Xavier High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Xavier runners win state qualifier

DECORAH - The Xavier boys cross country team nipped Decorah for top honors at the Class 3A state qualifier in Decorah Thursday.

The Saints edged the Vikings, 62-64, in the 13-team meet.

Xavier earned a spot in the state cross country meet in Fort Dodge next Saturday.

Jonathan Lansing placed fourth for the Saints in 16 minutes, 53 seconds. Then came a tightly-packed trio of John Pape in 10th (17:12), Joe Scieszinski in 12th (17:13) and Nolan Pithan in 13th (17:13). Mahlon Steepleton finished 23rd for the Saints (17:36).

The Xavier girls finished sixth in their race.

BOYS TEAM STANDINGS

1. Xavier 62, 2. Decorah 64, 3. Wahlert 97, 4. Crestwood 138, 5. Waverly-Shell Rock 156, 6. Vinton-Shellsburg 160, 7. Charles City 180, 8. Benton Community 210, 9. Center Point-Urbana 247, 10. Iowa Falls-AGWSR 258, 11. Union 295, 12. Independence 307, 13. West Delaware 336.

Burns has been a big catch for Saints

Brett Burns has been a secret weapon for the Xavier football team for most of the season, but the secret is out now.

Burns, a lanky tight end, has caught four touchdown passes in the last five games for the Saints and is tied for the team lead with those four TD grabs.

Burns did not catch a single pass for Xavier last year as a junior. And he did not catch any touchdown passes in the first three games this season, but he's become a big threat for the Saints now.

Xavier (8-0, 6-0) will finish the regular season at South Tama on Friday night, then steam into the Class 3A playoffs with a home game next Friday night, Oct. 28.

Burns was a wide receiver for the Saints last year, but he moved to tight end this season and has eight catches for 108 yards. He's tied with Nolan Butkowski and Quinn Schulte with his four TD passes from quarterback Bryce Schulte.

When Coach Duane Schulte sends in the plays, he generally gives Bryce the option of finding an open receiver and throwing the ball to him, rather than picking a receiver in advance.

"Coach Schulte has been calling good plays that get us in areas where we can succeed," Burns said Tuesday before practice. "I'm just glad that Bryce has some trust in me that he's throwing me the ball."

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Saints win consolation title in MVC tourney

The Xavier Saints topped Jefferson, 25-16, 25-23, to win the title in the consolation bracket of the Mississippi Valley Conference volleyball tournament Saturday at Kennedy.

The Saints compiled a 1-2 record in pool play and failed to reach the championship playoffs. The Saints lost to Cedar Falls, 21-11, 20-22, 15-8, and to Prairie, 21-11, 21-18, in pool play, and defeated Waterloo West, 21-9, 15-21, 15-5.

Xavier beat Waterloo East in the consolation semifinals, 25-18, 25-17, before beating the J-Hawks.

Linn-Mar defeated Dubuque Wahlert for the MVC title.

Oh, brother! Schulte breaks Metro record

Somewhere in Ohio, Reggie Schulte was smiling Friday night when he heard about what his younger brothers and the Xavier Saints did in their football game against Vinton-Shellsburg.

Bryce Schulte passed for three touchdowns and snapped Reggie's old Metro record for career TD passes as Xavier topped Vinton-Shellsburg, 32-8, to claim its third Class 3A district title in a row at Saints Field.

Reggie Schulte collected 49 touchdown passes during his all-state career at Xavier in 2011 and 2012, but Bryce zoomed past him Friday night with the 48th, 49th and 50th of his career.

And to keep it all in the family, Bryce Schulte's record-setting 50th touchdown pass was caught by his brother Quinn in the fourth quarter for a 2-yard score.

Reggie Schulte likes to attend as many Xavier football games as he can, but he was in Ohio Friday night with the University of Northern Iowa Panthers as they got ready for Saturday night's game against Youngstown State.

"He does Twitter, so I'm sure he's getting updates from somebody," said Duane Schulte, the Xavier coach and their father. "I'm guessing he already knows what happened."

Bryce Schulte knew he was getting close to Reggie's school and Metro record, but was not aware when it happened. He was too busy.

"I was so focused on the game and just worrying about scoring on that last drive that I didn't really notice it," he said. "And then someone said something on the sideline and I was like, 'Oh, OK. That's pretty cool.'"

Bryce and Quinn were not sure if they'd hear from Reggie after the game or not. Bryce figured that Reggie, a back-up quarterback for UNI, was probably studying film for Saturday's game.

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