Saxony boys, girls teams finish third at districts

The Saxony girls track team equaled the boys in the Class 1 District 1 meet hosted by Missouri School for the Deaf, as both teams finished third in the standings Saturday.

The Saxony girls tallied 63 points to finish behind Ste. Genevieve Valle (135) and New Haven (73).

The Crusaders girls had just one first-place finish, which was posted by the 1,600-meter relay team of sophomore Cassie Simpher and freshmen Abby Hartman, Lucy Gage and River King.

Simpher was second in three individual events, finishing as the runner-up to MSD's Chetara Watkins in the 100, 200 and 400 sprints. Watkins won the 100 and 200 at state last year, while Simpher was the state champ in the 400.

Watkins beat Simpher "just by a freckle in the 400," Saxony coach Larry Cleair said. "It was a good race."

Gage was second in two events — the 800 and 1,600.

Kristen Dippold finished third in the 3,200. Saxony's 3,200 relay also advanced with a second-place finish.

In the boys meet, 2007 state runner-up Saxony tallied 82 points to finish behind Valle (140) and Chamois (128).

The Crusaders' defending state champion 3,200 relay foursome of Andrew Etzold, Joe Buerck, Ross Gage and Max Wieser placed first.

Etzold, Gage and Wieser teamed with Mark Buerck to win the 1,600 relay.

Gage also won the 800 and 1,600 runs.

Wieser was second in the 400 and 800; Etzold was third in the 400; Alex Rodewald was third in the discus; and Chad Bachmann was fourth in the 100.

BASEBALL

Saxony 23, Cairo, Ill. 0

The Crusaders made sure early it wasn't a close ballgame.

Saxony Lutheran exploded for 18 runs in the first inning and never let up on its way to the lopsided win.

Bryant Steffens improved to 3-2 on the mound.

Ryan Sprandel collected three of the Crusaders' 20 hits.

Cairo 000 00 — 0 1 7

Saxony (18)32 0x — 23 20 0

WP — Bryant Steffens. LP — Coleman. Multiple hits — Saxony: Ryan Sprandel 3-4, Spencer Sander 2-3, Chris Roth 2-3, Garrett Fritsche 2-3, Ben Courtois 2-2, Bret Steffens 2-3, Ryan Winkler 2-3. Records — Saxony 13-5.

Other

JV Baseball

SEMO Conference first round — Central beat NMCC 9-3; Notre Dame beat Poplar Bluff 10-4.

— From staff reports