WELLS &045; The level of competition is rising for boys’ cross country teams in the Gopher Valley Conference.

But the United South Central/Alden-Conger Rebels still set the standard.

The Rebels repeated their conference championship Tuesday at Fox Lake Golf Course near Sherburn, defeating runner-up Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial by 19 points.

USC/A-C won with 47 points. Rounding out the top five were LCWM with 66, NRHEG 96, Blooming Prairie 96 and Madelia/Truman 98. Nine schools competed.

The Rebels won the same way they have all season &045; with balance &045; placing four runners among the top 10. Their places and times for 5,000 meters: Bob Schmitz, fifth, 16:29; Jake Stenzel, sixth, 16:30; Brad Tomschin, seventh, 16:33; Eric Youngblom, ninth, 16:47; Matt Mueller, 20th, 17:32; Spencer Niebuhr, 26th, 17:49; Eric Melby, 35th, 18:30. The boys’ race had 57 runners.

&uot;Our top four run very well together,&uot; said coach Kent Viesselman. &uot;That is the strength of our boys’ team. They ran within 18 seconds of each other Tuesday. On any given day, any one of the four could be our top runner.&uot;

Like the USC/A-C girls, the boys are also expected to be in a three or four team race to qualify for state when the Rebels compete in the Section 2A meet Thursday. The Rebels, Fairmont and Blue Earth Area are all rated among the top 12 Class A teams in the state and, early in the season, Glencoe/Silver Lake was ranked.

&uot;Blue Earth will be tough to beat in this kind of meet,&uot; said Viesselman. &uot;Their strength will be in their top two runners. It’ll be a question of whether our balance will be enough to offset a possible 1-2 finish by their top two runners.&uot;

Riverside Golf Club north of Blue Earth will host the section meet.

&uot;Our girls have been in the state meet the last two years, and the boys have made it the last 11 years,&uot; said Viesselman. &uot;We’d like to keep both strings going.&uot;

(Contact Jim Lutgens at sports@albertleatribune.com or 379-3437.)