Jack Dolan hit an historic trifecta in the final race of his collegiate swimming career.
The 2019 graduate of Eureka High swam a leg on Arizona State’s winning 4x400-yard relay at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Indianapolis in March. The Sun Devil quartet, which included Patrick Sammon, Jonny Kulow and French Olympian Leon Marchand, clocked 2:43.40, an NCAA record.
But best of all, the relay victory helped Arizona State claim its first-ever national championship in swimming and diving with 523.5 points, far ahead of runner-up California with 444.5.
“That (400 relay) was the perfect way to finish,” Dolan said. “The college season was incredible. We were a fringe top-10 team when I got there.”
Joining Marchand atop the medal stand was just icing on the cake for the former Wildcat. Marchand, a 10-time NCAA champion, holds the world record in the 400-meter individual medley (4:02.50) and is drawing comparisons to American Michael Phelps, whose 23 gold medals are by far the most won by a single athlete in Olympic history.
“(Marchand) is arguably the best swimmer ever,” said Dolan, who earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology last year and a master’s degree in sports law and business earlier this year.
At the Pacific-12 Conference meet in March, Dolan set the Sun Devil record in the 50-yard freestyle in 18.61 seconds. He was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in 2019-2020.
Following his NCAA splash, Dolan returned to Indianapolis June 15-22 for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium. Competing in meters instead of yards, Dolan was 10th in the 50 in 22.07, 37th in the 100 free in 49.73, and 16th in the 100 backstroke in 54.59. He missed qualifying for the 50 finals by two-tenths of a second.
“Two-tenths of a second in the 50 free is a tremendous amount of time.” he said. “I’ll be hammering out details in practice.”
The top two finishers in each of the individual events made the U.S. team that heads to Paris later this month. Dolan said there were 20,000 fans at the Trials.
“(The Trials) didn’t go the way I wanted,” he said. “I’m not giving up. I’m going to keep training and hopefully I’ll get another chance. I haven’t shown my full potential yet. I’m a lot better than I showed at the Trials. There’s going to be benchmarks along the way.”
Dolan was born in Suwanee, Ga., 30 miles northeast of Atlanta. His family lives in Wildwood. He got his start in the pool with the Rockwood Swim Club.
“I made lifelong friends there,” he said. “The people there are incredible.”
The same could be said for Dolan’s career at ASU. His other accomplishments include seven Pac-12 event championships – twice in the 50 free, and five relays. As a freshman, he was named an All-American by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America in the 100 and 200 free and four relays.
Because COVID-19 restrictions cancelled the 2020-2021 season, Dolan and his ASU teammates all were granted an extra year of eligibility.
In his sophomore year, the Sun Devils finished sixth in the nation, their highest standing in 40 years. At the Pac-12 Championships that season, Dolan was second in the 200 and 400 medley relays and the 200 and 400 free relays, third in the 50 free and fifth in the 100 free and 100 backstroke.
Over the next two seasons, he piled up victories in the 50 and 100 free, the 100 back and relays. As a junior, his wins in the 50 free, 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay helped the Sun Devils earn their first conference title. In a dual meet against North Carolina State this season, he won all four events he entered.
Dolan’s college career is over, but his Olympic dreams aren’t. He said he plans to continue training at ASU in Tempe and compete for USA Swimming.
“As much as I joke about hating morning practice, I enjoy the grind and being part of the team and it’s an incredibly rewarding process,” he said. “It’s so different (from) any other place I’ve lived. The heat can be brutal, but I love the diverse people from all over the world.”
Voigt named assistant coach of the year
Sometimes the second fiddle is as important as the conductor.
That proved true for Eureka’s Anna Voigt last month after 18 years as an assistant coach for the Wildcat girls soccer team.
During summer workouts at the high school last week, members of the boys and girls soccer teams, football team and other athletes gathered on the field as girls head coach Mike Hanna surprised Voigt with the announcement that she had been named the Class 4 Assistant Coach of the Year by the Missouri High School Soccer Coaches Association. Hanna himself was similarly honored as the public-school Head Coach of the Year after the Wildcats finished second in the state last month, losing 2-1 to Nerinx Hall of St. Louis on a penalty kick in double overtime.
“(Voigt) has been the backbone of the program since she got here,” Hanna said.
Hanna, who also coaches the boys, replaced Gary Schneider this spring and guided Eureka to a record of 20-4 and its fourth final four appearance since 2013, when Bill Goggin led the Wildcats to a state championship. Schneider led Eureka to consecutive final four berths in 2017 and 2018, winning the program’s second title in 2017.
When Schneider stepped down from the top job, it was Voigt’s for the taking. But she declined, noting as she has for years that raising three children didn’t allow her time for that higher responsibility. Ironically, Voigt (nee Sonderman) graduated from Nerinx Hall in 2001 after playing for the Markers.
“When (Schneider) took over for (Goggin), he said the same thing (to Voigt): ‘If you want this, I’ll be an assistant for you.’ But she said, ‘I want to stay as an assistant,’” Hanna said. “When the job opened up this year, we asked her the same question (again). We were lucky – between having her and Ali Wallner as coaches, we had a good group out there (including freshman head coach Mark Mosley, who doubles as head softball coach).”
Wallner was Eureka’s goalie when the Wildcats won state in 2013.
“We had a great year (this season),” Voigt said. “We have a great coaching staff. (Wallner) was a great addition who’s helped out on the varsity level.
“I like the assistant role because there’s some aspects of it you can’t do as a head coach, in terms of team-building behind the scenes. I have three kids; after 2013, when Coach Goggin retired, I was pregnant with my second child. The timing of things never worked out.
“My other favorite job is being a mom. My kids are super-busy and so am I.”
During this summer’s contact period, Hanna, Wallner and Voigt ran the 2025 Wildcat hopefuls through drills. Eureka lost leading scorer and Class 4 co-Offensive Player of the Year Blaine Schutte and starting goalie Stella Eremita to graduation. The goals should keep coming, however, with the return of forwards Marleigh Allen, a junior, and sophomore Caroline Conley. In addition, Jenna Selbert played eight games in goal this spring and returns for her senior year.
“All of our success as coaches comes from the girls and the hard work they put in,” Voigt said. “We try to guide them in the right direction and make sure they have a great high school experience. I want them to look back one day and have great memories of this time.”
Most of Voigt’s memories as a Marker are good, although she said her team suffered a couple of disappointing losses in district tournaments. Voigt played alongside Lori Chalupny, a member of the U.S. National team that won Olympic gold in 2008. She’s one of the top soccer players the St. Louis area has ever produced and is head coach at Maryville University. Nerinx finished third in Class 4 in 2002, Chalupny’s senior year.
At World Wide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton, where the state soccer tournament is held, opposing teams share the same sideline. In the championship match against Nerinx, Voigt sometimes found herself only a few yards away from the Kelly green and white colors she wore as a teenager.
Schutte tied the final 1-1 with a goal in the second half and it was high drama all the way until Nerinx’s Lauren Seppe buried a PK late in the second overtime, giving the Markers their first state title since 1988. Nerinx had lost the previous four state championship games in a row. The Wildcats had beaten the Markers in double OT earlier in the year.
“The coaches at Nerinx (led by head coach Brian Haddock) are wonderful people,” said Voigt, who lives in Ballwin. “I have fond memories of my time there. But after being at Eureka for 18 years, I feel like Nerinx (is) a great high school memory; Eureka has become my family. It is conflicting emotions, but being a coach, the hardest thing was seeing the girls upset after all the work they put in and not getting the results they wanted.”
Addition at shortstop righted Eureka defense
Eureka Post 177 was a leaky ship defensively at the start of the American Legion baseball season. Through 12 games, manager Noah Baker said 50 percent of the team’s runs were unearned.
That all changed with the arrival of Brodie Hunt.
Hunt, the starting shortstop for the 24-win Eureka High team this spring, told Baker he had never played Legion ball before and that it looked like a lot of fun. Eureka had just played the Jackson Tribe in the Baseball Battles Cancer tournament.
Hunt came aboard and presto, the errors dried up just as the hot weather settled in.
“We’ve got a good relationship and it was like midnight when we walked to the parking lot and he said, ‘Hey Coach Baker, I want to play for you guys,’” Baker said. “He’s a vacuum defender, he can pitch and he has been getting on base like crazy at the plate.”
Post 177 won its fourth straight game and improved to 9-6 with an 11-6 victory over Maryland Heights Post 213 (11-5) in a District 10 contest at Bridgeton June 24. Maryland Heights led 4-2 after four innings, but Eureka stormed back for eight runs in the fifth. Post 177 pounded out 13 hits, including four hits in four at-bats by Nick Fisher, who slugged a three-run homer in the fifth. Eureka won despite handing out 10 walks from pitchers Will Fieser (four), Jake Kranawetter (five) and Brady Kirn (one).
“We were putting them up and giving them up,” Baker said. “Our pitchers were giving up a lot of walks but our bats came to play. Nick has been more of a depth guy. His (homer) barely got over the fence but that’s a big field at Bridgeton. He had a wonderful night. Maryland Heights can swing it. Those walks were coming around to score.”
Kirn relieved Kranawetter in the sixth and struck out the first two batters he faced. The runner Kranawetter walked to start the inning ended up scoring. Kirn walked the leadoff batter in the seventh, but fanned two of three batters in the inning.
In a see-saw District 10 game against Kirkwood Post 156 June 20, Post 177 led 2-0 after one inning, but trailed 6-3 after three frames. In the Eureka seventh, Brett Barnett walked, Fieser singled and Ty Munk walked to load the bases, and on an 0-1 count, Jackson Skaggs belted a grand slam for a walk-off 7-6 win.
Skaggs didn’t make the Eureka High varsity this spring.
“We worked on his batting and he’s been tearing the cover off the ball,” Baker said. “We had been bunting the whole game to exploit Kirkwood’s defense. Ty Munk asked if he should bunt, but got two strikes. Jackson called his shot. The first pitch he saw, he hit a line drive foul ball over third. Next pitch he took the biggest swing he ever has and hit the ball 20 feet over the left-field fence.”
Righthander Cole Edmiston earned the win, tossing a complete game on 96 pitches. He allowed nine hits and two walks, striking out four. All six of Kirkwood’s runs were earned.
Edmiston leads the pitching staff but is getting more help from Drew Nichols, who’s usually the starting catcher. Nichols worked six innings, fanned six and didn’t allow a run in a 6-1 win over Lancaster (Ohio) June 14. His versatility has allowed Thomas Werner to get more playing time behind the plate.
“(Nichols) was going to be our staple behind the plate, but he’s pitched three games, giving up two earned runs in his first start; since then, he’s thrown 10 innings of scoreless baseball,” Baker said. “He’s hammering the strike zone, gets in rhythm and lets it go.”
Post 177 had games scheduled against Chesterfield Post 556 (2-8) and Manchester Post 208 (4-7) before the Fourth of July holiday but after the Leader early holiday deadline.
The District 10 double-elimination tournament is July 12-15 at Principia High and the Bridgeton Municipal Athletic Complex, with a winner-take-all game July 16 if needed. The seeding has yet to be determined. Eureka advanced to the zone tournament last year.
“It’s a tougher district than years past,” Baker said. “Having a big win against Kirkwood and Maryland Heights (helps, as does) going to Terre Haute (Ind.) and showing signs of life and attitude. We have confidence in our ability to win. Kirkwood threw their ace and we hung in there the whole time.”