Portage County Gazette

By John Kemmeter

Looking to contend for a Top 2 finish, the Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH) boys cross country team ended up fifth at the WIAA Division 1 State Meet at The Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids Saturday, Oct. 27.

The third-ranked Panthers were seven points out of third place with 169 points, while second-ranked Neenah (122) knocked off top-ranked and defending State Champion Middleton (131) to capture the State Title.

“The State Meet was really competitive this year, we actually ran very well, and I think we were all pretty shocked to end up fifth when that score flashed up on the board,” said SPASH boys cross country coach Donn Behnke. “That wasn’t what we were hoping for, and it wasn’t really what we expected.

“The average time for our Top 5 was 16:37, and in just about any other year, that’s going to let you walk out of there with a trophy,” he said.

After totaling 177 points to finish as the State Runner-up last year behind Middleton (76 points), SPASH won each of its first eight meets this season, before it was outscored 39-46 by Neenah at the Sectional last week.

The Panthers had their sights on contending for a trophy again this season at the State Meet Saturday, where senior Chad Franz was first in for the Panthers at 15th overall (seven in team standings), with junior Jake Lepak 41st (24th in team) and freshman Zach Scharbarth 66th (40th in team).

“That was the last race of my high school career, and it was a good race for me,” said Franz. “And I’m just so happy I was able to spend the six years at SPASH (including junior high), being able to run with all of the guys I ran with, and being able to put it out here and get a good time in the last race.”

“Chad ran a terrific race, and he’s just had a wonderful senior season,” said Behnke. “And there’s a case where he ran 16:05, which any other year, if you run 16:05, you’re going to be on First Team All-State, you’re going to be in the Top 10 and on the podium, but there was just so many good individuals up front.

“Jake had an incredible race, his average time this year was two minutes faster than his average time last year, he worked hard and he ran 16:30 on a State Meet course, and for a guy who wasn’t even anywhere near a varsity spot a year ago, that was just amazing,” he said. “And Zach is the No. 3 freshman in the state, he ran an excellent race, and for a freshman to run 16:45 at the State Meet in your first season is just terrific.”

Freshman James Jacobs (79th overall, 48th in team) and senior Alex Strojny (81st overall, 50th in team) were next in to close the scoring for SPASH, followed by sophomore Jake Bourget (84th) and junior Daniel Kiefer (109th).

“James is the No. 4 freshman in the state of Wisconsin, that was the best race he’s run all season, and we knew these guys had potential, but I don’t think anybody would’ve predicted they would run this well as freshmen,” said Behnke. “Alex was in really good position at two miles (35th in team), and unfortunately he got tripped and went down hard on a gravel cart path and bounced on his hip, got up and he really struggled that last mile, and ultimately that cost us a couple of team places. And that was really unfortunate, because Alex had just a wonderful senior season, and it’s so frustrating when you’re running well like that, and then you catch a bad break.

“Jake was hurt last season and most of the summer, just made our varsity the last couple of weeks and he ran 16:55, which is just an incredible effort for a guy who’s fighting his way back from injury and had a great end to his season,” he said. “And Danny wasn’t really anywhere near a varsity spot a year ago, and did a really nice job in the second half of the race. Jake was the best No. 6 runner in the state, and Danny was the best No. 7 runner in the state, and only one team had a better No. 5 runner than Alex.”

When the team scores flashed on the video board a few minutes after the end of the race, starting with 20th to first, SPASH was fifth with 169 points, with fourth-ranked Madison West (165) fourth, fifth-ranked Germantown (162) third, Middleton (131) second, and Neenah (122) the State Champion.

“I wish we would’ve been No. 1 or No. 2, but I guess we ran pretty well,” said Lepak. “We gave it all we had, so you can’t complain too much.”

“We knew our guys would run well, but we also knew that Neenah had run very well, and we knew that Middleton was really good,” said Behnke. “With the race that we ran, we felt we had a good chance to end up third, so that was disappointing.

“But that’s sort of the State Meet in a nutshell,” he said. “You can run really well and still go home a little disappointed with your place.”

Behnke said this year may have been the deepest team SPASH has ever had, as the Panthers lost three runners from last year’s State Meet, and went on to win their 41st Conference Title in the last 42 years and advance to state for 40th time in the last 42 years.

“We had a lot of unknowns coming in, we felt like we had a lot of potential, but we didn’t return a lot of guys who had run really fast at any point last year,” said Behnke. “But all of these guys just made a great commitment to this, and especially Chad and Alex, they were wonderful leaders, they led every workout and did everything we ever asked of them.

“The trademark of our team was our depth, and the competition we had for varsity spots made us a better team each week,” he said. “But the other thing that stands out for me, is how much fun it was to go to practice, and how terrific these young men are. And I know I can speak for (fellow coaches) Kevin Hopp and John Ceplina when I say that we all just had a terrific season and we really think the world of these kids. Unfortunately we lose some to graduation, but there are a whole lot of good kids coming back, and there are some really good things to look forward to next year.”