A special going-away present and a Triple Crown of sorts highlighted the spring sports high school season for teams in the Town & Style coverage area. And there’s a fond farewell in there, too, as Mary Institute-Country Day School athletic director Don Maurer leaves on a high note. Maurer, who has been with the school for 14 years, the last eight as athletic director, will move on to become assistant executive director of the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA). He was part of a handful of champions this spring: The Rams won both the boys and girls state lacrosse championships, the team championship in tennis, and logged individual champions in tennis (doubles) and golf.
[baseball]
While American Pharoah captured hearts to become the first Triple Crown winner since 1978, CBC had its own Triple Crown after capturing the Class 5 baseball championship at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O’Fallon. The spring championship was the school’s third of the 2014-15 school year. CBC won the football state title in the fall and the hockey championship in the winter.
CBC capped off its second state baseball championship (the other was in 2010) with an impressive 17-5 victory over Staley in the title game to finish the season with a 32-7 record. “We had been struggling to score runs the last few weeks,” CBC coach Mason Horne says. “But we came out of hibernation in the two days of the state tournament. Baseball is a game of peaks and valleys, and we were blessed to peak at the right time.”
CBC had 17 hits in the championship game as the Vierling brothers, Mark and Matt, combined for eight of them. Matt has been drafted by the Cardinals and offered a scholarship to play at Notre Dame! Stephen Haring and Shane Milbrod also had home runs for the Cadets, who scored eight runs in the seventh inning. The Cadets didn’t win their own conference, the perennially strong Metro Catholic, which went to Vianney with a 7-1 record.
Another team from that conference, St. Louis University High, was the only other Class 5 district title winner. The Junior Bills lost to Eureka in the sectional round. Clayton and Maplewood also were area district champions. Clayton won a Class 4 championship and then defeated Pacific in the sectional round before falling to eventual state champion Cape Notre Dame. Maplewood won a Class 3 district crown, only to lose in the next round to West County. Other area conference champions included: Westminster Christian ACADEMY (Metro); Valley Park (South Central Athletic Association); Kirkwood (Suburban XIIS) and Ladue and Clayton (co-champions in the Suburban Central N).
Ladue’s Michael Wielansky had a memorable year. He led the entire St. Louis area in batting average (.642), slugging percentage (1.012) and on-base percentage (.688). CBC’s Blake Charlton, who also was the starting quarterback on the Cadet state champion football team, was 8-0 as a pitcher, as was his teammate Matt Vierling.
[girls soccer]
St. Joseph’s Academy finished the season with a 24-1 record. Unfortunately, that did not result in a state title for the Angels, as their lone loss came in the Class 4 semifinals to St. Teresa’s Academy, 1-0 in two overtimes. St. Teresa’s went on to win the state title with a 6-1 win over Francis Howell Central. The Angels had a well-balanced scoring attack as seven players scored six or more goals. Carly Wickenheiser and Mallory Stock led the way with 13 and 12 goals respectively. Kelsey Ponder won 23 games in goal with 10 shutouts.
Webster Groves had a similar year in Class 3. The Stateswomen, who were trying to match the Webster boys with a state title, fell a game short, losing to eventual champ Notre Dame de Sion 2-1 in the state semifinals. They finished with a victory and third place, defeating Incarnate Word Academy 2-1 in the third place game in Kansas City. Webster, which finished 28-3 overall, had an even wider goal differential than St. Joseph’s, outscoring its opponents 119-10. Emma Lieb (24 goals), Maddie Pokorny (22 goals) and Allie Thomas (17 goals) led the way for the Stateswomen. Charlotte Kennedy had 26 wins in goal, including a dozen shutouts.
Visitation Academy and MICDS also won Class 3 district championships, while Principia and Whitfield won Class 1 district crowns. League champions included: Westminster Christian and MICDS (co-champs in the Metro); St. Joseph’s (MWAA); Brentwood (South Central); and Ladue and Parkway West (co-champions in the Suburban Central N). Westminster Christian’s Kirsten Davis led the entire St. Louis area in scoring with 47 goals.
[boys track]
There were no area team champions this spring, although Lafayette and SLUH finished second and third respectively behind state champion Blue Springs in Class 5. Lafayette dominated in the long distance events, including a rare top three finish in the 3,200-meters. Sophomore Austin Hindman was the state champion in the event, followed at the finish line by teammates Devin Meyrer and Alec Haines.
Haines also was the state champion in the 1,600-meter run, and the Lancers were champions in the 4-x-800-meter relay. SLUH was second in the 4-x-800 and also had an outstanding meet individually by Daniel Isom, who was second in both the 110-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles. SLUH’s Jayson Ashford also was second in the 200-meter dash and Dustin Davidson was second in the 800-meters.
CBC’s Jerrick Powell had a pair of third place finishes, in the 200 and 400-meter dashes.
Webster Groves had the top area finish in Class 4, finishing ninth. The Statesmen did win state in the 4-x-800-meter relay. Parkway Central’s Michael Slater was state champion in the shot put. John Burroughs fell just short of winning both boys and girls state championships. The Bombers came in second with 61 points. The Bombers were led by John Moten, who won the 100-meter dash, was third in the 200-meter dash and was part of a state champion relay team as JBS won the 4-x-100-meter dash. Ronald Smith had a second place finish for JBS in the triple jump.
[girls lacrosse]
MICDS maintained its dominance in area lacrosse with its third straight state title. During that time, the Rams had a 48-3 record. The Rams, who finished 18-2 overall this season, put an exclamation point on this year’s title by scoring the final nine goals in a 16-4 win over St. Teresa’s in the Missouri State Lacrosse Association Class 1 championship at Westminster Christian. Emily Lee had four goals in the title game, and Rebecca Wellford had three for the Rams, who outscored their opponents 245-92. The Class 2 championship was much tighter as St. Joseph’s Academy won its first state championship with an 11-10 victory over Cor Jesu. Jackie Karl had five goals for the Angels, who finished the season with a record of 19-4.
[boys lacrosse]
It was another title for MICDS, the second straight for the boys and its fifth overall. The Rams defeated CBC 13-3 in the Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association Division I championship. Michael Gianino scored four goals, and Harry Wellford added three for the Rams, who finished the season with a 16-4 record. MICDS was unbeaten against St. Louis area competition. Senior Kyle Bernstein closed out his high school career with five goals in leading Parkway West to a 13-9 victory over Priory in the Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association Division II championship.
[girls track]
It was a battle once again between John Burroughs and McCluer SouthBerkeley in girls track, and this time it was the Bombers coming out on top with the Class 3 championship, the first team title ever for the girls. Burroughs finished with 51.5 points while McCluer South-Berkeley had 50. Lailah Elliott and Jordan McClendon were big point finishers for the Bombers. Elliott won the long jump and triple jump, while McClendon won the discus and was second in the shot put.
Kirkwood and Lafayette had great state meets in Class 5. Kirkwood was second behind McCluer North, while Lafayette was fourth. The Pioneers had an individual champion (sophomore Kara Steele in the triple jump) and a relay champion (the 4-x-200-meters). Kirkwood was also second in the 4-x-400-meter relay, and junior Andrea Kuehnlein was second in the 300-meter hurdles.Lafayette junior Anna West was a state champion in the 3,200-meter run and finished second in the 1,600-meter run. The Lancers also were second in the 4-x-800-meter relay.
Webster Groves and MICDS finished fifth and sixth respectively in Class 4. Webster junior Carolyn Ross was state champion in the triple jump and second in the 300-meter hurdles. MICDS had a championship in the 4-x-400-meter relay,and Villa Duchesne’s Alicia Moellering was state champion in the high jump. Brentwood’s Sophia Rivera had a historic day at the track in the state meet, where she won in discus with a throw of 154-09—more than 42 feet further than anyone else in the field. She also set a state record in shot put with a throw of 51-01.25. All six of her throws broke the previous record, and her winning throw was the best in the country this season at the time! The shot put championship was Rivera’s third in three years.
[boys tennis]
MICDS and John Burroughs renewed their long rivalry, meeting in the Class 1 state team championship. MICDS would defend its title with a 5-0 victory and then follow that up with a doubles championship as nationally ranked Joe McAllister and Tyler Raclin won the title, defeating Westminster Christian’s Eddie Griesedieck and Joel Montgomery.
Defending state singles champion Michael Peters of JBS finished third in Class 1 singles, while his teammate, Zale Shah, was fourth. MICDS’ Rohit Chouhan won the consolation singles championship. Ladue defeated Parkway West in the third place match in the Class 2 team tournament. Area players won both singles and doubles titles individually.
Nationally ranked freshman Carson Haskins of Parkway South capped off an undefeated season with a title in singles, while William Tong and Kenji Yanaba of Parkway West won in doubles. Chaminade’s Trevor Allen was fourth in Class 2 singles, and Marquette’s Jason Kauppila won the single’s consolation championship.
[boys golf]
MICDS’ Michael O’Keefe was the individual co-champion in Class 3. O’Keefe shot a 147 (76-71) in the 36-hole tournament at Silo Ridge in Bolivar, which tied him with Brett Windsor of Boonville for the state championship. It also helped the Rams to the team second place finish. Pembroke Hill won with a score of 617. MICDS was 10 strokes behind. Marquette (fourth),De Smet (fifth) and SLUH (seventh) had top finishes in Class 4 at Sedalia Country Club. Marquette’s Frankie Thomas had the top local finish, tying for second place. Whitfield was fourth in the Class 2 tournament, and Alex Freund paced the Warriors with a 10th place finish.
[boys volleyball]
St. Louis University High and Westminster Christian won state championships this year. The Junior Bills defeated Lafayette 23-25, 25-17, 25-22 to win the Class 4 title. SLUH finished the season with a 30-4 record. Lafayette was 32-7-1. The title was the 17th for the Junior Bills. This was Westminster Christian’s first time in capturing the Class 3 title. The Wildcats defeated Cape Notre Dame 25-22, 25-19 in the championship game and finished the season with a 26-11-1 record.
[water polo]
It was another championship for SLUH, which won its 17th championship, the seventh in the last 10 years. The Junior Bills made sure there would be no drama this year as it led 10-0 at half and 13-0 at one point in the title game, which ended in a 17-7 win over Lindbergh. SLUH finished the season with 15 straight victories and a 26-2 record.
Pictured: CBC Baseball