Southeast Missourian Boys Runner of the Year: St. Vincent's Levi Krauss

Levi Krauss never has been the sort to be an onlooker or a mere participant.

His approach to activities is high-octane, zestful, full-contact involvement.

It's not surprising to find that the two-time all-state runner helps present musicals at St. Vincent High School. In fact, it may be more surprising to those in the theater audience that the outgoing senior on stage is a two-time all-state runner.

No role is too big of a stretch for Krauss, who has taken on the challenge of playing the lead, Harold Hill, in the school's production of The Music Man. He's played God in Children of Eden.

"It's hard to describe a kid like Levi," St. Vincent cross country coach Terry Wood said. "He's definitely one of a kind. He comes into something with the intention of putting 100 percent into it in all aspects -- athletically, spiritually. Emotionally he is committed."

Student council, trombone in the band, school clubs, choir, church and community projects are avenues Krauss finds to immerse his talents and positive outlook.

"He was one of the founding members for the choir program to where it has grown now, he does all of our plays and musicals whenever there is an opportunity to," Wood said. "He travels down to Saxony [Lutheran High School], whenever we don't have an opportunity, and does plays for them. He really stays involved in any capacity that he can."

That's not so surprising about Krauss, who's made it a lifelong habit of going the extra mile, and not always for medals.

"I always stayed involved," Krauss said. "My whole goal was, if I can just be the best runner that I can be and be the best actor I can be, maybe I could help my school to get more people. Every school needs people, especially at a Catholic school, but it was always my thing that if I could just be the best runner that I could be and just give it to God."

More surprising is the distance traveled by Krauss to become the Southeast Missourian Boys Runner of the Year.

After all, sports were never his passion.

"I was not athletic at all. I played T-ball, and that was like it," Krauss said. "My dad was a very athletic person. He was like the three-sport athlete -- football, basketball and baseball, and I was like, 'Yeah, probably not me, Dad.' If it has a ball after it, you know I'm probably not good at it, but I always could run. So when coach Wood started the team, I was super excited to finally get to play."

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2015 All-Missourian Cross Country - Levi Krauss - St. Vincent High School (Glenn Landberg)

Wood started the team at St. Vincent when Krauss was in eighth grade, and the timing couldn't have been better for the youngster -- or for Wood for that matter.

Little did the coach realize the humble beginnings of his program would bear fruit so quickly: The Indians finished runner-up at the Class 1 state meet this past fall for the second straight year, with Krauss playing a lead role with a third-place finish.

"He played a very pivotal role all four years in making this team a success," Wood said.

Krauss, who also finished fourth at the state meet as a junior, teamed with fellow senior and close friend Isaac Baer, who was an 11th-place finisher at state in both his junior and senior years, to form a one-two tandem for the Indians that was as dependable as it was talented.

The team captains have formed a tight bond that both can trace back to preschool, having found much in common outside of athletics.

"He's been a friend to me through all the years," Baer said. "He's stood by me when hard things happened."

Baer, a tad more reserved, has always been sports-minded, playing baseball and soccer throughout his youth.

"I don't do choir. I do some of the other things he does," Baer said. "We do service things together, like VMY -- Vincentian Marian Youth. We go to [Washington] D.C. every year for the March For Life trip."

Krauss adds rabbit hunting and fishing to the list.

While Baer has a more compact, muscular build than Krauss, both were lacking physical stature entering high school.

Krauss, who was searching for a niche entering the alma mater of both his mother and grandmother, had always done well in the Presidential Fitness runs during grade school. With the only other fall sport alternative for boys at St. Vincent involving a ball -- football -- the idea of distance running was appealing.

"I was not a football guy, but I could run," Krauss said. "I was excited that I could get out there and do that for my school. It's like being able to go out and get St. Vincent out there, especially at state."

When Krauss latched onto the idea of running in high school, Baer, who said he probably only weighed 100 pounds at the time, opted to give it a try.

"He probably talked me into it more, because I was pretty set on doing football just because all my other friends were doing football," Baer said. "That's kind of the thing to do in our school."

At first, Baer said he was somewhat surprised Krauss wanted to run, but when he thought about it he said, "I saw him as a runner. I mean he has the runner body and everything."

It only took one race -- the Jackson Invitational -- for his coach to take notice.

"In that first race he showed me, and he showed himself, that he had the potential to do something pretty spectacular in this sport," Wood said.

Krauss' all-in mentality led him to running camps during summers and steady improvement over the years.

Wood also saw his program steadily increase its numbers, from nine runners -- eight boys and one girl -- in its maiden year to 21 runners this past season -- 11 boys and 10 girls.

"He was a big factor in recruiting some of these kids," Wood said. "There are four or five of them on our roster right now that wouldn't have been running were it not for him."

With an enthusiastic sales pitch from someone like Krauss, even running 7 or 8 miles in scorching heat can sound inviting to someone who's never done it.

"Levi was the catalyst," Wood said. "He was the fuel to the fire, and Isaac was the one to make sure the fire didn't get too out of control. It was kind of nice to have them together."

Through Krauss' and Baer's involvement in the second year of the program's existence, cross country became more of a "thing to do." While Krauss became an active recruiter, the Baer household became a precious mine.

Isaac's younger brothers, Samuel, a junior, and Joseph, a freshman, were among the seven varsity runners this season for an Indians team that won a third consecutive Class 1 District 1 crown.

"That really helped to bring that familiarity, that family values that we needed to stay tight as a team," Wood said about the lifelong friendship between Krauss and Isaac as well as the involvement of the brothers.

Krauss and Isaac Baer became regulars at the state meet over their four years, qualifying as individuals as freshmen and helping the Indians to their first qualification as a team as sophomores.

It was during that sophomore season that Krauss encountered his biggest personal hurdle -- a stress fracture sidelined him for well over a month. He won the junior varsity race of the Forest Park Invitational before spending a chunk of time with his left foot in a boot and hobbling on crutches. His left shin might have been fractured, but his spirit was not broken.

"It was hard seeing everybody else run, and me just crutching over," Krauss said. "They would always laugh at me because I'm a screamer and yeller. Like, I want people to yell at me, so I'm going to yell at you. I would hobble over across the course as fast as I could and hoot and yell and scream and holler."

He did return to place 16th at the district meet in 19 minutes, 25 seconds, more than a minute behind Isaac, who placed first in 18:14, and later helped the Indians to a sixth-place finish at state.

"That third year [of the program], I started to think, 'Hey, maybe we can get on that podium and go after a plaque for these kids," Wood said.

Krauss stayed healthy his two remaining seasons, having found a simple solution for avoiding further injury.

"Drank milk," Krauss said with a laugh. "That was mind-over-matter thing. I think I told myself, 'Drink milk and you won't get another one.'"

A year later, he ran nearly two minutes faster in winning the district title, before placing fourth at the state meet in Columbia, Missouri, in 17:14.43

He repeated as district champion this year, covering the course in Dexter, Missouri, in 17:01, but the meet was memorable for a different reason.

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2015 All-Missourian Cross Country - Levi Krauss - St. Vincent High School (Glenn Landberg)

The Indians wore pink to show their support for Ann Baer, mother of Isaac, Samuel and Joseph and a 1990 graduate of St. Vincent. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in October.

When Ann arrived for the district meet, she found both the St. Vincent boys and girls teams wearing pink socks and pink T-shirts as they warmed up.

"I didn't know they were doing it," Ann said. "It was a surprise, and it was a very nice surprise -- pretty emotional."

It was not surprising that Krauss was in the thick of the support.

"Levi got that started," Isaac said. "It didn't even cross my mind, and then he said something about it, and I said, 'That's actually a pretty cool idea.' And he threw it all together in one night. He's like, 'Who wants shirts? We're getting them ordered tonight,' and by the next day, we had our shirts. That was a pretty neat ordeal."

The shirts also served a practical purpose when one of the girls forgot to bring her uniform to the meet. The crisis was resolved by wearing "Ann" T-shirts in the race.

"We just really rallied around each other, and it just kind of showed that we are truly a family, you know," Krauss said. "We had a prayer service and kept her in a lot of our prayers. When we ran, we stuck her in there. We ran for Ann."

Ann still is undergoing chemotherapy treatment, which will be followed by radiation treatment.

"I think she's doing well, and we're still for her and with her," Krauss said.

Ann cherishes a pink scarf that the team gave to her, made by a retired teacher,

"They also made a jar for me of inspirational messages, so I've been pulling those out every day," Ann said. "They've been coming in real handy. It's an amazing group of kids."

Wearing pink socks, Krauss clocked 17:03.11 at the state meet, finishing behind Hardin-Central's Riley Gorham and Humansville's Dustin Shoemaker for a second straight year and falling short of his goal to break 17 minutes. However, he was pleased with his effort and applauded those who finished ahead of him.

It was in keeping with his values, which emphasize effort over placement. He does take satisfaction in personal-record times, which for him, also happen to be school-record times.

"I tell all the freshmen, 'We run for God, we run for our school, and then we run for our PRs," Baer said. "I had to add in one other this year. ... We add Ann in there. We run for God, we run our school, we run for Ann, and we run for PRs. I always like that order. God first and you last."

And as Krauss has shown, the approach can lead to the front of the pack.