Crusaders' 3,200 relay cruises to another state title

JEFFERSON CITY -- The Saxony Lutheran boys 3,200-meter relay team was the favorite Friday in the first track event of the Class 1 state meet, but that didn't stop coach Larry Cleair from tinkering with the lineup and still being nervous.

Joe Buerck ran the first leg for the Crusaders and set the table for the school's fourth straight victory in the event. They finished in 8 minutes, 14.58 seconds for the fastest winning time in Saxony's four-year run and a 12-second margin over runner-up Ste. Genevieve Valle Catholic.

The foursome -- sophomore Buerck, junior Andrew Etzold, senior Max Wieser and junior Ross Gage -- won the event last year. Wieser was a member of the relay for the fourth consecutive year, while Gage has been on the relay unit three times.

"I didn't sleep much last night, but these guys slept great," Cleair said. "It was just another day at the track, and they knew what to do."

Etzold wasn't quite so relaxed.

"Before the race started, I told Max, 'Feel this,' and I put his hand on my chest and it was pumping really fast," Etzold said. "I calmed down before we got up there. I was kind of nervous because Joe has never run first before, but we thought he could run faster if he had some more competition up there."

Buerck, in his only event of the state meet, ran his personal best split at 2:06 to give Saxony a slim lead over Valle on the first leg. He moved up from third at the 300-meter mark to give the Crusaders a lead of more than a second at the first exchange.

The Crusaders, already three seconds ahead of their usual pace, continued to stretch the lead as Etzold (2:04) and Wieser (2:02) also ran personal bests.

That put Gage, who ran the opening leg in the sectional, in position to relax.

"It seemed like everyone ran their fastest times of the season and put me in a good position," Gage said. "Really, the reason we won is those three ran great races. It seemed like everyone was blazing, especially those last 100 meters.

"When they handed me the baton, I had a chance to glance at the clock and it looked like we were in for the fastest time of the year, and I tried to push it in that second lap."

Gage cruised in also with a 2:02 split, reserving some energy for the 1,600 relay preliminary and two open events today.

But the Crusaders still busted the 8:18.10 posted by the foursome of Wieser, Gage, Grant Lehmann and Brandon Etzold in 2006.

"It was really exciting to beat that," Wieser said. "We just knew if we could get the first two legs in front of everybody, we could try for a really good time."

But with Wieser, Gage and Etzold all slated for events later in the day, the pressure was on Buerck to get it started.

"That's why I switched Joe up to that first spot, so everyone else could kind of relax," Cleair said. "He was stuck on 2:09 and I knew he could run better, but he hadn't had to because our first runner always had him out comfortably. There's so much pressure on that first leg, and I thought Joe did a good job. It turned out to be a great move."

The state records show only one school winning a single relay event in the same class over a five-year span (University City in the 880-yard relay from 1932 to 1936). The Crusaders matched Barstow's streak of four Class 1 3,200 relay titles from 1990 to 1993.

"It's exciting having so much talent in a small school," Wieser said, "and we still have it four years later. That's cool.

"It's just amazing that my very first sport I did, my first state meet, we won state in cross country. It carried over to track, and that was just awesome."

Wieser has played several sports during his career at Saxony and is a five-sport athlete this year with soccer, basketball and baseball in addition to track and cross country. Due to the scheduling conflict, he missed Friday's Class 1 district championship baseball game, which Saxony lost 4-3 to Valle.

"I feel really bad because I have a commitment to them just as I do this one, but this one is state and that's only districts," he said. "I think I have more of a future in track."

Wieser plans to walk on to the track team at Southeast Missouri State next school year.

"I'm so proud of Max," Cleair said. "He stepped up as a freshman and he's stepped up every year. He's been the heart and soul of this relay the last two years."

With three runners back, Saxony could bid for a fifth championship next year, but Cleair also expects the program to move up to Class 2.

"It's going to be tough to keep going," said Cleair, noting his team's time would have been fourth in the Class 2 final. "I think we could've stepped up if we had people push us. We have three of them coming back and Joe has a brother, Mark, who runs on the 1,600 relay. He's going to have to step up and be a man instead of running those one-lap races."

Saxony's bid to win a Class 1 state title after finishing second the last two years was in fair shape. The Crusaders were tied for fifth and eight back of first-place Viburnum.

The 1,600 relay unit of Gage, Wieser, Etzold and Mark Buerck won its preliminary heat with the third-fastest time of the day. Also, Wieser and Etzold had the third- and fourth-best preliminary times in the 400 -- just a fraction apart -- to reach the finals. Etzold said he was worried about that event because he came in with the sixth-fastest time.

Other results

• Scott City senior Craig Arnzen closed his career with a runner-up finish in the Class 2 boys high jump. He cleared 6 feet, 4 inches, which was 4 inches off his sectional-winning jump and 2 inches shy of Deandre Vandevender of Trenton.

"I was disappointed," Arnzen said. "I've been jumping 6-6 as my usual height. I hit 6-7, I hit 6-8. It's the second year in a row I jumped 4 inches below my personal record in my last meet.

"It's bittersweet because I finished second in the state and I've got four more years to prove myself, but I wanted to win."

Arnzen plans to compete in track at Missouri, starting as a walk-on for his freshman year.

Chaffee's Trenton Horman placed seventh in the event by clearing 6-1.

• Scott County Central's 800-meter relay team of Randy Timmons, Drew Thomas, Jarron Banks and D.D. Gillespie posted the fastest time in the Class 2 preliminaries at 1:33.47.

Gillespie also won his preliminary heat in the 400 with the fastest time (51.40) by nearly a full second, and he qualified for the 200 final.

• Scott City's Stephanie Essner had the fastest qualifying times in both the 200 and 400, but she just missed the cut in the 100 hurdles with the ninth-fastest time. Essner was nearly 2 seconds ahead of the field in the 400. Her best competition in the 200 came from Kelly's Londyn Backfisch, who also qualified in the 100.
• Cassie Simpher of the Saxony girls team won her 400 prelim with the second-fastest time (1:00.09) and qualified in the 100 and 200. Oran's Haley Glastetter also qualified for the finals in all three races.