MSHSAA newcomer Saxony Lutheran makes first-ever state appearan

In a school of only 57 students, with a sports program that is only in its second year, Saxony Lutheran already has its first state qualifying team.

Saxony Lutheran's boys cross country squad, the school's first varsity team, will compete today at the state meet in Jefferson City after winning last Saturday's Class 1 district meet at Spanish Lake Park.

"A lot of schools can afford to go year to year on tradition," Saxony Lutheran coach Larry Cleair said. "Everyone was new this year. They really had to start the tradition. They set the bar pretty high."

The Crusaders have five freshmen, three sophomores and one junior on the nine-person team.

Cleair said he didn't know what to expect heading into the season.

"They were young, and the first day of practice I had some who couldn't run a minute and a half continuously," he said.

But the Crusaders won their first meet at Chester, Ill., and continued to improve as the season went along. Some runners established as many as seven or eight personal bests in the team's 10 meets.

"That's pretty amazing," Cleair said. "They kept improving every meet."

Cleair said he's not too worried about his team crumbling under the pressure of the state meet.

"We'll kind of be nervous," he said. "The main thing is we haven't quite figured out how big a deal it is."

Whether the Crusaders finish first or not, the runners are just happy to be able to compete on such a large stage.

"We hope we do well," sophomore Trey Maevers said. "We just want to run the race as well as we can and see what the end result is."

Notre Dame boys

Another team making its first trip to the state meet will be Notre Dame's boys.

"We thought we could do it last year, but we had a couple of key injuries," said third-year Notre Dame coach Bill Davis. "This year we carried it through.

"I told them we have a good chance at the top four. We have to be believers at this point. We have the ability to do that."

Also heading to the Class 2 meet is Michael Glastetter and Trey Simmons of Kelly. Glastetter won the District 1 meet at Jefferson Barracks. For Kelly's girls, Emily Stroble qualified.

In Class 1, individual qualifiers on the boys' side include Meadow Heights' Joel Hahs, the district winner, Delta's Kevin Bartels and Aaron Kinder, and Oak Ridge's Terry Bogenpohl.

On the girls' side, Oak Ridge's Melinda Schoen, Sam Zoellner and Alicia Kellogg all qualified.

In the Class 4 race, district champion Jennifer Pancoast will lead four Central runners. Linnea Woldtvedt and Holly Shaffer qualified on the girls' side and John Kipper was the only boy to qualify.

Jackson will be represented by Ashley Meyr, Rachel Schmidt and Rachel Lowes.

jjoffray@semissourian.com

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