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After Ryan Beabout graduated last spring and took his talents to the University of Tennessee, many folks didn't give the Wheeling Park boys' cross country team much of a chance of repeating as West Virginia Class AAA champions.

The exceptions were Coach Michael Jebbia, the runners themselves, and their fans.

According to Jebbia, only true teamwork would result in a repeat. And Saturday, his runners came through.

Wheeling Park secured its second straight state championship behind three Top-10 individual finishes at Cabell-Midland High School in Ona.

''It was a total team effort,'' Jebbia said. ''We have runners, coaches and parents that are all just phenomenal. Overall, we just have a great program.

''A lot of people say it's nicer to win the second one. Our kids deserve the credit. They bought into everything and trained year-round.''

The Patriots compiled 67 points, while runner-up Jefferson had 71. Cabell-Midland was third, followed by Preston, St. Albans, Fairmont Senior, Winfield, Hampshire, Parkersburg South, George Washington and Musselman.

Morgantown sophomore Cody Pelliccioni won the individual crown in a time of 15:57. He was followed by Jefferson's Cory Hampshire and Fairmont Senior's David Ciarolla.

It marked the second time a Wheeling Park boys' team repeated as state champion. The Park wrestling squad achieved the feat in 1986 and 1987.

Park won last season's state title after leading in the state poll wire-to-wire. Such wasn't the case this season. With the exception of the first state poll, the Patriots trailed Jefferson and Cabell-Midland the rest of the way. But, as many teams have learned in the past, championships aren't won on paper.

''We knew (Kyle) Gramlich, (Russell) Mulley and (Logan) Wojcik were potential all-staters," Jebbia said. ''And we felt if runners 4-6 ran to their potential we were going to have a shot.

''Jefferson and Cabell-Midland have great programs and we knew we were going to be in a dogfight.''

Gramlich led Park with a fourth-place finish, crossing the finish line in 16:27. It was the senior's third straight all-state performance.

Wojcik (16:40) improved to seventh this season after finishing ninth last season.

And Mulley (16:50), one season after finishing 26th, shot up to eighth to earn his first all-state accolade.

Jason Bennett (33rd, 17:58) and Kevin Busick (38th, 18:04) were the other runners who scored for the Patriots.

Ethan Chapman Casey was 41st with a time of 18:06, while Greg Mulley was 68th with a time of 19:08.

''There are a lot of teams that have one or two good runners,'' Jebbia said. ''But when I sat down and looked at our team I thought that one through seven we had the strongest team.

''The plan (Saturday) was to put three runners in the Top 10, and we did that. But the team effort is only as good as your four through six runners and Jason Bennett, Kevin Busick and Ethan Chapman Casey all beat Jefferson's fifth runner.''

Earlier this season, the Patriots lost to Jefferson by 29 points at the Mountaintop Combo in Preston. But two weeks later, they finished second at the OVAC meet and started to surge.

''After we ran at the OVACs I started to look at things and thought we'd be in the hunt (for a state title),'' Jebbia said. ''This group wanted to prove something.''

And for Jebbia, who has bene part of great moments as a coach and athlete at Wheeling Park and West Liberty, the victory was quite gratifying.

''This is the best feel I've had in sports,'' he said.