Breaking news!  Andy Wietmarschen is officially the head coach of St. Xavier cross country.  He follows in the footsteps of two of the greatest coaches this city has ever seen.  When Larry Merkel arrived at St. Xavier in 1978, the program had not accomplished a whole lot.  He built their numbers up to 100+ runners, but it wasn't until 1998 that St. Xavier won their first DI state title.  Larry would go on to win two more titles in 2000 and 2003 to total three state titles, a feat that had only been accomplished by one other boys coach in Cincinnati, Steve Spencer of Elder (1982, 1986, 1988, 1989).  When Larry retired as head coach, his long time assistant, Mike Dehring, took over and won back-to-back DI state titles (2012, 2013), a feat only accomplished by two other local boys coaches previously in Steve Spencer (1988,1989) and Frank Russo of La Salle (2005, 2006).  St. Xavier had tied Elder for the most state titles in Cincinnati school history by winning five times.  Mike Dehring also established another first for Cincinnati or even state wide Ohio coaches by directly qualifying to the Nike Cross Country Nationals in Portland, Oregon from a regional meet.  Mike also had the highest finish at the national meet of any Ohio team with a sixth place finish.  Now Andy Wietmarschen is next in the long blue line to continue this tradition of excellence.  The Southwest Ohio Track & Cross Country Coaches Association extends their congratulations and only wishes the best for Andy and his Bombers in the future.