Notre Dame, Saxony Lutheran forge distance-relay rivalry

The best event at Tuesday's Perryville Invitational may have been the very first one -- the boys 3,200-meter relay race.

Saxony Lutheran outran Notre Dame and fourth-place finisher Perryville in a meeting of the three of the top four 3,200 relay teams in Southeast Missouri.

The Crusaders' foursome -- Max Wieser, Trey Maevers, Grant Lehmann and Brandon Etzold -- put together a run of 8 minutes, 24.22 seconds that was 10 seconds better than their previous best this season. It also topped Saxony's state-winning 3,200 relay time of 8:26.60 from the Class 1 meet last year.

"They all ran smart; they ran great," Saxony Lutheran coach Larry Cleair said. "I think they're ready for state again."

Etzold, who finished second in the 800 (2:03.39) and fifth in the 1,600, was brilliant with the baton in his hand on both of his anchor legs Tuesday. He ran a 2:00.9 split to finish out the 3,200 and made another dash of 51.3 seconds over 400 meters to hold off Perryville and Notre Dame in the meet-ending 1,600 relay.

"If he could run more events, we could run him in the 200 meters," Cleair said.

The Crusaders had edged Notre Dame by a half-second in an April 3 meeting at the Notre Dame Invitational, and the Bulldogs won a few days later at the Jackson Invitational when both teams shaved more than 18 seconds off their times to get into the 8:40s. Central was third in that race.

Tuesday's win made tally 2-1 in favor of Saxony.

"We're good for each other," Notre Dame coach Bill Davis said. "It goes back to cross country."

Both teams won state titles last fall -- Saxony in Class 1 and Notre Dame in Class 2.

"We are so evenly matched," Cleair said. "If we ran against each other twice a week, it'd be a great race every time."

Add Perryville to the mix, and the race is even more compelling. The Pirates finished in 8:27.57 on Tuesday for fourth place just behind Ste. Genevieve.

The Pirates foursome of Gabe Layton, Ryan Regelsperger, Jesse Kueker and Kyle Bert had posted a time of 8:35.08 on April 4 in the Tigertown Relays in Festus, Mo., that was the best time in the area prior to Saturday.

Saxony's previous best was an 8:36 on April 11 at the Old Settelement Invitational, and Notre Dame's foursome of John Unterreiner, Jason Delgado, Neil Kanneberg and Matt Pfau on Saturday won the Cape Relays in a time of 8:20.30 that still ranks as the best of the season so far.

Scheduling

The invitational moved to later on the spring schedule to try to take advantage of better weather, but Tuesday was a windy, chilly day that ended with drops of rain and lightning.

"We always had it earlier in the year when we had bad weather, so I put it at the end when I thought it would be nice weather," Perryville coach Lance Bell said. "I picked the only day when it rained and was cold as heck."

The weather did provide a challenge.

"Since so many of our kids compete in several events, they have to stay loose but stay relaxed," Cleair said. "You want to stay warm enough that you don't tighten up but you don't want to wear yourself out and do too much in between races. You have to know where that balance is, and with each kid it's diffent."

Ninteen schools competed at the meet, which served as a good test after the recent spring breaks. Poplar Bluff won the boys title in its first meet appearance; Ste. Genevieve won the girls title as eight girls records were broken.