DeForest makes triumphant return to state cross country as dynamic duo medals – Madison.com

The senior-junior duo on the DeForest boys cross country team takes everything seriously, according to Pabon, whether it’s a pickleball or running around the field.

It has fueled their success all season and was at the forefront of even more accolades on Saturday. Pabon finished third while Tanner was seventh as both reached the podium in the boys Division 1 event at the WIAA State Championships at The Ridges Golf Course.

“It’s amazing. You think about it every night, but to actually feel it … it’s amazing,” Pabon said.

Tanner added, “We both knew we had the potential to finish here as the number one duo in the state, and I don’t think we would have wanted it to end any other way for either of us.”

Pabon crossed the finish line in 15 minutes, 24.0 seconds as Onalaska’s Manny Putz (15:07.5) held off De Pere’s Grady Lehn (15:09.2) to win his third straight individual title.

Tanner wasn’t far behind his Norskies teammate, going 15:31.8.

“They’re friends and it’s one of those things that makes both of them get better and then you can see what we saw today,” DeForest coach Joe Parker said.

More impressive than the pair’s podium finish was the fact that they followed the game plan Parker laid out earlier this week.

“They executed through the 2 miles and let the chips fall where they may,” Parker said. “Having two on the podium and having them work with each other all year, it was great to see them do it here in this race.”

The entire Norskies team executed Parker’s strategy to perfection all afternoon.

In its first state team appearance at The Ridges since 1999, DeForest finished fourth as a team, the program’s best finish since taking ninth in its last trip to Wisconsin Rapids.

“Our team really came together and the goal was to prove everyone wrong and enjoy ourselves. We came here to prove it, and we did,” Pabon said.

Along with Pabon and Tanner, Logan Davison was 55th overall (33rd team) with a time of 16:36.7, while Easton Tiedt took 80th (52nd, 16:50.9) and Wyatt Parker was 105th- you (66th, 17:05.8).

Tanner said the team thinks it has a chance to even finish second or “maybe win the team title.”

“We did our job,” he said. “We came here and did what we thought we could do.”

Along with the Norskies in the team competition were Madison West and Verona. The Regents finished sixth with 165 points, thanks to Nathan Schwoerer’s 24th-place finish (16:16.7). The Wildcats were 11th with 256 points and were paced by Aaron Yarbrough, who finished 19th in 16:07.5.

Individually, Sun Prairie East’s Pat McRoberts and Madison East’s Mason Bieri just missed the podium. McRoberts took 13th in 15:56.6, while Bieri was 15th in 15:58.0.