It was a busy week on the coaching and administrative side of prep sports as Webster Groves named a familiar face to take over their girls’ basketball program. At the same time, Parkway North announced its new Athletic Director. It was a big weekend on the football field as Lutheran North and Troy won their divisions at the St. Louis Coaches Association 7v7 tournament Saturday.
Let’s get caught up in this week’s edition of the Monday Morning Wrap Up.
Annie Lybarger was tabbed as the new head girls’ basketball coach at Webster Groves last week. She will be taking over for Josh Spuhl, who is heading to Principia to take over their program. Lybarger is no stranger to the halls of Webster Groves as she graduated from the school in 2000 and was one of the best players to ever play in the program. She is fourth on the all-time scoring list and is one of only three women to score over 1,000 points and grab over 700 rebounds. She continued her basketball and academic career at Truman State University. Lybarger comes back to Webster Groves after being a part of the Westminster Christian Academy coaching staff for the past 12 years.
There is a new man in charge of the Parkway North athletic department as Josh Martin will assume the athletic director position starting July 1. Martin takes over for longtime Vikings AD Corey Johnson as he will be replacing Mike Roth as the Parkway School District athletic director. Martin joins the Vikings after a long tenure at Hazelwood Central where he was the head boys’ basketball coach before becoming their athletic director.
Lutheran North and Troy showed that they once again are going to be two of the teams to watch this coming football season as they won the respective divisions at the STLFCA 7v7 event at Troy Saturday. The Crusaders won the Gold Division while Troy took home the top prize in the Silver Division. Many of the area’s top teams took part in the event as teams start to wind down their camp schedules and look towards conditioning drills in the month of July. First practices will begin on August 8 for all the fall sports, and we will start to preview the football season in the coming weeks.
It will be a big week on the links for many of the metro area’s top golfers as they will head to The Bogey Club for the 23rd Metropolitan Junior Amateur Championship put on by the Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association. The 36-hole event begins Monday with the champions being crowned Tuesday afternoon. Avery McLaughlin from Visitation will look to defend her title in the quest for the Barbara A. Berkmeyer Trophy. McLaughlin placed 16th in the Missouri State High School Activities Association Class 2 championships this past fall as she aided Visitation to the Class 2 team title.
On the boys’ side, Colby Sauer from De Smet will look to carry over his outstanding play from the spring as he looks to claim the James M. Holtgrieve Trophy. Sauer placed fourth in the MSHSAA Class 5 championships back in May helping the Spartans to a ninth-place finish. Luke McLaughlin from Priory is also in the field after aiding the Ravens to a second-place finish at the Class 5 championships. Another name to watch in the loaded junior field is Andy Hennen from Lutheran South as he finished second in the MSHSAA Class 4 championship and helped the Lancers to the runner-up spot in the team race.
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
