You couldn't ask for a better symbol of trust than the relay baton. Four people race around the track and when they exchange it, they express an implicit promise that they will run their hardest, not screw up, and give everything for the team.

It's not uncommon for athletes to run the fastest races of their careers with baton in hand. The emotional pull of that little, metal cylinder more than makes up for its weight. Any relay victory is a victory shared. Sometimes in track, to be the best with the baton is everything.

The young men of Saline High School know that feeling. Over the last year, they have won three national titles with the relay baton. Their excellence, their attitude, and the trust they had in each other makes them the ideal selection for our Michigan High School Runners of the Year.

"They never got too pumped up or over-emotional before a race," says Saline distance coach Carl Spina. "They could count on each other to do the job every time. They never really had a bad race."

Not that it was all business for the young men, whether they were wearing their Saline Hornet jerseys or the colors of Spirit of Pre, their out-of-school club. "These are the goofiest guys," says Spina. "If they're acting silly on the way to the track, I know it's going to be a good race."

Becoming the best team in the nation had a lot to do with them believing in themselves. Dustin Voss had been the team's headliner for several years. As a sophomore he had placed in the state finals in both the 1600 and 3200. A genuine running phenomenon, he learned to keep the publicity in perspective and avoid setting himself apart from the team.

Equally talented was Neil Atzinger, who didn't bloom as early as Voss but has showed greater abilities in the shorter races. He remembers the day when head track coach Brian Boze sat them down, talked about their numbers and potential, and convinced them they had a shot to win a national title in the distance medley. He believed.

Says Spina, "We had two superstars. That helped. There was absolutely no rivalry. We also had a terrific supporting cast, and that's what enabled the team to do well."

Among the cast was Carter Bishop, who turned himself around as a junior last year. The journeyman half-miler worried Atzinger as a freshman and sophomore. "He didn't seem to work as hard as he could have. But last year he put us to shame he worked so hard."

"I realized I had the potential," explains Bishop.

Jim Hart helped push the team in the off-season. "He's the hardest worker of us all. He motivated us," says Atzinger. Hart ran the big miles, upwards of 70 per week, and sometimes dealt with injury problems.

Alex Muhs not only improved quickly at the end of the year, but he helped maintain that goofy team atmosphere. "He kept us calm," says Atzinger. "He's a real funny kid, and provided the comic relief before big events. A real quality guy."

Paul Dapkus, a sprinter, didn't work out with the distance guys but became the key 400 runner for the sprint leg of the distance medley. "He wanted that DMR title," recounts Atzinger. "He really pushed us."

In the 2003 track season, Saline put together a campaign that won accolades. A week after the crew captured the distance medley at the State Indoor meet in 10:38.01, Boze took them to the Nike Indoor Classic, a meet in Maryland that is one of two competing de-facto national indoor championships. In the distance medley, the Spirit of Pre placed second in 10:25.83, missing a national crown by little more than three seconds. At the Division 1 State Finals a few months later, the crew placed fourth in the 4 x 800 in 7:52.05, an average of 1:58.0 per runner.

That season, his junior year, Atzinger surprised many by taking second in the 1600 in 4:18.40. Voss kicked his way to the 3200 title in 9:08.53. As a team, they placed seventh in the state.

They followed that up with a trip to Raleigh, N.C., for the adidas Outdoor Championships. There they put together a foursome that fulfilled Boze's prediction, winning a national title in the distance medley in 10:10.69. Atzinger led off in a classy 3:04.9 for three laps, and Voss anchored in 4:12.8 for four. Said Voss, "I really wanted it; I was hungry."

When cross country came around last fall, the team was ready to try to improve on its seventh-place finish at Michigan International Speedway a year earlier. The summer training went well, but the team faced a challenge no one had predicted. Dustin Voss's mother died of a liver problem just before the season started. Coach Tom Frederick found himself with the task of coaching a team through the uncoachable.

Voss changed. He kept running, but he became unbeatable. "He's running like there's no tomorrow," Frederick told the Detroit News. No longer competing for himself anymore, Voss told the News, "When I said my goodbyes, I told her how much I was going to give my all and do my best for her."

At the State Finals, Voss said he could still hear his mother cheering for him. He made it clear that no one else had a chance, winning by 13 seconds. He clocked 14:54, one of the fastest times ever on the MIS course. Atzinger ran 15:25 and placed seventh. Bishop snagged 49th. The Hornets won the third-place trophy.

Over the winter, the guys trained hard, but "nothing crazy." While Hart was running his 70-mile weeks, Atzinger and Voss stayed in the 40-mile range. They met a few times a week for speedwork. At the State Indoor Finals, they captured both long relays, the 4 x 800 in 8:00.85 and the distance medley in 10:33.01, a meet record. Then came the Nike Indoor, where this time they took the national title in 10:21.30.

Months of training and racing led to the big meets outdoors this spring. "Toward the regionals we saw our times start to drop," says Bishop. "We knew we were ready, and we knew we had the potential. We just never dreamed we would do so well."

At the State Finals, with both Voss (3200) and Atzinger (800) having the potential to win individual titles, the coaches knew they had to make a tough choice. The team had a chance to win if everything played out right. But it meant that the opportunities for individual glory would be diminished.

Says Spina, "They gave up their chances for individual things to give the team a shot. We gave them the option. I think they might have struggled with it, but they wanted to help the team."

In the opening event, the Hornets crushed one of the best 4 x 800 fields ever assembled. Three teams broke 7:50, but Saline ran alone out front. Bishop got the team out in 1:54.7, followed by Muhs' PR 1:59.6. Voss hit 1:54.2 and Atzinger 1:52.8.

"I was thinking about events later that day, trying to conserve energy," recalls Atzinger. "I actually think relaxing in that event helped me to go faster."

A few hours later, Voss and Atzinger teamed up in the 1600 to maximize team points. A fresh Justin Switzer zipped away on the last lap to win in 4:09.11, but Voss (4:11.53) and Atzinger (4:13.37) took the next two places for 14 crucial points.

Atzinger had to come back in short order for the 800. He ran a personal record 1:52.15, and just missed beating Abraham Mach (1:52.01), scoring eight points.

"When I run in big meets," says Atzinger, "I always get a big boost. I seem to recover more quickly from all the excitement. My cool down goes well, my warm-ups go well."

Voss came back in the 3200, the race he had won in 2003. But the miles of running on a hot day had taken their toll. He struggled to finish fourth in 9:18.64, nearly 10 seconds behind winner Neal Naughton. Four more points.

They weren't done. Atzinger returned for duty on the final relay, running a leg on a 4 x 400 team that didn't score. Saline finished third in the team standings, seven points away from the crown.

With the regular season done, coaches Boze and Spina focused on nationals again. For the relay runners, all of them seniors except Bishop, that meant a chance to go out with a bang. Easier said than done.

For most seniors, June is a time to be finished, to kick up the feet, to have open houses and graduation parties and think about anything but working hard. Coaches know that some seniors go to post-season meets and produce the best efforts of their lives. Most don't. Keeping them in focus is the trick.

At the adidas meet, the pressure made itself felt. The Saline boys already had the fastest time in the nation in the 4 x 800. Their challengers went out hard and ferociously held onto the lead. First Bishop ran, then Muhs, then Voss, and none of them could get to the front. With 300 meters to go, it was Atzinger who finally passed the leading team, streaking home to the win in 7:40.68, a new state record. His split: 1:50.7.

The next day, the team didn't rest. Dapkus came on to run the 400 leg in the distance medley. He wasn't the only one who wanted to successfully defend their national title in the event. Said Boze to a reporter at the meet: "I knew the heart was there. I just didn't know how they'd respond physically when it got down to it."

The foursome kept their fans on the edges of their seats. Always in the top three, once again they didn't take the lead until Voss went for it at the very end. He clocked a 4:12.7 in a tactical match, and the boys from Saline had their fourth national title in two years. Their time, 10:03.15, missed by six-hundredths of a second the all-time state record set by Rockford in 2000. It is still the fastest time in the nation this year.

Now the runners are headed off to college. Voss, from a Spartan family, will run at Michigan State. Atzinger surprised many by turning down Division I scholarship offers to enroll at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, with an eye toward preparing himself for the priesthood. "Everyone comments on it," he says, "but I get a lot of support from people. And the way I look at it, Division III is just Division I without the free shoes."

Bishop, who still has a year of high school remaining, will lose his best training partners. "We were all just great friends," he says.

"I already miss them," says Spina, who ran with his charges several times a week. "Next year is going to be saying: it can happen here again.

"There is no magic formula. These races were not run by some far-off school, some Rockford. They're not a Holy Grail of distance running.

"We'll have to get over the magic of Dustin and Neil, but we can do it again," he said.

Jeff Hollobaugh, former managing editor of Track and Field News, remains engaged in the sport he loves. He teaches, coaches, writes running columns for ESPN.com, and maintains the Michigan High School Track & Cross Country website (www.michtrack.org) he founded in 1997. He can be reached by e-mail at michtrack@aol.com.