Crusaders fall short in extending streak

~ Garrett Light paced the Oak Ridge boys team with a 14-place finish.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Saxony Lutheran boys cross country team was not on the podium for the first time in the history of the program, while the Oak Ridge boys finished ahead of another team at the state meet for the first time in their history.

Oak Ridge sophomore Garrett Light finished 14th on Saturday in the Class 1 boys race and was the lone all-stater from Southeast Missouri. His finish, in 18 minutes, 13 seconds, helped the Bluejays finish out of last place for the first time in three trips to the state meet. In fact, they didn't beat just one team; they beat five with their 11th-place finish.

"Our goal was to beat somebody," said Oak Ridge coach Jason Niswonger, whose team finished 16th last year but didn't make state the year before. "I couldn't be more proud of the whole group."

Leading the way was Light, who took up the sport last year as conditioning for basketball. He managed to make the state meet last year and finished 98th as a freshman.

Oak Ridge's Garrett Light competed during the Class 1 boys state cross country meet Saturday in Jefferson City, Mo.

"That got me mentally prepared for what I was going to have to face," Light said. "I'm feeling awesome right now."

Light said he ran the first two miles with Saxony Lutheran junior Ross Gage, who finished second to Light in the district meet last weekend.

"Ross Gage and [Saxony[']s] Max Wieser pushed me hard throughout the year in just about every race," Light said. "I was running with Ross for a pretty good while, and coach told me to go in the last mile, and that's when I got away from him.

"Saxony is a pretty good team and one of our better rivals. It's always good to beat them."

Oak Ridge scored 247 points as a team. Freshman Stephen Bolen was 47th overall, senior Kaz Lange was 96th and freshman Caleb Elam was 99th.

"We just worked really hard," Light said. "We tried a lot harder because we didn't want to come in last again. We wanted to come here for a reason."

College Heights Christian, from southwest Missouri, won the team competition with 17 points, including a 1-2-3-4 finish led by Ethan Beaver in 16:51.

"Obviously, those College Heights kids are outstanding, but I think Garrett will be right behind them next year," Niswonger said. "He's such a hard worker."

Saxony Lutheran, which had been on the trophy stand for all four years of its cross country program, finished a little further behind the College Heights kids than coach Larry Cleair would have liked.

The Crusaders scored 181 points, six behind Valley Park for the top four. West Platte was second with 76, and defending champion Lone Jack was third with 163.

"I knew College Heights was just phenomenal, and they ran it today," Cleair said. "We were hoping to beat Valley Park, and if Ross Gage would not have turned his ankle coming down a little hill around the 2-mile mark. ... It just took the wind out of his sails. Instead of concentrating on the race, you concentrate on the pain and trying to get through it."

Gage, a junior, was not far behind Light, sitting around 17th, but dropped to 35th after the injury.

Wieser, a senior, led the Crusaders in 29th place. Junior Sam Kluesner was 51st, sophomore Rhett Obermann was 71st and junior Bryant Steffens was 76th.

"I told the kids we have to have five in the top 50 to contend," Cleair said. "There's no disgrace in finishing fifth, but the kids are disappointed they didn't make it. We've got to get the young kids to run hard in the offseason to get back next year."

Saxony's girls team, which this year fielded a full team for the first time and won a district title last weekend, placed eighth. Freshman Kristen Dippold was 39th and classmate Lucy Gage was 45th. Senior Deanna Dippold was 48th.

"It was a great finish," Cleair said. "We've had a pack of three together all year and they ran that way today and did a great job. It's great that two of them are freshmen. They've learned a lot of things from Deanna, our senior."

The fourth finisher was state sprinting champion Cassie Simpher, who finished 116th.

Chaffee, which added the girls program this year, placed 14th of 15 teams. Freshman Taylor Kirchdoerfer led the Red Devils, finishing in 75th place.

In Class 2, Kelly had a pair of all-staters.

Tara Johnson, a junior, finished 17th in the girls race, while junior Cody Kern landed the same finish in the boys race.