The first state championship by the Webster Groves girls soccer team was certainly one to remember. The title by the Stateswomen highlighted another successful spring season for high school athletes throughout our communities.
basketball
For the first time in 10 years, no St. Louis area team won a state title in the five classes of the Missouri High School Activities Association Championship.
Westminster Christian Academy had the best record of any state team in the regular season, losing just one of 34 games. But the Wildcats fell to Lutheran South 2-1 in the semifinals. They rebounded in a big way with a 19-4 victory over Pleasant Hill to finish the season with a 34-2 record.
Vianney was the third area team to make it to the Final Four. But the Griffins, who defeated Marquette 3-2 in the sectional round and Poplar Bluff 1-0 in the quarterfinals, fell to upstart Fort Zumwalt West 4-3 in the semifinals. Vianney came back to beat Lee’s Summit 9-0 in the third-place game to finish the season with a 32-7 record.
lacrosse
Mary Institute Country Day School won both the boys and girls championships in the Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association. The Rams boys won their fourth consecutive title in impressive fashion. MICDS was 17-5 for the season with all of its losses against teams from outside the area.
MICDS defeated SLUH 12-8 in the semifinals and crushed Chaminade 16-5 in the championship game at Lindenwood University. Harry Wellford, who led in scoring, had six goals, while Graham Bundy added five. They combined for 119 Rams goals. Hazelwood defeated Kirkwood 17-5 for the Show-Me Cup Championship.
Like the boys, the MICDS girls were undefeated against local competition this spring. The Rams lost two of three games in Dallas to open the season and then won their final 15, outscoring their opponents 246-69. MICDS, which lost in the championship game to Cor Jesu last season, won 12 of its 15 games by 10 goals or more. They finished with a 14-3 triumph over Lafayette in the championship game.
boys tennis
Parkway South junior Carson Haskins won his third consecutive Class 2 singles championship, losing just 13 games all season. Seven of those came in the championship match. Haskins has yet to lose a set in high school.
It was a tremendous state tournament in the individual portion of the meet as area doubles teams swept the two state classes. Priory‘s Victor Djavaherian and Patrick Milburn won the Class 1 doubles championship. CBC’s A.J. Woodman and Clayton Maack capped off an undefeated season with a 7-5, 6-3 win over the state champions in Class 2. Other highlights individually were third-place finishes by Parkway West’s Kenji Yanaba in Class 2 singles and by Ladue’s Aaron Umen and Jeremy Ouyang in Class 2 doubles.
No area team won a state title this year. Priory, which had a dramatic 5-4 win over fourtime Class 1 champion MICDS in the district finals, reached the finals. Parkway Central and Clayton reached the Final Four in Class 2 and Class 1 respectively. Each finished fourth.
boys track
John Burroughs (pictured at top) captured the Class 3 championship in exciting fashion. The Bombers’ 4×400-meter team of John Harry Wagner, Jake Bain, Luke Lamb and Brandon Miller won the final event of the meet to give the Bombers 62 points. The key to the Burroughs title was its relay teams. The 4×200-meter team of Lamb, Wagner, Brandon Miller and Xavier Miller and the 4×800-meter team of Liam Donovan, Diego Santa Cruz, Wagner and Brandon Miller also reached state champion. The 4×100-meter relay team of Lamb, Xavier Miller, Suleman Burrows and Bain was third.
The Bombers also excelled in the 800-meter run, won by Brandon Miller, who is only a freshman. Wagner, a senior, was second. Principia’s Corey Carter had an outstanding meet in Class 3, winning the 100-meter dash and finishing second in the 200-meter dash. Whitfield‘s Miles Elkins won the triple jump. Brentwood had a ninth-place finish and an individual and relay champion in Class 2. Senior Kaylon Jenkins won the open 400-meter dash and teamed with DeAndre Boykin, Joseph Clay and Justice Harris to win the 4×100-meter relay.
Parkway North finished second in the Class 4 meet. The Vikings had 48 points. Jekeel Suber led the way for the Vikings. He won the 300-meter hurdles and was second to teammate Jalani Williams in the 100-meter hurdles. Suber and Williams also ran a leg on the 4×100-meter relay team, which finished second.
Lafayette continued its brilliance in track with a second-place finish in Class 5. It was the fourth consecutive top two finish for the Lancers. Distance runner Austin Hindman, a senior, will be running at the University of Missouri in the fall, and won the 800-meter run, 1,600-meter run, the 3,200-meter run and ran a leg of the champion 4×800-meter relay team with Harrison Brown, David Golder and Nassim Oufattole. The biggest highlight for Hindman was breaking the state record in the 3,200-meter run. He ran an 8:54.92, winning the event by 26 seconds. He was only the second runner in state history to break nine minutes in the event.
CBC finished fourth as a team in Class 5. The Cadets had a champion, as Kamryn Babb won the long jump. Cameron Brown was second in the 100-meter dash, and Austin Maiden was third in the 200-meter dash.
girls track
MICDS fell just a point short of capturing a championship in Class 3. The Rams finished with 56 points, one behind champion Camdenton. Webster Groves finished third as a team in Class 3. Jhordin Galmore, Zionn Pearson, Krysten Holmes and Cara Johnson of MICDS won the 4×100-meter relay. All four champions are underclassmen. Pearson also had a second-place finish in the long jump for the Rams.
Webster was led by sophomore Nia Lyles, who won the shot put and finished second in the discus. Parkway West had the other state title in Class 3 as Teresa Allgeyer, Emily Dickson, Natalie Butler and Chloe Hershenow won the 4×800-meter relay. No area team finished in the top 10 in Class 2. The best individual effort was a third-place finish in the 3,200-meter run by Whitfield‘s Hannah Surmon. Kirkwood was an area best 12th in Class 5. The Pioneers were led by Kara Steele, who finished second in the triple jump. Marquette’s Maegan Saleh was second in the long jump.
boys golf
Chaminade‘s Joseph Terschluse captured the Class 4 individual championship. He was consistent both days, with identical scores of 146, and won by two strokes. The Red Devils finished third as a team but were only five strokes out of first place. Chaminade was third with 615. St. Louis University High was fifth as a team, and Lafayette was seventh. Ladue‘s Reilly Ahearn was the other area top 10 finisher at state. Ahearn carded a 150, which was good for fifth place.
Priory had its second runner-up finish in the spring. Priory was tied for second with Nevada at 622 but won the tie-breaker. The Rebels had a pair of top 10 finishers. Andrew Stange was seventh, and Peter Weaver was ninth. John Burroughs finished seventh as a team in Class 3.
boys volleyball
Lafayette and Parkway Central came home with state titles this spring. Lafayette won the Class 4 championship at Webster Groves with a thrilling 25-20, 15- 25, 25-23 triumph over SLUH, which had won the last two state titles.
The Lancers won their final 25 matches of the season and finished with a record of 33-1. SLUH also had a great season. The Junior Bills finished 25-2-1.
The title match in Class 3 had the same kind of drama as the one in Class 4 with Parkway Central coming back to defeat St. Mary’s, 17-25, 25-23, 25-22 in the championship match. The Colts won their final 17 matches of the season and ended at 32-4.
girls soccer
Despite a 24-1 record, Webster Groves was the distinct underdog when it took on top-ranked Notre Dame de Sion in the Class 3 championship game June 3 in Kansas City. But Webster had goals from freshman Izzy Heintz and sophomore Gretchen Skoglund, and the Stateswomen held on for a 2-1 victory. It was an interesting road to the state championship. Webster needed two overtimes to defeat Visitation in the sectional round and penalty kicks to beat Fort Zumwalt South in the semifinals. Sandwiched between those nail-biters was a 5-0 victory over Cape Central in the quarterfinals.
St. Joseph’s Academy finished third in the Class 4 state tournament. The Angels lost to eventual champion, Eureka, 1-0 in the semifinals and came back to tie Lee’s Summit West 2-2 in the third-place game as Mallory Stock scored directly from a corner kick with less than 2 minutes to go. The Angels finished the season with a 19-4-1 record. Principia had a heartbreaking loss in the semifinals of the Class 1 tournament.
Pictured: Megan McClure