Notre Dame wraps up another top-four finish

~ The Bulldogs finished with 104 points to take third in the state.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Notre Dame boys cross country team had its fifth consecutive top-four finish in hand, and some of the Bulldogs runners already were thinking about 2008.

"I'm looking to get first place next year," junior Dillon Klaffer said. "I'm looking to come back next year and have a big senior year."

With members of 2007 state champion Potosi milling about nearby, Klaffer continued, "Neil [Kanneberg] and Ben [Beussink] are going to be hard to replace, but I am totally confident we're going to come back and get first place next year."

If the Bulldogs can pull off that feat, it would be a nice bookend to the Class 2 state title that Klaffer and classmate Logan Davis were a part of in 2005.

But this is Class 3 this year, and the Bulldogs had some salty competition Saturday at Oak Hills Golf Center from defending state champion Potosi and perennial power West Plains.

Potosi placed first with 78 points, not quite the near-perfect 16 it scored last year, but still good enough. West Plains was second with 87 and Notre Dame had 104, repeating the 1-2-3 finish of last year.

"It was only 26 points," Klaffer said.

"The meet was a lot more open this year," Notre Dame coach Bill Davis said. "I thought our kids did a great job again.

"All season, if somebody didn't have the race they thought they'd have, someone picked them up, and it was that way again today. Wynn McClellan and Ben Beussink had tremendous races. They both cut 45 seconds off what they had last year. That really solidified third place for us. When they came through, I knew we were in good shape."

McClellan, a sophomore, placed 29th, while Beussink was 2 seconds and two places behind.

"I saw Wynn pretty much the whole race and tried to stay with him," Beussink said. "I beat a lot of people who beat me this year. I think I passed some people at the end, and I don't think anyone passed me, which is what you're going for."

Notre Dame was led by junior Logan Davis, who was 14th in 16:47 for a state medal.

"Around the second mile, I got a second wind and passed eight people, so that felt good," he said.

Klaffer grabbed the final state medal, finishing 25th in 17:00.

"Logan pushed me and I pushed him a lot," Klaffer said. "He would get away from me sometimes and I would catch up. I was proud of the finish that he got and his time."

Kanneberg finished 68th and rounded out the team scoring.

Sophomore Ryan Johnson was 85th, and junior Matt Reinagel was 99th. Johnson, the SEMO Conference junior varsity champion, moved into the varsity lineup due to an injury to sophomore Cody Moore.

"Ryan and Matt both raced very well compared to what Potosi had from their sixth and seventh runners," Davis said, noting that Potosi's last two were 143rd and 148th. "We're very proud of them."

By grabbing a fifth straight state trophy, the cross country program tied a school record.

"It feels good to tie that record," Beussink said. "It's part of what we do. All we do is win state trophies."

And Klaffer is ready to put in the work to grab another next year.

"Logan and I have decided we're going to take a couple days off and start winter training, probably Tuesday after school we'll run 4 miles," he said. "It's not going to be easy to get first place."