The St. Joseph-Ogden cross-country teams fared well at their own Spartan Classic this past Saturday in St. Joseph, while the Spartans’ boys’ soccer continued its superb season. Here is a recap of what has happened recently with SJO sports:
In cross-country
Bressner, Burnett pace Spartans
The St. Joseph-Ogden girls’ team placed second out of 18 teams, while the SJO boys’ team finished third out of 23 schools during Saturday’s Spartan Classic that ran through the streets of St. Joseph and ended at the high school.
Junior Grace Bressner paced the Spartans’ girls’ team with an 11th-place finish in a time of 18 minutes, 15.9 seconds in a field of 146 runners. Fellow junior Tessa Walker gave SJO two runners in the top 20 when she crossed the finish line in 18:33.4 to place 17th, while sophomore Charlene Barbee placed 22nd with a time of 18:51.7.
Sophomore Taylor Vaughn (20:03.3, 40th place) and senior Abigail Bello (21:07.3, 69th place) rounded out the rest of the runners to compile SJO’s team score. The Spartans finished with 110 points, with Shelbyville accumulating 66 points to win the team title. Clinton (141), Uni High (157) and Tri-Valley (195) rounded out the top five schools.
During the boys’ race, senior Collin Burnett had the top time for SJO by placing 11th in 15:22.8. Freshman Camden Fisher wasn’t far behind as he finished 13th with a time of 15:35.7, while sophomore Adam Bello took 18th in 15:47.8.
Senior Aiden Hundley (16:19.2, 38th place) and sophomore Brady Johnson (16:23.0, 42nd place) also contributed to the Spartans’ team score. Clinton won the boys’ race with 76 points and Monticello finished runner-up with 99 points. SJO compiled 103 points, with Cumberland (145) and Williamsville (153) rounding out the top five teams.
The Spartans are set to travel to Terre Haute, Ind., this weekend for the Nike Twilight Invitational before the Illini Prairie Conference Meet arrives on Oct. 6 in Fairbury.
In boys’ soccer
Hess, Stevens deliver
A busy stretch of the season has produced mixed results for the Spartans.
St. Joseph-Ogden cruised to an 11-0 nonconference road victory against Georgetown-Ridge Farm/Westville on Saturday, a day after the Spartans tied Monticello 2-2 on Friday in a road Illini Prairie Conference match.
Then, on Monday, SJO lost 6-2 at Danville in a nonconference match before tying St. Thomas More 1-1 on Tuesday in an Illini Prairie match at Dick Duval Field in St. Joseph.
The Spartans (10-4-2, 1-1-2 Illini Prairie) are set to resume play at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday at Rantoul/Paxton-Buckley-Loda in another Illini Prairie match.
During the win against the Buffaloes on Saturday, senior Tyler Hess and sophomore Lucas Stevens led the way for the Spartans. Hess tallied four goals and one assist, while Stevens scored three goals and distributed four assists. Senior Nico Harris, along with sophomores Ainsley Freeman, Karter Peoples and Isaac Hernandez all added one goal apiece.
Harris, Freeman, senior Steven Newman and senior Skyler Graham all had assists in the win.
During the tie against Monticello, Hess and Stevens each scored a goal, Harris supplied an assist and junior Miles Atwood made three saves.
In the loss at Danville, Stevens and Hess each scored a goal and Stevens added an assist. The tie against STM saw Hess score the lone goal for SJO with an assist from freshman Cam Daly.
In volleyball
Spartans look to get back in win column
St. Joseph-Ogden will try to end a two-match losing skid when it travels to play at Cissna Park on Wednesday night in a nonconference match.
The Spartans (12-7, 1-1 Illini Prairie) have lost back-to-back three-set matches to start their week. Mt. Zion left St. Joseph with a 21-25, 25-22, 25-15 nonconference win on Monday before host Monticello rallied for a 10-25, 25-23, 25-21 victory on Tuesday night in an Illini Prairie match.
Senior Emerson Williams put down a team-high 11 kills in the loss against Monticello, with senior Hadley McDonald contributing eight kills and junior
Vivian Smith supplying seven kills. Senior Addi Stevens, junior Lyla Patton and junior Megan Kearney each had two kills.
Sophomore Mia Miller handed out 14 assists and Kearney distributed 12 assists, while Kearney added two aces and eight digs. Junior Ava Alexander made a team-high 14 digs, with Williams producing 12 digs and McDonald chipping in eight digs.
What’s on tap
The SJO boys’ golf team is slated to tee off Wednesday in IHSA postseason action, with the Spartans part of the 15-team Class 1A Armstrong-Potomac Regional at Willow Pond Golf Course in Rantoul.
The top three teams will advance to the Monticello Sectional at the University of Illinois Orange Course in Savoy next Monday, while the top 10 individuals on non-advancing teams will also move on. After tonight’s match at Cissna Park, the SJO volleyball team will host Prairie Central at 7 p.m. on Thursday in its fourth match in as many days while the SJO girls’ tennis team plays at Centennial at 4 p.m. on Thursday and the SJO boys’ soccer team plays at Rantoul/PBL at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.
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