Spartans finish in top 3, Rockets in 4th at IPC meet

SJO's Brandon Mattsey runs during the 2019 IHSA state cross country meet. The senior, who finished 4th overall, led the Spartans to a third-place finish at this year's Illini Prairie Conference meet on Saturday.

(Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Brandon Mattsey, Charlie Mabry and Carson Maroon completed their run within 18 seconds of each other for 21 team points at the 2020 Illini Prairie Conference Meet on Saturday. The combined effort secured the St. Joseph-Ogden boys cross country squad a third place finish on Saturday.

Twenty-five seconds off his personal best in the 3-mile race, Mattsey was the first Spartan to cross the finish line at 16:07.43. His fourth place finish coupled with Mabry coming in 8th place and Maroon in 9th less than three seconds apart provided a commanding lead over the rest of the field in the team competition.

Connor O'Donnell led Unity's first three runners over the line stopping the clock at 16:29.35 and was the 10th finisher in the varsity race. Teammates Jarrett Cox then finished three seconds later in 11th place and Benjamin Gravel ended his run on the course in 16th place at 16:54.41.

The trio along with Nolan Miller and Thomas Cler secured the Rockets fourth place finish with 96 points.

SJO tallied 60 points to finish third behind Monticello's 44 points and the newly crowned IPC champs of 2020, Olympia with 39 points.

Illini Prairie Conference meet results:

4	Brandon Mattsey	SJO	16:07.43
8	Charlie Mabry	SJO	16:22.22
9	Carson Maroon	SJO	16:25.25
10	Connor O'Donnell	Unity	16:29.35
11	Jarrett Cox	Unity	16:32.92
16	Benjamin Gravel	Unity	16:54.41
19	Elijah Mock	SJO	17:08.02
20	Luke Stegall	SJO	17:08.73
22	Logan Wolfersberger	SJO	17:16.19
28	Nolan Miller	Unity	17:40.45
31	Thomas Cler	Unity	17:48.72
44	Spencer Wilson	SJO	18:23.18
46	Clayton Jamison	Unity	18:46.65
50	Bryson Denny	Unity	19:33.67