Lutheran High School wraps up a winning year

By Max Goodwin

As 2023 ends, the banners that hang in the gym of Lutheran High School will soon need to be updated to mark significant achievements of the past year.

Last month, the Lutheran boys cross country team placed second at the Missouri State High School Activities Association Class 2 State Championships in Columbia, Mo., at the Gans Creek Course. 

Senior Daniel Reimer finished fifth overall at 16:55.5 in the 5k race. When Head Coach Christian Nord saw Reimer’s time was under 17 minutes, he thought, “We have arrived.” 

Nord’s been the head coach of the cross country team since 2020 and now has both sons at Lutheran. Senior Wyatt Nord finished in 43rd place at the MSHSAA state championships with a time of 17:50.6. His younger brother, Graham, finished in 17:44.1, good for 37th place as just a freshman.

Prior to his coaching job at Lutheran, Nord worked in the Center School District. He’s a graduate of Center High School. But he feels he’s found a hidden gem in Lutheran. The school doesn’t seem to get the same amount of local media coverage as other schools, but with just over 100 students enrolled, Lutheran surpasses its size in competition.

The Lutheran girls cross country finished fourth in Class 3 last season. Lutheran won a Class 1 girls and boys cross country state championship in the same season five years ago. The Lutheran scholar bowl team took second place in Class 3 MSHSAA in May. 

“It’s just kind of goofy,” said Nord. “We’re a small school, and we’re in Class 3.” 

The championship factor is the system MSHSAA began using in 2020 to reclassify Missouri private schools based on past years’ successes. Schools can move up to two classes higher. Lutheran would be at Class 1 in most sports based on its enrollment size, but for some activities like scholar bowl and girls cross country, they compete against Class 3 schools. 

The girls cross country team took fourth place in Class 3 last year, but this season, they didn’t have enough runners to qualify for points in team competitions.

Two girls, both sophomores, made it to Class 3 state championships this year. Each of them ran their best times of the year. Caroline Linderman ran 19:58.3 for 29th place, and Amelia Craig ran 20:58.5 for 63rd place. They will get a chance to compete for a state championship at Class 1 next season.

That’s how it goes at a school of just over 100 students. Some classes are strong at certain sports but don’t have enough to play in other sports. It comes and goes in waves. For boys cross country, 2023 was the best season since 2018. Out of 11 runners, the seven Lutheran brought to state championships ran under 19 minutes. Three ran under 18 minutes.

“This was a good year,” Nord said. “I think it’s going to set up the other guys for some more difficult competition because of it.”

Lutheran had seven runners finish in the top 100 of Class 2. Nord’s sons, Wyatt and Graham, finished as Lutheran’s third and second best runners at state. It was David Reimer’s last race as a high school cross country runner, and Nord thought the senior would run with something to prove. All season, it was as if Reimer was preserving his best races for the right time.

“I figured he would do something pretty crazy in the post-season,” Nord said. “He seemed like he wasn’t quite hitting his potential until then.”

Next season, Lutheran will move up to Class 3 because of the success of runners like David Reimer, Wyatt Nord, and Canady Mitchem. But it will be left to a mostly new group of runners to compete at the new level. The girls cross country team will finally move down to the class meant for schools of their enrollment size, Class 1. 

“With our small school, everybody does some of everything,” Nord said. “They go from one sport to the next.”

Most of the cross country teams are now getting into the basketball season. The boys team returns most of last season’s team after an 11-15 season. The girls team was 15-10. Both teams lost to North Platte in the opening games of the season.