Mattsey, Plotner key strong starts for SJO cross-country

The Chrisman Cow Chip Classic features seven different waves of runners.

Run over a pasture near Chrisman High School, hence the name for the popular early-season cross-country meet.
And this past Saturday, the St. Joseph-Ogden High School boys’ cross-country team placed third out of 14 teams, while the SJO girls’ team finished fifth out of eight teams.

This comes on the heels of the Spartans opening the season on Aug. 31 with steady performances at the Doc Acklin Memorial Invitational in Paris. The SJO boys’ team placed first in the eight-team meet, while the SJO girls’ team was second out of five teams.

At Chrisman, junior Brandon Mattsey represented the SJO boys’ in the first flight, placing eighth with a time of 17 minutes, 15 seconds. Senior Eric Poe took eighth in flight No. 2 with a time of 17:29.30, while sophomore Elijah Mock was fourth in flight No. 3 with a time of 17:46.39.

In the fourth flight, sophomore Luke Stegall was sixth in 18:12.56, while sophomore Charlie Mabry (third in flight No. 5, 18:13.80), sophomore Braden Clampitt (fifth in flight No. 6, 19:00.24) and junior Lukas Hutcherson (third in flight No. 7, 18:47.50) also added to the Spartans’ team totals.

Monticello won both the boys’ meet and the girls’ meet.

On the girls’ side, senior Jillian Plotner finished sixth in the first flight in a time of 20:07.69, while senior Hannah Rajlich was fourth at flight No. 2 in 20:38.43.

Sophomore Ava Knapp was fifth in flight No. 3 at 20:51.18 and sophomore Ashlyn Lannert was sixth at flight No. 4 in 22:15.28.
Senior Ally Monk (fourth in flight No. 5, 21:02.48), sophomore Hope Rajlich (third in flight No. 6, 21:32.93) and sophomore Kailyn ingram (third in flight No. 7, 21:34.64) also chipped in for the Spartans.

Prior to the Cow Chip Classic, the SJO boys’ team placed five runners in the top 10 to help contribute to a team title at the Doc Acklin Memorial Invitational in Paris. The SJO girls’ team had five runners in the top 11 at the meet, helping the Spartans finish second.

Mattsey paced the SJO boys’ team with a second-place finish in 17:01.4, while Poe was right behind Mattsey with a third-place finish in 17:07.6.

Mock (17:44.0, seventh), Stegall (17:46.8, eighth) and Mabry (18:04.1, 10th) all contributed to SJO’s team championship.
The Spartans compiled 25 points, well ahead of runner-up Marshall (49). Cumberland (79), Effingham (99) and Teutopolis (107) rounded out the top five schools.

Plotner led the SJO girls’ team with a third-place finish in 18:35.2 in Paris. Hannah Rajlich was the next SJO runner to finish with a fifth-place showing in 20:37.9. Knapp (20:44.8, seventh), Lannert (21:06.3, 10th) and Monk (21:11.7, 11th) rounded out the top five runners for the Spartans.

Marshall won the team title with 28 points, followed by SJO (34), Teutopolis (98), Paris (104) and Okaw Valley (112).

Both SJO teams are slated to get back in action at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Kickapoo State Park in a meet against Oakwood/Salt Fork before taking part in the First to the Finish Invitational that starts at 9 a.m. this Saturday at Detweiller Park in Peoria.