It is championship weekend in the state of Missouri as both the wrestling and the girls swimming and diving championships began Thursday while the Metro Catholic Conference title race is down to two teams after an upset Tuesday night.
It is time for the Friday Fast Break on Scoops with Danny Mac!
DeSmet pulled off a big-time upset Tuesday evening by defeating Chaminade 77-61 at the “Palace on Ballas” to put the Red Devils into a must-win situation Friday to earn at least a share of the MCC title. The Spartans lead from wire to wire with Brian Taylor leading the way on the offensive end with 23 points while Jemeal Goines added 16 markers for the winners who improved to 17-7 on the year.
East St. Louis claimed at least a tie for the Southwestern Conference title with a 56-48 win over O’Fallon Tuesday evening. The win comes on the heels of the Flyers defeating Vashon last weekend. The Flyers improved to 9-0 in the league and have two games remaining in conference play this weekend. East St. Louis raced out to an early lead in the first quarter and never looked back to earn the win. Macaleab Rich paced the Flyers with 21 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in the victory.
In girls’ hoops action, John Burroughs earned their first Metro League title in 18 years with a 55-31 win over Principia to improve their record to 14-4 on the season and a perfect 6-0 in league play. After taking a 19-13 lead in the first quarter, the Bombers outscored Principia 28-5 over the next two stanzas to take a commanding 47-18 advantage. Allie Turner led JBS with 14 points and handed out seven assists in the win.
In the Class One MSHSAA Girls Swimming and Diving Championships, Parkway West put six individuals and all three relay teams into the finals that are set to begin Friday at 10 a.m. The Longhorns had the top times in two of the relays while Campbell Murawski had the second-best times in both the 200-yard Free and the 100-yard Free to lead Parkway West in the Prelims. Clayton and John Burroughs will also be in the hunt for the team title as both teams have swimmers and relays moving into the finals.
In the Class One Diving Finals, Carissa Bersche from Parkway Central grabbed the lead after the first five dives and scored a bug number on her final dive to claim the title with 372.95 points. She had a score of 184.85 after the first set of dives and continued to roll with 272.50 points after eight dives. Sara Schloss of Westminster earned third place with a score of 352.65 while Sarah Hirsh from Parkway Central ended the finals in fifth place with 323.95 points.
In the MSHSAA Girls Wrestling opening rounds, the St. Louis metro area has four teams in the top five with Northwest sitting in second with 18 points while Lafayette is two points behind the Lions with 16 points. Holt and Washington are tied for fifth after the first rounds with 12 points as the teams will move to the quarterfinal round, which begins at 11:45 a.m. Friday with the semifinals starting at 5:30 p.m.
In boys’ state wrestling action, Hillsboro and Whitfield are locked in a tight battle after the first day of competition as the Hawks are in the lead with 34 points while the Warriors are two points behind with 32 points in the Class Three team race. Hillsboro moved all ten of their wrestlers to the quarterfinals while the Warriors have seven wrestlers move through to the quarters. In Class Four, Seckman is currently in third place after the first day with 27 points while Lafayette is right behind the Jaguars in fourth place with 21.5 points. Both teams qualified seven wrestlers for the quarterfinals and are looking to keep pace with Liberty, who is in the top slot with 37 points.
The weekend will be jam-packed with action as the MCC title will be claimed Friday evening while the Webster Groves girls’ hoops team can claim the Suburban title. The state titles in swimming and wrestling will also be handed out both on Friday and Saturday.
CBC and Chaminade take on each other for the second time this season with the MCC title on the line Friday night at the home of the Cadets. The Red Devils won the first matchup back on Jan. 14 by a score of 71-65. CBC has won 12 out of their last 14 games and is 6-1 in the MCC heading into the game while Chaminade was lost their last two contests and needs to win to gain at least a share of the title.
The Statesmen girls’ hoops team will look to clinch the Suburban Yellow Conference with a win over Eureka Friday evening at Roberts Gymnasium. Webster Groves is currently on a four-game winning streak and is 3-0 in the league while the Wildcats have also won four straight and are 3-1 in conference play. A win for Eureka would give them a chance to win the league with each team having one conference game left to play.
The MSHSAA girls’ swimming championships continue at the St. Peters Rec-Plex as the Class One finals will begin at 10 a.m. Friday morning while the Class Two prelims will take place Friday afternoon starting at 4:30 p.m. The Class Two Diving finals will start the day Saturday starting at 9 a.m. while the swimming finals will start at 3 p.m.
The MSHSAA wrestling championships at Mizzou Arena will roll on Friday with the Class One and Two boys quarterfinals starting at 8:30 a.m. while the girls’ quarters will start at 11:45 a.m. The Class Three and Four quarterfinals will wrap things up Friday evening starting at 6:30 p.m.
The finals in all classes and the girls’ division will begin with the Grand March at 4 p.m. and then championship action will start at 4:30 p.m.
Jim Powers has been covering prep sports in the St. Louis area for 15+ years and a part of the Missouri State High School Activities Association Championship Broadcasts for the past 11 years. Powers is also a part of the Fox 2 Verlo Mattress Prep Zone Friday nights at 10:10 during the football and basketball seasons. If you have a prep sports story, please contact Jim at japowers2421@yahoo.com. Follow Jim at @hssportscaravan
