Winning meets on their own track has become a consistent theme for the St. Joseph-Ogden High School girls’ track and field team through the years.
The Spartans kept up the tradition this past Friday night, winning the 15-team Spartan Classic that SJO hosted.
SJO compiled 133.5 points to top runner-up Monticello (120). Paxton-Buckley-Loda (67), Uni High (61) and Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley (41) rounded out the top five schools in SJO’s final meet of the regular season.
A trio of SJO individuals and one relay team all won their respective events, leading the way for the Spartans.
Maclayne Taylor blazed to a first-place finish in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.93 seconds, while Jillian Plotner won the 800 with a time of 2:26.69. Atleigh Hamilton added a win in a field event for SJO with a leap of 16 feet, 10 inches to take home the long jump title and the 1,600
But it wasn’t just those first-place finishes that propelled SJO to win its own invitational. Depth helped, too.
Taylor placed second in the 200 in 26.25, one of seven runner-up performances produced by SJO. Hannah Rajlich in the 800 (2:29.21), Olivia Klotz in the 3,200 (13:19.73), Abby Behrens in the high jump (4-8) and Jenna Albrecht in the triple jump (32-1.5) also chipped in by placing second. The 400
Hamilton in the 200 (26.36), Hanna Eastin in the 3,200 (13:21.73), Grace Schmitz in the pole vault (9-0) and Payton Vallee in the discus (106-8) added third-place finishes. Sjuts in the 300 hurdles (51.29) and the 800 relay team of Mimi Allen, Malorie Sarnecki, Alyssa Hamilton and Hailey Gaines (1:58.76) finished fourth, while Albrecht in the 400 (1:08.61) and Lindsey Aden in the shot put (30-7.5) contributed fifth-place finishes.
The Spartans will now spend the upcoming week prepping for their first postseason meet. SJO is slated to host a 17-team Class 1A sectional meet that begins at 4 p.m. on Friday with field events before running events are slated to start at 5:30 p.m.
You must be logged in to post a comment.