Franzen, Knapp lead SJO girls’ cross-country at regional meet and into sectional race

Making a run — literally — to Detweiller Park in Peoria is common for the St. Joseph-Ogden High School girls’ cross-country team.

This year doesn’t appear to be any different.

The Spartans crossed the first item off their postseason check list last Saturday, placing third at the 10-team Class 1A Chrisman Regional to qualify the entire SJO team for this Saturday’s St. Teresa sectional meet.

The sectional race is set to start at 10 a.m. at Hickory Point Golf Club in Forsyth. Finish among the top six teams, and the Spartans — who have won three state titles in program history and has three other top-three team finishes at state — will run on Nov. 6 at the state meet in Peoria.
SJO compiled a team score 72 at Chrisman, with Unity producing 29 points to win the regional title as Uni High had a score of 55 to place second. Paxton-Buckley-Loda (119) and St. Thomas More (129) rounded out the top five schools.

Making a run — literally — to Detweiller Park in Peoria is common for the St. Joseph-Ogden High School girls’ cross-country team.

This year doesn’t appear to be any different.

The Spartans crossed the first item off their postseason check list last Saturday, placing third at the 10-team Class 1A Chrisman Regional to qualify the entire SJO team for this Saturday’s St. Teresa sectional meet.

The sectional race is set to start at 10 a.m. at Hickory Point Golf Club in Forsyth. Finish among the top six teams, and the Spartans — who have won three state titles in program history and has three other top-three team finishes at state — will run on Nov. 6 at the state meet in Peoria.
SJO compiled a team score 72 at Chrisman, with Unity producing 29 points to win the regional title as Uni High had a score of 55 to place second. Paxton-Buckley-Loda (119) and St. Thomas More (129) rounded out the top five schools.

Freshman Savanna Franzen clocked the top time for the Spartans, crossing the finish line in 19 minutes, 3 seconds. Senior Ava Knap was the next SJO runner to finish, placing 12th in 19:48.2. Senior Kailyn Ingram (20:11.5, 16th), sophomore Chloe Burkhalter (20:54.2, 24th) and senior Addie Allen (21:31.9, 28th) rounded out the top five SJO runners to help the Spartans move on.
The top six teams at Hickory Point on Saturday will advance to the state meet at Detweiller — a course the tradition-rich program is quite familiar with.