By GENE KEMMETER
of The Gazette
Four teams from Portage County high schools captured the titles in the D.C. Everest Cross Country Invitational Tuesday, Sept. 11, at Nine Mile Forest outside Wausau.
The Stevens Point Area Senior High School girls and boys teams captured the Division 1 girls and boys crowns, while the Rosholt girls captured the Division 2 girls crown and the Amherst boys won the Division 2 boys crown.
The victory for the SPASH girls was probably the most impressive of all. For years, the girls team has finished second to D.C. Everest in conference, sectionals and other state meets in recent years.
On Tuesday, the Panther girls topped the Evergreens, 39-59.
"I was looking forward to today because I had a feeling, especially after our performance Saturday, that we could win," said Panther coach Mike Olson, referring to the Panthers' win in the Stevens Point Area Senior High School Cross Country Invitational.
"I'm ecstatic of the way the girls performed. It was a total team effort that did it for us," he said. "It was just a great team effort."
The Panthers' balance paved the way, led by Kara Tauchman who took third, Jackie Kropp who took fifth and Emma Tauchman who took sixth. They were followed by Kim Klosno in 12th and Melissa Carlson in 13th. Also running for the Panthers in the varsity competition were Becky Sikorski, who was 20th (ahead of the fifth runner for Everest), Emily Virant in 28th place and Zoe Browne in 31st place.
"I'm surprised at how well we are jelling as a team this early in the season," Olson said. "When you have freshmen running on the varsity you can have conflicts. That hasn't happened."
The team has been working hard, he said. "They want the spots (on varsity) and they're fighting for them. Everybody's job is to fight for a spot. We're already reaping the benefits of that."
Olson said he's glad to see those battles for the spots. "No one is allowed to rest or slack off because one of their teammates is going to be all over them."
The boys Division 1 race was closer, with the Panthers defeating a strong Marshfield team, 40-47.
Chris Solinsky won the race handily, finishing more than a minute in front of the second-place finisher. He ran the 5,000 meters in 15 minutes, 42.35 seconds.
His teammates were in bunches close to him, with Quinn Baumberger finishing third, Luke Langhorst eighth, Justin Young 11th and Tom Winkelman 17th. Although they didn't score, the next three SPASH runners finished right behind Winkelman with Mickey Katz 18th, Curt Mitchell 19th and Matt Ziehr 20th.
"It was a real close race," SPASH boys coach Donn Behnke said. "They had us beat at two miles and we took it at the end. That will help us become a good team. We're not quite where we want to be. I think we learned something about our team today. They have heart."
Behnke said Winkelman came out of the pack and locked up the victory for the team.
"We expect Chris (Solinsky) to dominate the field, which he did," Behnke said. "But our depth wins. We had our 6, 7, 8 runners right there also. It gives us an advantage over most schools."
The Rosholt girls easily captured the Division 2 title with 129 points. They were followed by Wittenberg-Birnamwood with 182 and Pittsville with 249.
Tami Scott led the Hornets, and all runners, finishing the 5,000 meters first in 19 minutes and 27.31 seconds. Also scoring for the Hornets were Lindsey Peplinski 14th, Jackie Zdroik, 30th, Nicky Bembenek, 40th and Laura Simonis 44th. Other runners for Rosholt were Jamie Scott, 45th; Jacki Yenter, 47th; and Sara Omernik, 50th.
Although they didn't compete in the team standings, four girls ran for Stevens Point Pacelli High School. Angela Peters led the Cardinals, finishing 41st. Beth Boden was 60th, Chrissy Nowak 62nd and Nikki Theisen 63rd.
Two girls represented Amherst in the girls race, Brittany Dick who finished eighth and Lindsey Groshek who was 49th. "Brittany ran a real good race," said Amherst coach Rob Sparhawk, and "Lindsy ran well."
The other six girls on the Amherst team ran in the JV race. "They're young and we wanted to rest them instead of competing against girls who are older than they are," Sparhawk said. "They'll be going 5,000 meters again Saturday," he added, referring to Saturday's scheduled Smiley Invitational in Wausau.
In the boys Division 2 race, Amherst scored 164 points, Rosholt 175, Wittenberg-Birnamwood 196 and Pittsville 218.
Jordan Selbo led the Falcons with a 15th-place finish. He was followed by Tim Olson 23rd, Branden Wolding 25th, Scott Hintz 44th and Spencer Selbo 57th. Brandon Hintz also ran for Amherst and finished 65th.
Sparhawk said Selbo had a nice race, while Olson looked tired after going out too fast at the start of the race. The rest of the team ran well, but the runners weren't pressed, he said.
"I'm disappointed Marshfield Columbus wasn't here," Sparhawk said, referring to Columbus' decision not to attend the meet after Tuesday's tragedies in New York and Washington, D.C. He expected Columbus runners to provide a strong challenge to the Falcons.
"I don't think the field was as strong as it would have been," he said, adding that he understood the decision not to attend as well as his runners slower times. "Under the circumstances of the day, it was not bad."
Brady Staszak led Rosholt into second place with a 10th-place finish. He was followed by Paul Zdroik 27th, Matt Rice 41st, Tyler Staszak 45th and Casey Giese 52nd. The other Rosholt runners were Andy Osowski 54th and Gavin LaFave 69th.