joseph-Ogden soccer program. DeJarnette was the first coach of the SJO soccer...

With Illini Prairie title in rearview, Duval and Spartans turn attention to the postseason

February 21, 2024

February 21, 2024

Playing against the likes of Bloomington Central Catholic, Chillicothe IVC, Monticello, Paxton-Buckley-Loda, Pontiac, Prairie Central, Rantoul, St. Thomas More and...

SJO girls’ basketball wins long-awaited season opener

February 8, 2021

February 8, 2021

The last time St. Joseph-Ogden hosted a girls’ basketball game before Thursday night, it had a good ending for the...

5 Question Friday with senior Goalie Hunter Ketchum

September 30, 2022

September 30, 2022

What is the best part about playing soccer for SJO? The environment. Everyone is here to compete and we are...

Spartans kick off season with 1-1 record

March 31, 2021

March 31, 2021

SJO 28-Pontiac 0 The Spartans dominated on both sides of the line of scrimmage in defeating the Indians 28-0 in...

Mattsey, Knott leading SJO boys’ track and field this spring

May 13, 2021

May 13, 2021

Almost a month into its first full outdoor season since 2019 and theSt. Joseph-Ogden boys’ track and field team has...

SJO girls’ basketball reaches Sweet 16

February 12, 2019

February 12, 2019

One more win and the St. Joseph-Ogden High School girls’ basketball team can celebrate its first sectional championship in 12...

Armstrong sparks SJO girls’ basketball, Spartans stay unbeaten with win against rival Rockets

February 19, 2021

February 19, 2021

A good outside shooter can open up a basketball team’s offense.In more ways than one. Add a second presence from...

Michael looking to the future with coaching job

August 23, 2019

August 23, 2019

Nate Michael spent his youth playing basketball in every form.  After graduating this spring from McKendree University, the 6-foot-3, 180-pound...

5 Question Friday with Charlie Mabry

September 10, 2021

September 10, 2021

Every Friday we are going to ask an athlete to answer five questions. This week we talked to Charlie Mabry....

Smith combines love of running and charity

June 6, 2019

June 6, 2019

Keely Smith loves to run. You see it in her Twitter handle which is keelyruns101. You see it after talking...

Three relays, three individuals move on to state for SJO boys’ track and field

May 21, 2019

May 21, 2019

The St. Joseph-Ogden High School boys’ track and field team will have a solid contingent representing the Spartans at the...

SJO to discuss basketball in December

December 3, 2020

December 3, 2020

The St. Joseph-Ogden Board of Education decided to wait until December to make any final recommendation about basketball. The state...

SJO baseball off to superb start

April 7, 2022

April 7, 2022

High-scoring wins. Dominant pitching performances. Balanced hitting up and down the lineup. These are just some of the staples the...

Comments
Leave a Reply