The Francis Howell baseball team traveled to Columbia, Mo., and brought home the title from the Rock Bridge Tournament this past weekend while the St. Louis University High School boys’ and Kirkwood girls’ track and field teams won the 18th Annual Corey Siebert Invitational at Rockwood Summit Saturday afternoon. Plus, another Athletic Director position was filled over the weekend.
Let’s get everyone caught up from this past weekend’s action in this week’s edition of the Monday Morning Wrap Up.
Another AD slot was filled as Harold Barker is returning to De Smet at the end of the school year. Barker returns to De Smet after being the Athletic Director at Priory for the past two years. Barker was the assistant AD at De Smet for three years before heading to Priory. Barker will take over for John Pukala, who is retiring from administration and is heading back to the coaching ranks as the quarterback coach at Francis Howell.
Photo Credit – Francis Howell High School
This past weekend, the Vikings baseball team won five straight games to claim the Rock Bridge Tournament title in Columbia, Mo. Howell cruised through the first three games of the weekend by outscoring their opponents 25-2 to advance to the semifinals where they defeated Hickman 4-3. In the semifinal, the Vikings needed to score a run in the bottom of the seventh to earn the win. In the victory, Brett Norfleet paced the Vikings’ offense with a pair of hits and two RBIs. Caleb Miller went the distance to get the win. Howell won the championship game with a 17-10 victory over Grain Valley. The Vikings scored 13 runs in the first three innings to take a 13-3 advantage as they held on for the win. Jake McCutcheon had four hits with a pair of home runs and drove in five runs to lead Howell to the win.
The Pioneers track and field team took home the team honors on the girls’ side at the Siebert Invite with 125.50 points with the host Falcons placing second with 119.50 points. Lindbergh earned third place with 94.50 points while Cahokia grabbed the fourth slot with 77 points. Genesis Dixon paced Kirkwood by winning the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 14.21 and then taking the 300-meter title in a time of 47.34. Josie Baker added points for the Pioneers by winning the 1600-meter run in a time of 5:22.68. Kyleigh Villarreal helped the Falcons with a first-place finish in the Javelin with a toss of 34.45 meters while Alexis Miller placed second in the event with a throw of 33.99.
The Jr. Bills boys’ won the team title with 133.50 points while Kirkwood earned second place with 129 points. De Smet was in the third spot with 90.50 points and Union finished fourth with 52 points. Eric Piening started the scoring for SLUH by winning the High Jump with a leap of 1.90 meters and then earning third in the Triple Jump with a jump of 12.63. Jacobi Oliphant kept the Jr. Bills going by finishing first in the 110-meter Hurdles while Conner Greninger won the 300-meter hurdles in a time of 41.78. Dion Brown aided the Pioneers with a second-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.20. Michael Phillips pace the Spartans with a pair of first-place finishes in the weights. He won the Discus with a toss of 41.32 and then claimed the Shot Put title with a throw of 15.20.
Most of the top soccer teams in the area converged on the Lou Fusz Soccer Park for the Parkway Showcase this past weekend.
Nerinx Hall improved to 7-1-1 with an impressive 4-2 victory over Aurora Metea Valley Saturday in one of the feature games. After the teams were tied at 1-1 at the half, the Markers’ offense exploded for three goals in the second half to claim the win. Emma Gianino, Nina Preusser, and Lauren Seppi each had a goal and an assist with Preusser scoring the game-winning goal in the second frame to clinch the win.
Parkway West won the pair of games in the Showcase with a 1-0 win over Carbondale Friday and a 2-0 win over Freeburg Saturday afternoon. In the win over Carbondale, Nicolle Emert scored in the first half to give the Longhorns the lead, and Addison Turken earned the win in goal for Parkway West. On Saturday, Mary Hardy and Julia Liguore each scored for the Longhorns to push their record to 9-0 on the season.
Many of the top boys’ golf teams will head to Crescent Farms for the annual Webster Cup to start the week on Monday while there will be many dual matches held throughout the week.
In boys’ volleyball, one of the big matches of the week will take place Tuesday as Vianney travels to SLUH for a huge MCC match. It will be Cancer Awareness night as all proceeds with go to the American Cancer Society and it will also mark the first time that SLUH coach Jeff Cheak will play against his son Sam, who plays for the Golden Griffins.
There are many conference baseball games this week as teams are jockeying for position in many of the leagues.
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
