Portage County Gazette

By John Kemmeter

The Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH) boys cross country team put five runners in the Top 18 to win the SPASH Invitational at Standing Rocks County Park Saturday, Sept. 8.

Senior Chad Franz finished second overall to lead SPASH, while freshman Zach Scharbarth (eighth) and senior Alex Strojny (ninth) were also in the Top 10.

SPASH senior Chad Franz finished second overall at the SPASH Invitational at Standing Rocks County Park Saturday, Sept. 8. (John Kemmeter photo)

Junior Jake Lepak was 13th, followed by junior Daniel Kiefer (18th), junior Christian Manthey (22nd), junior Tristan Sernau (23rd) and freshman Eric Boettcher (30th).

“Chad Franz ran a tremendous race today, I don’t know that we quite saw that coming,” said SPASH cross country coach Donn Behnke. “A couple of our other guys struggled a little bit, Strojny and Lepak really didn’t look good in the last mile, but they hung on.

“Zach had a terrific race for a freshman, and Danny made a big step up as our No. 5 runner,” he said. “It was good to see Tristan back, a little closer to our Top 5, Christian ran really well, and then Eric ran basically what he ran last week, and for a freshman it was a pretty good effort.”

SPASH junior Jake Lepak heads toward the finish line on his way to a 13th-place finish at the SPASH Invitational at Standing Rocks County Park Saturday, Sept. 8. (John Kemmeter photo)

The Panthers finished with 50 points to win the Team Title over Marshfield (104), Neenah (123) and D.C. Everest (178).

“We felt like we were going to get some pretty serious competition, and then we found out that Neenah again held out their Top 2 guys, and we didn’t know that until race time,” said Behnke, whose birthday was Saturday. “They ended up 70 points behind us, which you certainly wouldn’t have expected coming into today, that’s a bit of a surprise, we thought this was going to be a meet that was going to be won or lost by a couple of points.

“But I’m really happy with what our guys have done,” he said. “And there’s not much better than being at a cross country meet on your birthday with a group of kids you really like being around.”

SPASH junior Daniel Kiefer sprints to the finish line at the SPASH Invitational at Standing Rocks County Park Saturday, Sept. 8. (John Kemmeter photo)

In the junior varsity race, sophomore Jake Bourget finished second overall, as the Panthers finished with 20 points to beat Marshfield (62) and Neenah (76).

Senior Max Sobczak (third), junior Ethan Pelot (fourth), senior Ben Brogan (fifth), junior Simon Bushmaker (sixth), senior Simone Coli (seventh), freshman Kyle Franz (eighth), sophomore Josh Bourget (ninth) and junior Johnny Ceplina (10th) gave SPASH nine runners in the Top 10 in the JV race.

SPASH senior Max Sobczak finished third in the junior varsity race at the SPASH Invitational at Standing Rocks County Park Saturday, Sept. 8. (John Kemmeter photo)

SPASH also won the junior high meet with 17 points over Pacelli Catholic Middle School (81) and Wisconsin Rapids (110).

Samuel Totzke won the Individual Title, with Bode Erickson second, Aloysius Franzen third and Max Bushmaker fifth to give SPASH four runners in the Top 5.

“The JV guys ran well and the Junior High guys ran well, so it was a really good day for our program as a whole,” said Behnke. “And it’s nice because we get to show off our program in front of a really big crowd, and people get to see what SPASH cross country’s about.

“So it was a proud day for us,” he said.