So much for a rebuilding season. With only one returnee from last year's state championship team, some may have thought the Stevens Point Area Senior High boys cross country team's string of 11 straight conference titles was in jeopardy.
But the Panthers would have none of that and dominated the Wisconsin Valley Conference Meet Saturday in Rhinelander, scoring 32 points to run away with the championship. D.C. Everest was a distant second with 46 points and Marshfield took third with 48. The title was the school's 12th straight and 22nd in 23 years.
"The real key for us was our guys went out real aggressively on a tough course and they held through. I was impressed by the toughness they showed," SPASH coach Donn Behnke said.
"I think our tradition had a lot to do with it. They weren't going to let anybody take that away from us without a fight."
Senior Josh Garbe led the entire field, taking the individual title with a first place finish in 16:33. SPASH's first four all finished in the top 10 and garnered all-conference honors. Chris Solinsky (fourth in 17:03), Chris Jahntz (fifth in 17:16), A.J. Moen (ninth in 17:32) and Curt Mitchell (13th in 17:41) closed out SPASH's scoring. Quinn Baumberger (20th in 18:07), Kyle Patoka (25th in 18:17) and Owen Schuh (29th in 18:26) also ran.