Wolfersberger, Sarnecki earn cross country Most-Improved recognition

Twenty-eight St. Joseph-Ogden High School student-athletes earned varsity letters in cross country this fall. With the leadership of this year's six seniors, both the girls and boys programs competed at this year's Illinois High School Association state finals in Peoria.

Senior Eric Poe races to the finish line at the 2019 IHSA state cross country meet at Detweiller Park on November 9. In addition to a varsityl letter, Poe was honored with the Rick Walden Most Consistent Award. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

The boys squad finished in 18th place with a score of 421 points. The top five scoring runners were Brandon Mattsey, Eric Poe, Charlie Mabry, Elijah Mock and Luke Stegall.

Earlier in the day at the state finals on November 9, senior Jillian Plotner led the SJO girls' to the program's fifth consecutive top ten team performance since 2014.

Nine members of both running programs received special team recognition at the end of the season.

Brandon Mattsey and Hannah Rajlich earned Most-Valuable-Player for their respective squads. Logan Wolfersberger was named the boys' Most-Improved Player and Malorie Sarnecki earned the same recognition for her efforts on the girls' squad.

Charlie Mabry received the Tim Mies Effort Award. Addie Allen won the Ashley Wright Effort Award. Eric Poe was the recipient of the Rick Walden Most Consistent Award and the Chelsea Blaase Most Consistent Award was given to sophomores Ava Knap & Ashlyn Lannert.

This year's varsity letter winners are seniors Ally Monk, Taddy Pettit, Jillian Plotner, Eric Poe, Hannah Rajlich and Josh Sexton.

Juniors: Hanna Eastin, Lukas Hutcherson, Brandon Mattsey, and Logan Wolfersberger.

Sophomores: Addie Allen, Braden Clampitt, Sidney Davis, Kailyn Ingram, Ava Knap, Ashlyn Lannert, Charlie Mabry, Elijah Mock, Hope Rajlich, Kendra Riddle, Malorie, Sarnecki, Taryn Sexton and Luke Stegall.

Freshmen: Kaytlyn Baker, Ethan Blackburn, Mary Hinrichs, Teagan Miller and Izzy Sexton.

Spartans pick up second win at GCMS-Fisher Tipoff

Katie Cramer looks for an open teammate while playing in the Spartans' third-place game during the Class 2A state finals back in February. Then a junior, she contributed 5 points and had three rebounds in SJO's 68-53 win over Hillsboro. Last night, the senior scored a pair of three-point shots in the open quarter Tuesday against Iroquois West at the GCMS-Fisher Tipoff to help St. Joseph-Ogden improve to 2-0 on the season. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

St. Joseph-Ogden picked up their second win of the season after beating Iroquois West 49-16 in last night's pool play at the GCMS-Fisher Tipoff in Fisher.

Ashlyn Lannert came off the bench to score a game-high 15 points for the Spartans. She also made three of her four free throw attempts.

Senior Katie Cramer hit a pair of threes in the opening frame and Payton Vallee added two buckets to give SJO at 10-2 lead at the start of the second period.

SJO held the Raiders to just five points in the first half. Despite making three of their five shots from the charity stripe, the Raiders (0-2) did not hit a shot from the field in the second period. Their scoring struggled continued into the third period with only four points from junior Shelby Johnson.

Meanwhile, Taylor Barnes matched Cramer's effort and nailed two treys to help the Spartans stretched their halftime lead over the Raiders to 19 points.

Iroquois West's offensive effort was led by Johnson with 10 points. Three of her teammates Emma Lopez, McKinley Tilstra and Abby Kochker contributed two points apiece in the loss.

The Lady Spartans, who won last year's title, are one win away from once again reaching the tournament's championship game. Thursday at 5:30pm, SJO will square off against Villa Grove-Heritage in their final pool contest.

Box Score

St. Joseph-Ogden	10	16	12	11	- 49
Iroquois West	2	3	4	7	- 16

Scoring

St. Joseph-Ogden: Ashlyn Lannert 15, Nora Walden 2, Payton Jacob 2, Katie Cramer 6, Abby Behrens 2, Taylor Barnes 6, Alyssa Hamilton 9 and Payton Vallee 5.

Iroquois West: Emma Lopez 2, Shelby Johnson 10, McKinley Tilstra 2 and Abby Kochker 2.

Hamilton leads Spartans in first win of the season

Alyssa Hamilton led the St. Joseph-Ogden basketball squad with a team-high nine points in their season opener Monday night at the Fisher-GCMS Tipoff Classic. The Spartans, who finished their last season with a third-place state finish in February, held Fisher to just a pair of free throws in the third quarter, rolled past the Bunnies, 39-22.

Payton Jacob had eight points and junior Payton Vallee, back in action after a quick turnaround from the third-place state volleyball team, helped balance the offense contributing seven more points in the non-conference tournament game. In all, six SJO players scored in the season opener.

The Spartans, who finished their last season at 28-5, continues their pool play at the early season tournament tonight facing Iroquois West at 5:30pm.

Box Score

St. Joseph-Ogden	5	14	12	8	39
Fisher	6	8	2	6	22

Scoring

St. Joseph-Ogden: Ashlyn Lannert 6, Payton Jacob 8, Katie Cramer 3, Taylor Barnes 6, Alyssa Hamilton 9 and Payton Vallee 7.

Fisher: Kylee Bishop 8, Sidney Hood 9, Elyssa Clanton 2, M. Sommer 1, and Leah McCoy 2.

Volleyball goes out with a victory, SJO finishes #3 in the state

Members of the St. Joseph-Ogden volleyball team happily celebrate with their third-place trophy at Redbird arena during the awards ceremony for the Class 2A at the IHSA Girls Volleyball State Finals on Saturday. The Spartans defeated Rockford Lutheran in another exciting three-set match 25-11, 20-25, 25-23. SJO's 2019 run ended today with an impressive 37-5 record. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

They made them fight for every point, volleyball to play for third at state

St. Joseph-Ogden didn't back down.

The grit and teamwork they displayed during their state semifinal match against Mater Dei was undoubtedly one for the ages. Despite the 2-1 loss, SJO's impressive level of perseverance during the match is one future generations of Spartan volleyball players will need to embrace if they wish too ascend to the same stage.

Kennedi Burnett passes the ball during SJO's second set comeback against Mater Dei. The freshman outside hitter had 17 kills in the IHSA semifinal. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Mater Dei head coach Chad Rakers left no doubt that his team had just finished an epic match.

"That St. Joseph-Ogden team was legit," he said in the post-match presser. "They are a real deal defending team.

The Spartans defensive effort yielded 55 digs during the marathon match. Rylee Stahl led the Spartans with 17 of those digs. Emily Bigger, with seven digs, distributed 32 assists.

"They were a force to be reckoned with," he said. "They made us fight for every point."

Kennedi Burnett led the SJO offense with 14 kills and nine digs. Katelyn Berry added another seven a emotional three-setter that ended 20-25, 25-23, 25-22 in favor of the Lady Knights.

After dropping the first set, the Spartans rallied back from a 8-point deficit to win the set two by two, forcing a deciding third one.

Like her players, Spartan head coach Abby McDonald was disappointed in the outcome, but none the less was proud of how her players fought tooth and nail in the second set as well as the third.

"There are not many teams on this kind of stage make that kind of comeback," McDonald said. "That's what those kids went out and did. They are heroes in my eyes. They're the number one team to us."

The emotional swings were palatable throughout the final set. Neither team backed down or buckled under the intense pressure. Mater Dei's largest lead, one that short-lived, was four points at 12-9.

SJO and the BMD were tied on the scoreboard six times. After the seventh, knotted at 21-all, Mater Dei nudged forward with three unanswered points en route to seize their berth in the title game tomorrow.

Like her players, Spartan head coach Abby McDonald was disappointed in the outcome, but none the less was proud of how her players fought tooth and nail in the second set and their effort in third.

"I am extremely proud of them. They may not feel that right now because it is not the dream and the goal they had," McDonald said. In the locker room she told the players to be proud of what they accomplished and to enjoy the ride. "There are so many schools that don't get this opportunity.

The Spartans will face a super scrappy Rockford Lutheran squad in the third-place contest at around 12:25p tomorrow.

The Lady Crusaders fell in two sets, 25-22, 29-27 to Bulldogs of St. Teresa who will square off with Mater Dei for the Class 2A title.

Mattsey leads SJO at state meet, XC boys finish 18th overall

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.

Soccer seniors made a super effort this fall

Not quite ready for full-fledged membership into the Marvel Cinematic Universe nor recruited by Dr. Charles Xavier for enrollment in his School for Gifted Young Children, Kolton Batty, Luke Cohen, Brayden Grimsey and Zac Seeley, the four seniors on St. Joseph-Ogden's soccer team made a heroic effort to produce a winning soccer season this fall.

Batty, who was named All-Conference First Team, along with an Honorable Mention for Seeley, were recognized as All-Conference players by the Illini Prairie Conference. Seeley was also recognized as the 2019 squad's Most-Valuable-Player at the SJO Fall Sports Awards earlier this week.

The quartet of seasoned and skilled footballers did not reach the level of success they had hoped as a team but will most certainly take the lessons they learned about themselves through the various trials and tribulations they encountered this season to become worthy X-Men or members of the MCU.

The Spartans finished the season with a record of seven wins, 14 losses and four ties. The team lost by two goals or less in seven of their losses.

The four seniors played for a combined 6,038 minutes. Batty was punched in for 1,709 of them.

Back in September after a home game, I interviewed the four about their hero personas. Here is a glance at the soccer team's unsung heroes.

Batty makes First-Team all-conference soccer team

Last week, Kolton Batty was one of three St. Joseph-Ogden soccer team members awarded Illini Prairie all-conference honors. The senior was the Spartans' only First-Team recipient.

Batty, the team's top defensive specialist who appeared in 25 games for SJO this season, scored one goal during several brief forays on the Spartan offense. He scored the only goal in his team's 6-1 loss to Iroquois West at the Cornjerker Classic. He took a total of 13 shots this season.

Also earning all-conference honors were goal keeper Hunter Ketchum (second-team) and Zac Seeley (honorable mention).

Ketchum spent 1,541 minutes defending St. Joseph-Ogden's goal. Only a freshman, he inherited keeper duties from Mason Behrens and finished the season with 145 saves at an average of 6.3 per game.

Seeley, a three-year varsity veteran, scored 11 goals this season and 21 total during his four seasons with SJO. The senior notched a hattrick in the Spartans' 5-1 win over Schlarman in September and recorded 3,066 minutes on the pitch during his career.