Saturday’s SJO sports roundup: Franzen fares well in Peoria

Detweiller Park in Peoria is where every high school cross-country runner in Illinois wants to end
its season at.

It’s the site of the IHSA state finals, after all. A place Savanna Franzen is familiar with since the
St. Joseph-Ogden distance runner is a three-time state qualifier.

She has her sights set on a fourth state appearance later this fall, and her performance on
Saturday at the Class 1A First to the Finish Invitational is a good indicator she will follow through
on those plans.

Franzen crossed the finish line in 18 minutes, 23.50 seconds to place 17th in a field of 424
runners.

Franzen’s run helped SJO place 20th out of 40 schools in the 1A field. Grace Bressner also had
a quality showing for the Spartans, placing 39th in 19:28.90.

Abigail Bello (22:17.80, 175th place), Sydney Steinbach (24:22.40, 256th place) and Kiah
Riesel (24:25.70, 261st place) also contributed to SJO’s team score.

In the boys’ race, SJO finished 17th out of 52 teams. Jack Fisher led the Spartans by placing 40th in a time of 16:28.60. Colin Burnett was the next SJO runner to cross the finish line, doing
so in 17:17.80 to wind up in 110th place. Nate Farney (17:34.60, 139th place), Joe Griebat
(17:40.00, 148th place) and EJ Beckett (17:42.90, 151st place) also chipped in for the Spartans.
SJO is scheduled to run again at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday with a dual meet against Monticello at
Lodge Park in Monticello.

In boys’ soccer
Harper delivers. The Spartans rolled to a 9-0 win at Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin on
Saturday, with Zach Harper playing an important role in the easy nonconference victory.
Harper scored four goals and handed out an assist for SJO as it continued its high-scoring ways
this season.

Waylon Jones, Tyler Hess, Logan Mills, Alex Acosta and Davin Alvarez also scored goals for the
Spartans.

Alex Acosta and Yasi Acosta each assisted on two goals, with Jones, Hess and Steven Newman
each supplying an assist. Jaxson Colvin and Logan Patton combined on the shutout, with Colvin
making one save.

The Spartans are set to host Blue Ridge at 4:30 p.m. on Monday at Dick Duval Field in St.
Joseph for their next game.