On the final day of the fall, two days before Monday's nasty snow and ice blanketed central Illinois, the St. Joseph-Ogden harriers ran to an 18th place finish at the Illinois High School Association's State Cross Country Finals at Detweiller Park last Saturday.
Junior Brandon Mattsey, SJO's top runner, completed his race in 15 minutes and 48.78 seconds earning 28 points with his 43rd overall place finish.
Helping the Spartans edge out 19th place Unity, was senior Eric Poe, Charlie Mabry, Elijah Mock and Luke Stegall who earned 421 points. The Rockets finished with 423 points in the team standings.
It was Poe's final cross country event with the Spartans. In the senior's first and only state run, he clocked in at 16.27.75, finishing in 100th place. Nineteen runners later, Mabry concluded his race 13 seconds later at 16:40.19.
Mock and Stegall finished ten runners apart. Coming in at 17:02.52, Mock crossed finish line seven seconds ahead of Stegall's 17:09.99.
Juniors Logan Wolfersberger and Lukas Hutcherson also ran in the season finale. Not in the top five finishers for the Spartans, their results did not count toward overall the team score. Wolfersberger was 175th overall at 17:28.50 while Hutcherson ran over the finish line at 17:46.59 for 184th place.
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Photos: Sentinel/Clark Brooks