The Missouri State High School Activities Association is set to welcome a new sport starting in 2023-2024 while another was granted emerging sport status after the voting by the state’s administrators. Big coaching news broke early Friday morning as a long-time coach is moving overseas to continue his career. Also, the Water Polo championships are set after the semifinals were contested.
Let’s get caught up on a busy week of prep sports in today’s edition of the Friday Fast Break sponsored by Triad Bank.
Boys’ Volleyball will be the newest addition to MSHSAA as the administrators from the state overwhelmingly voted to make the sport a fully sanctioned sport. The new status will take effect beginning in the 2023-24 school year and will have one class, to begin with. The state championship will be contested between May 26-June 1 in 2024 at a site that will be announced later this summer. This is a huge step for the sport as the coaches in the St. Louis area have done an outstanding job in promoting and growing boys’ volleyball to get the sport to this point.
The sport of STUNT was voted as an emerging sport beginning next school year during that same vote by the state’s administrators. STUNT is a combination of cheering and tumbling with scoring taking place for each mini performance that they do. There will be no state championship for STUNT as it will be an emerging sport and will be governed by USA Cheer.
In coaching news, CBC head basketball coach Justin Tatum announced early Friday morning that he is stepping down to move to Australia to coach in the NBL. Tatum has been at CBC for 10 years and led them to a pair of state titles after he led Soldan to a state championship in 2012.
The finals for the Missouri State Volleyball playoffs were set over the past few days as the championship matches are set for Saturday at Pattonville.
In the girls’ tournament, Marquette and Ladue advanced to the final match after wins in the semifinals. The Mustangs defeated Parkway North 10-7 in overtime in the first semifinal while Ladue defeated Lindbergh 16-3.
Parkway North grabbed an early lead with a goal in the first period to take a 1-0 lead, but the second period saw both teams score three times as the Vikings took a 4-3 advantage into the break. Parkway North extended the lead to 6-4 after three periods only to see the Mustangs pull the match even by outscoring the Vikings 3-1 in the fourth period to tie the match at 7-7 and force to extra sessions. The overtime periods were all Marquette as the Mustangs held Parkway North scoreless while scoring three times to advance to the final.
In the second semifinal, Ladue raced out to an early lead and never looked back as Mila Winkelmann scored nine goals and added five assists to spark the Rams attack in the victory. Addie Wedding added five goals with Liza Yanuck chipping in with a pair of scores to propel the Rams to the title game Saturday at Pattonville.
On the boys’ side, St. Louis University High School survived a rematch from last year’s championship match by defeating Parkway West 12-10 while the No. 1 seed in the tournament, Parkway Central rolled to the title game with a 17-5 win over Lindbergh.
The Colts used a balanced offensive attack to advance to the championship as Tyler Bryant, Peyton Dimmock, and William Jost all scored four goals while Quin Wolff chipped in with three goals. Bryant also dished out six assists on the night as the Colts will look to improve upon last year’s result as they finished in third place.
The Jr. Bills leaned on goalkeeper Josh Niemann to continue their quest for another title as he made nine saves in the match and was terrific. Evan Zimmermann had a game-high six goals to pace the SLUH attack while Brandon Harris and Aidan Brawer each scored twice while Brawer added three assists as the Jr. Bills and Colts will meet at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Pattonville.
It will be a jammed pack weekend as girls’ soccer heads to the district stage of the season with many districts starting on Saturday. The boys’ volleyball districts will be in full swing this weekend at many sites around the area as well.
Track and Field will also have their district competitions Saturday as Cape Notre Dame, Timberland, and Herculaneum will host the Class 3 runners with Cape Notre Dame, Ladue, Parkway Central, and North Point hosting Class 4 districts. In Class 5, SLUH, Parkway Central, and Timberland will host loaded districts. Action will begin at many of those sites at 9 a.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
