Saxony Lutheran continues to expand athletic department

Saxony Lutheran High School started five years ago with five students.

By the school's third year, a boys junior varsity basketball team was fielded, marking the start of the Saxony Lutheran athletics department.

Fast forward two years later, and Saxony Lutheran has already won a state title in cross country, has one of the top female basketball players in the state and is continuing to add new sports to its program.

Saxony Lutheran athletic director Larry Cleair said as the school grows, so do the number of options for its students.

"That's one of the things we've tried to do as far as activities, not just athletics," Cleair said. "We're trying to meet the needs of our incoming students."

Like any school, extra curricular activities are a large part of Saxony's educational environment. Activities such as athletics can be a factor in a family's decision to enroll a child in a private school.

As Saxony's offerings have grown and the athletic teams have achieved success, the number of students has continued to grow. Saxony Lutheran's enrollment this year is 85 students, an increase of 28 students from just last year.

Cleair said just offering a good education is not enough to draw students.

"In a perfect world, you'd say we have strong academics in a good Christian environment, so come to our school," he said. "You have to have other activities."

The area's newest school has had few problems finding a place in the area's sports scene. Starting with a successful debut from the basketball program, which had an 18-4 record its first season playing junior varsity and freshmen teams in 2002-03, the Crusaders have built up quite a resume.

Adding sports

In the program's second year, and the first year for varsity sports, cross country, track and varsity basketball teams were added. The cross country team finished fourth in the Class 1 state meet its first time out. Saxony Lutheran's basketball team finished 17-6 in its first varsity season, which included a Mississippi Valley Conference tournament championship. In the spring, Saxony Lutheran sent six boys to the state track and field meet in Jefferson City.

Saxony Lutheran won a state championship in cross country this past season. The Crusaders' basketball team is on track to finish above .500 for the second straight season.

Cleair said while he has been pleasantly surprised by the amount of dedication shown by both the parents and athletes, the school approaches all its activities with high expectations.

"I think we expect a lot out of our students, and they give it to us," he said. "We didn't come into any of our programs, whether academic or extra curricular, and say we're going to start bad and get better. We want to start out as best we can."

While the athletic accomplishments of the past year have been a bright spot for the school and athletic program, the real highlight has been the opening of Saxony's new campus off Interstate 55 near Fruitland. The campus can comfortably hold 160 students and sits on 40 acres of land. Saxony Lutheran had been using St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau as its temporary home.

"When we moved to the new building, it was a real confirmation that this school was real," Cleair said.

With the new space Saxony Lutheran now has a gym which can seat between 1,000 and 1,100 people. Home games this season for the Crusaders have consistently been near capacity.

"It's great that we have a lot of fans,"Cleair said. "Ihaven't seen them miss a game, and there's some who don't have children, don't have grandchildren at the school; they're just fans of Saxony High School."

Fans of Saxony sports soon will have more reasons to head to the high school. By next year the campus will have both a softball and baseball field. There will also be a track built on the campus, which will circle a field that could be used for football or soccer.

Those fields will be put to good use, as baseball will start this spring and softball will start in the spring of 2006. Along with softball, girls junior varsity basketball will also be added to the athletics program next year.

By the end of next year Saxony Lutheran will also have likely produced its first NCAA Division I athlete. Lauren Lueders, a junior guard for the boys basketball team, has been a three-year starter and one of the Crusaders' top players. Lueders has already garnered the attention of several division I programs, and will likely choose her destination later this spring.

Cleair said having such a high-profile athlete in a small school can only help the athletic program.

"It's put us in the spotlight, and the nice thing about the spotlight is we have a lot of good things here and we don't have anything to hide," he said. "We enjoy the spotlight because we have a lot of great programs."