September 16, 2026 Local Stories in and Around St. Joseph, Illinois

Sparty party: A daily roundup of SJO varsity sports

The St. Joseph-Ogden volleyball team and boys’ soccer teams are back to their winning ways, while the Spartans’ cross-country teams had a successful showing at the site of the IHSA state meet this past weekend. Here is a quick rundown of what has happened recently with the Spartans:

In volleyball
Stevens, Williams lift Spartans by Cornjerkers
The winning streak is at three for SJO after the Spartans cruised past Hoopeston Area 25-11, 25-10 on Monday night for a road nonconference victory.
The win improved SJO to 9-4 on the season.
Seniors Addi Stevens and Emerson Williams each put down a team-high five kills to lead the offense as the Spartans had six players record at least two kills.
Senior Hadley McDonald (three kills), junior Vivian Smith (three kills), junior Lyla Patton (two kills) and junior Ainsley Dirksmeyer (two kills) also contributed offensively. Junior Megan Kearney handed out 15 assists to direct the Spartans’ offense, while Smith and Williams each served three aces. Ava Alexander chipped in with a team-high five digs, while Kearney, McDonald, Smith and Williams each added three digs apiece.

In boys’ soccer
Hess, Stevens shine for Spartans

After consecutive road losses against Fisher/Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley and Warrensburg-Latham/Maroa-Forsyth last week, SJO now has a two-match win streak.
The Spartans ended their brief two-game skid with a 1-0 nonconference win at Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin this past Saturday before following that up with a 7-1 home win against Blue Ridge on Monday at Dick Duval Field in St. Joseph.
Sophomore Lucas Stevens scored the lone goal for the Spartans (7-2) in their win at BHRA, with senior Tyler Hess providing the assist. Junior Miles Atwood made four saves in goal to earn the shutout.
The SJO offense found the back of the net multiple times on Monday during its win against the Knights. Hess delivered a hat trick with three goals and also got his teammates involved as he distributed two assists.
Stevens, senior Nico Harris, senior Steven Newman and freshman Cameron Daly also scored a goal to complement Hess. Stevens contributed three assists, while Harris and Newman had an assist as well. Atwood made one save in net for the Spartans.

In cross-country
Bressner, Burnett lead the way in Peoria

The SJO girls’ cross-country team relied on superb runs from juniors Grace Bressner and Tessa Walker to place fifth out of 53 teams in the Class 1A First to the Finish Invitational held this past Saturday at Detewiller Park in Peoria. The site of the IHSA state meet that takes place on Nov. 7 saw Bressner cross the finish line in 19 minutes, 4.4 seconds and Walker doing so in 19:07.5 in a field of 513 runners.
SJO compiled 279 points, with only champion Eureka (99 points), Winnebago (107), Anna-Jonesboro (187) and Breese Mater Dei (204) finishing ahead of the Spartans.
Sophomore Charlene Barbee placed 42nd in 19:44.3, while senior Abigail Bello placed 116th in 21:18.0 and sophomore Allie Bott placed 138th in 21:34.2 to round out the Spartans’ team score.
On the boys’ side, SJO finished 12th out of 67 teams as the Spartans finished with 388 points. Clinton won the meet with 192 points, while East Dubuque (197), Eureka (229), Chillicothe IVC (240) and Monticello (261) rounding out the top five schools.
Senior Colin Burnett posted the top time for the Spartans with a time of 16:17.0 to finish 43rd out of 776 runners. Freshman Camden Fisher was the next SJO runner to finish, placing 72nd in 16:42.3 and sophomore Adam Bello placed 82nd in 16:48.4. Senior Nate Farney added a 97th-place finish in 16:54.9 and senior Aiden Hundley rounded out the team score for SJO by placing 117th in 17:09.5.
The Spartans are set to return to Detweiller again this upcoming weekend for the Richard Spring Invitational that begins Saturday morning in Peoria, with the girls’ race starting at 8 a.m. and the boys’ race starting at 8:40 a.m.

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