SLIPPERY ROCK — Gone in 58 seconds — that's been the key for the Slippery Rock Highboys cross country team this season.

Runners Nate King, Owen Bowser, Dan Hartzell, Jackson Udy, Jacob Spurk and Eddie Schrieber have logged times within a minute of each other.

"It's a pack mentality," said Rockets coach Tony Consbruck. "A lot of coaches would kill for that. By the time a third of the race is over, I'm done watching my runners."

Last year, the Rockets went 1-5 during the dual meet season. But while the runners were discouraged by the final record, Consbruck was strangely encouraged.

He said he saw the potential his runners possessed and had a gut feeling 2007 was going to be a memorable year.

"I saw the talent," Consbruck said. "It was just a matter of them getting confidence in what I was asking them to do."

In the preseason packet he handed out to each team member, Consbruck wrote "process of becoming" on the cover.

At the time, the runners shrugged it off. By midseason, though, they were becoming a force.

The Rockets went to Meadville and ended the Bulldogs' 22-meet winning streak.

Consbruck gave his team an impassioned speech before the meet.

"I said, 'Guys. Look, you are better than they are,'" Consbruck said.

It wasn't until the meet was over that his runners finally believed him.

"We felt like we could win, but we weren't expecting to," said King, a senior. "It was great being the first team to beat Meadville in three years."

Slippery Rock finished the dual season 6-0 after a tiebreaker win over Grove City Tuesday. That win clinched the Region 2 championship.

"Last year, we had a horrible season," King said. "We all came into this season determined to push each other."

King has been doing most the pushing.

The No. 1 runner on most days, King has paced himself in meets to motivate the other runners.

It's an odd move, but one that has helped keep that pack mentality.

"We're always pushing each other," King said. "In dual meets, I stay back cheering my teammates along. We had a guy struggling against Grove City and went back and got him."

That helped SlipperyRock win on the tiebreaker. It might also help the Rockets punch their ticket to the state meet.

The District 10 championships are a week from Saturday. At Buhl Park in Sharon, Slippery Rock will find three of the top teams in the state in General McLane, North East and defending state champion West Middlesex.

Only the top three teams advance to the PIAA Championships.

But Slippery Rock may get there regardless of where it finishes as a team because of its pack attack.

If the Rockets advance five individuals to the state meet, they can compete as a team.

That might not be as far fetched as it seems.

"That would be insane," Consbruck said. "But it's possible."

Consbruck figures his fifth runner would have to finish no lower than 27th to make it to the state meet.

The top 15 individual runners who do not qualify as part of a team advance to the state meet.

The turnaround of a boys cross country program that has struggled over the years has been noticed everywhere, even in the halls of the high school.

"Our coach, he's psyched," King said. "Our school is pretty happy with us."