MONTICELLO — The Ponies went unbeaten in the Six Rivers East last year (and 22-3 overall) and reached the sectional round of the WIAA Division 5 tournament. 

The season saw the school’s first regional title in a decade, and outgoing senior Reece Rufer reach 1,000 career points. Rufer and teammate Peter Gustafson were co-conference players of the year, finishing 1-2 in the league in scoring, as well as No. 1 and 3 in rebounds.

“We want to take the success we had last year and continue to add to that,” 12-year Monticello coach Mark Olson said. 

Both players presented matchup problems for their opponents all season, either down low, on the wing or in transition. But Rufer, starting guard Simon Blohowiak (second-team all-conference) and Devin Holtz (honorable mention) all graduated, taking 34 points and 17 rebounds per game with them.

 “We will need to replace three talented players that played a lot of important minutes for us last year,” Olson said.

Gustafson averaged 20.3 points per game and another 6.0 rebounds per game last year, and was named first-team all-state by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association. He also sits just 58 points shy of 1,000 for his career.

“He has had some college interest, but hasn’t settled on anything yet,” Olson said.

Joining Gustafson in white and blue uniforms will be returners Owen Ace, Rudy Wicker, Blake Klitzke and Tristin Flanagan. All four combined to average about 20 points and 14 rebounds per game. Olson has about nine others that will vie for minutes.

“We should be fairly flexible and able to play different lineups and different styles of ball,” Olson said.

Olson said he knows the team has a target on its back, but potentially the biggest challenge will be the day-to-day navigating around the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Also, not having an offseason to start figuring out ‘who we are’ makes preparing for this season tougher,” Olson said. 

Olson picked Barneveld, Black Hawk and Argyle as the three teams most likely to challenge for the Six Rivers East title.