By MIKE KEMMETER
of The Gazette
After six years of holding its annual cross country meet at Lake Pacawa Park in Plover, Stevens Point Area Senior High got down to business on a new course.
The Panthers swept both varsity races Saturday at the Portage County Business Park and Rosholt had two girls in the top five to take top honors in the small school division.
SPASH's main competition in its home meet was Baraboo, who finished second to the boys, 48-69, and the girls, 57-75.
"There's an improvement over last week and with a young team, we just want to get better every week," SPASH boys coach Donn Behnke said.
Senior Josh Garbe led the Panthers with a runner-up finish, covering the 5,000-meter course in 16:48. DeForest's Curtis Johnson won the race in 16:11.
"That kid kind of came out of nowhere," Behnke said of Johnson. "That kid put a hard first mile in and Josh wasn't ready for that."
Chris Solinsky cracked the top ten for SPASH with an eighth place finish (17:29), while A.J. Moen (11th in 17:41), Chris Jahntz (12th in 17:49) and Nate Hurst (15th in 18:03) closed out the top five. Curt Mitchell (16th in 18:04), Owen Schuh (21st in 18:14) and Scott Winkleman (22nd in 18:17) also ran for the Panthers.
"We reduced (our gap between four and five) and that's what I'm really happy about," Behnke said. "Really the focus right now is to reduce our gap and gain confidence in our sixth, seventh and eighth runners.
"We have some good competition for the varsity spots and that's only going to make us a better team."
The SPASH girls had a trio of top ten placewinners, headed by Kim Klosno's sixth place finish in 16:09. Laine Willkom was seventh in 16:11 and Alexis Sustman finished ninth in 16:15. Katie Ziehr (16th in 16:40) and Taylor Ebens (19th in 16:43) completed the top five and Kjersten Johnson (22nd in 16:50), Christy Griffen (23rd in 16:53) and Kerry Hyland (39th in 17:31) also ran.
"I'm real happy. The girls executed the race plan real well. They had to stay with the pack and they did," SPASH coach Mike Olson said.
"We didn't have a perfect race but I liked what transpired."
Rosholt coach Mike Trzebiatowski sure liked what he saw in his girls team. The Hornets ran away with the small school title and finished third overall with 107 points, beating Wisconsin Valley Conference schools Wausau East, Wausau West and Wisconsin Rapids.
Tami Scott and Jen Zdroik gave Rosholt a pair of front-running performances, as Scott took second in 15:17 and Zdroik finished fifth in 16:07. Baraboo's Erin Blum won the 4,000-meter race in 14:57.
Lisa Yenter (29th in 17:12), Lindsey Peplinski (35th in 17:21) and Jacki Yenter (36th in 17:23) completed the Hornets' top five. Also running for Rosholt were Amy Scott (43rd in 17:44), Pirjo Eelmaa (47th in 17:48) and Nicky Bembenek (60th in 18:18).
"We're gonna get better too," Trzebiatowski said. "Amy Scott was sick. We had two freshmen who were our fourth and fifth girls and they're coming right along.
"It's nice to win the small school division. We ran well and we'll probably get better."
The Amherst boys came close to taking top honors in the small school division as Spencer took the title, 189-206.
Dan Ehr was the Falcons' first finisher, taking 23rd in 18:19. Jonathan Bronk (33rd in 18:46), Dan Werner (46th in 19:24), Jeremy Sherf (49th in 19:32) and Jordan Selbo (55th in 19:45) rounded out Amherst's top five. Jeremy Leck (58th in 19:56), Tim Olson (66th in 20:13) and Scott Hintz (75th in 20:43) also competed for the Falcons.
"We had a good race for the most part," Amherst coach Rob Sparhawk said. "Our usual No. 1 guy was our fifth. I couldn't say we would've won the division but the point spread would've been closer."
Without top runner Jane Ovanin, the Amherst girls found someone else to step into the lead pack. Samantha Diver nearly broke the 16-minute barrier, grabbing a third place finish in 16:00.
"Samantha had a real outstanding race," Sparhawk said. "She started out around 20th and continually moved up."
Ashley Bavery (55th in 18:06), Jenny Woyak (72nd in 19:04), Leah Hunter (75th in 19:21) and Karen Ehr (77th in 19:35) completed Amherst's first five and Amber Worden was the Falcons' sixth runner (80th in 19:47).
"The rest of the girls are continuing to improve," Sparhawk said. "We're getting over some colds. I'd rather have them now then at the end of the season."
The Pacelli boys also had a representative in the top ten, Franz Klein. Klein, who led the Cardinals in their 11th place finish (3rd in small school), finished tenth in 17:30. Nick Gross (57th in 19:54), Nate Kryshak (69th in 20:28), Joe Miller (73rd in 20:41) and Chris Fletcher (74th in 20:42) rounded out Pacelli's top five. Also running for the Cardinals were Paul Marten (77th in 21:08), Jason Lepak (22:42) and Nathan Herbert (89th in 23:03).
"It was a big improvement over last week. My whole pack is over a minute faster than the last meet," Pacelli coach Tim Olson said. "We're where we need to be at this point, but we will continue to move up."
Without Katie Hansel, who is out with an abdominal tear, Pacelli didn't enter anyone in the varsity race. Freshmen Angela Peters and Amber Bemowski competed in the junior varsity race.
The Rosholt boys team was also shorthanded Saturday and had only three competitors. Joel Skornia (51st in 19:33), Bob Omernik (70th in 20:17) and Bart Butler (91st in 22:07) represented the Hornets in the varsity race.
"We only had three guys running and those three kids improved. Two out of the three had PRs (personal record)," Trzebiatowski said.