After winning the Class 5 state girls cross country championship in 2024, and finishing third last year, Eureka isn’t running on empty.
Not even close.
This season’s Wildcats traveled up (Hwy.) 109 a couple of miles from campus all summer to train on the Al Foster trail, which for 2 1/2 miles meanders parallel along the Meramec River.
“Throughout the summer, we’ve looked good, but you don’t know where you’re at until the races begin,” said Eureka head coach Darrell Lewis, who enters his 11th season in that job and 20th overall as a coach. “We just did cross country camp, and I felt positive coming out of that.”
That’s because he has three runners draped in state experience and medals. There’s no denying the graduation of Brooke Samuelson will test the Wildcats at times on the 3.1-mile (5K) courses this season, but senior Sofia Hoerchler and juniors Madison Schepis and Claire McKinnon are capable of each doing their part to lessen Samuelson’s loss. All three have similar PRs – Hoerchler, 18:55; Schepis, 18:56; McKinnon, 18:59. Schepis set her PR as a freshman.
“They are significantly faster than they were last year,” Lewis said. “We all have to do a little bit more to replace Brooke,” Lewis said. “Hopefully, we can have girls move up 20 to 25 places at state and keep us up there.”
Samuelson was Eureka’s top state finisher last year with a 14th-place time of 18:56.3. McKinnon was next in 19th in 19:04.2. The rest of last season’s state finishers included Abigail Smith, a 2026 graduate, (33rd, 19:20.4); Hoerchler (40th, 19:38.8); Olivia Golden (81st, 20:28.5); Haley Meek (83rd, 20:30.4); Schepis (97th, 20:42.2).
“Last year at state, (McKinnon) had a big jump,” Lewis said. “Collectively, she had a great year and she looks like she’s following that same trend.”
A junior, Golden’s PR is 19:24. Senior Natalia Hunt (PR 20:58) was an alternate last year at state, but this past spring at the Class 5 state track and field championships, she ran a leg on the 4x800-meter relay that finished sixth.
Sophomores Aubrey Dalton (21:12) and Kayla Ventura (20:30) were top JV runners and state alternates. Freshmen Katelyn Zickrick and Brooke Smith, sister of Abigail, have made it through a deep program pipeline to the varsity. Lewis said both could be major contributors.
Eureka hasn’t just had success at the state level, the Wildcats are the two-time defending champion of the Suburban Conference and District 1. Eureka competed in some of the top meets before state. The Wildcats were at the Chile Pepper Festival (El Caliente Division) in Arkansas, Gans Creek Classic (Elite Division) in Columbia, and won the Stan Nelson Invitational hosted annually by Northwest and the First Capital Invitational in St. Charles. That meet is held at McNair Park like the conference race.
This season Lewis swapped out two meets. They’ll be going to the Forest Park Invitational on Sept. 12, instead of Stan Nelson, and the Missouri Southern State University Invitational in Joplin on Sept. 19, replacing Chili Pepper.
“The last 10 years we’ve been very good at getting girls summer running so when August shows up, we hit the ground running,” Lewis said. “We always set high expectations for ourselves. Our goal is always to bring home a state trophy and to be as competitive at the state level as possible.”
’Cats shoot for entry to state
After narrowly missing sending the entire boys cross country team to the Class 5 state championships in Columbia last November, Eureka head coach Brad DeMattei wants to take the next step along the 3.1-mile (5K) courses the Wildcats will trek this year.
“This year we expect to be competitive in every race we compete in,” said
DeMattei, who starts his 11th season.
Junior Andrew Perry had the best state finish (70th, 16:42.3) for Eureka. When practice began Monday, Perry was slotted to be the No. 1 runner this season. Seniors Will Diekmann, Logan Schilling and Caden Hawkins, along with juniors Ty Rauls, Hunter Meek and Brooks Malaney will all jockey for position for the next few weeks before meets begin.
The first meet of the season for the Wildcats is Friday, Sept. 4 in the First Capital Invitational at McNair Park in St. Charles. Eureka finished second at that meet last year.
Hall is the way for Wildcats to repeat in district
Graduation stripped the Eureka softball team of eight 2026 graduates. Among them were twin sisters Haley and Paige Deakin, shortstop Gracie Mazzola and catcher Addison Schneider, a .321 hitter.
With a cast of senior leaders in 2025, the Wildcats posted a record of 22-6, won the Suburban Conference’s top pool (Yellow) and smashed down the district barrier that had been in their way in the most satisfactory way possible in a 6-5 win over archrival Lafayette in the Class 5 District 2 championship. In the quarterfinals, Eureka led Lindbergh 2-1 into the bottom of the sixth inning when the Flyers came back to win 5-2 and ended up third in the state. The Wildcats beat Lindbergh 7-6 in their conference meeting earlier in the season.
When Eureka takes the field to start the season Aug. 27 at Francis Howell North, several new starters will be in place, with the exception of pitcher Chrystal Hall, center fielder Kayleigh Niles, infielder Alina Logush, and another set of twins, Emmy and Shelby Seiler. Shelby started at second base. The Seilers combined for about 100 plate appearances and both batted around .300.
“I think for us to be successful, we’ll need to rely on a solid lineup from top to bottom, not just a few major contributors,” said Eureka head coach Mark Mosley, who begins his 16th season. “We have some seniors who I’m excited to see how they put an exclamation point on their high school careers. I’m eager to see what role players from last year step up, and I’m looking forward to seeing JV players and freshmen compete for spots. We’re blessed to have a program with high numbers and a lot of talent, and our job will be to see who fits where to give us the best chance for a deep playoff run.
“They had the hunger to win that district championship, and we got that. We want to make a deeper run. We have some pretty big goals this year. It’s how well we come together to make that a reality.”
That starts with Hall in the circle. Now a senior, Hall has a four-year record of 25-15. She struck out 11 Lafayette batters in the district final. She fanned nine Flyers in the quarterfinals.
Paige Deakin and Tanner Cantwell had a combined record of 11-2 as Hall’s backups and relievers. They were the only three pitchers Mosley used last year. Cantwell graduated too.
“We have our ace back from last year,” Mosley said. “She’ll log the majority of our innings, but I’m not sure who will be in our bullpen. We have a lot of great pitchers in the program — from freshmen to juniors, so it will come down to who performs better in tryouts and practices to see who our (Nos. 2-3 pitchers) are.
“(Hall’s) been with us since her freshman year. We were impressed with her the first time we saw her. She’s started in the postseason the last two years. She has a lot of knowledge and experience.”
Logush played first base last year and replaces Schneider at catcher. She hit .333 and was one of three Wildcats with 20 or more RBIs.
“Catching is her No. 1 position,” Mosley said.
Niles became one of the top power hitters in the St. Louis area after she crushed eight home runs, 19 extra base hits and drove in 21 runs. She led Eureka with 40 runs scored.
Practice for fall sports began on Monday.
“I’m just really excited for the season with the players we have in the program, and hopefully we can create a team camaraderie that is focused on team goals and aspirations rather than only individual ones,” Mosley said.
Eureka coach takes title to field hockey squad
Melissa Menchella has coached the Eureka girls lacrosse team to two Missouri State Lacrosse Association state championships in the last three years.
Menchella also coaches the school’s field hockey team that began practice on Monday. She’s built the Wildcats into a state power in lacrosse. She wanted to make it clear that unprecedented school success in one sport won’t detract her attention from the other.
“Finishing the 2026 school year on a state title was very exciting,” Menchella said. “I am always proud to see Eureka represented on such a big stage and the support from our Eureka families and community is always incredible.
“But in the fall, I always seek to dedicate my time to pouring into my field hockey program and athletes and showing them how much I enjoy showing up for them too, and how proud they make me as well. It’s an honor to be able to coach for both programs and see the work, passion and dedication athletes from both programs give to Eureka and how they always represent our school and our community so well!”
Like lacrosse, field hockey isn’t part of the Missouri State High School Activities Association, and runs its own playoffs and state championships. The St. Louis area and Kansas City are hubs for the sport in this state. John Burroughs shut out St. Joseph’s Academy 5-0 last November to win state. The Wildcats fell 3-2 to Lindbergh in the first playoff round and finished the season with a record of 10-8.
Since practice just began, Menchella said the starting lineup isn’t ready to be announced, but Eureka has seven seniors returning this fall. Those returners are Kaitlyn Benoist (forward), Keanna George (defense), Grace Hubbard (forward), Violeta Kaisin (forward), Elizabeth Jung (midfield), Whitney Pickert (midfield) and Olivia Wineinger (midfield). Benoist and Pickert were on the lacrosse team.
“There is a lot of unknown for us to work with this year as we graduated a very large senior class and have only six varsity returners,” Menchella said. “We are excited to see what new girls are ready to step up and also experiment with some new formations that we can work with this year based on what is best for this group and our athletes.”
Graduation took the top two leading scorers – Mel Hoevelmann, Addison Proffitt. A two-year starter, Wineinger scored a goal against the Flyers in the playoffs and had five last season. She has committed to play at Maryville University.
“She has been a strong midfielder for us for several seasons now and is great at distributing the ball and opening up options in the midfield,” Menchella said.
George and Pickert played significant minutes in 2025. Menchella said George displayed some great defensive discipline last season, good communication and has strong hits to clear the ball up the field.
“Whitney has a hustle and a work ethic that is unmatched and took on a lot of tough defensive assignments for us last year against our toughest opponents,” Menchella said.
Colby Durbin played in goal for all but 45 minutes last season. Junior Emily Pearce was in goal for those minutes and is the starter now.
The season begins Friday, Aug. 28 at home at 4:15 p.m. against Westminster Christian Academy, as part of the Lafayette Tournament.
Wildcats leave Suburban Conference deep end
For a team that’s won 10 games in the last two years, it’s best to focus on the positives.
The Eureka boys soccer team had a record of 5-16 last season, but 12 of those losses were by one goal. A pair of 3-0 defeats to Kirkwood and Vianney were the largest deficits of the year for the Wildcats. Fittingly, a 1-0 loss to SLUH in the Class 4 District 2 tournament was the coup de grace. The Jr. Bills were the third Metro Catholic Conference school Eureka played in 2025.
Head coach Mike Hanna sees the problem. Right now, Eureka is better suited moving down a pool in the Suburban Conference. The Wildcats had been playing in the Yellow pool, the top tier. Now they’re in the Red pool, on top of the Green and Blue pools for boys soccer. The conference allows for schools to move up or down based on performance. The Wildcats had a record of 2-8 against Yellow opponents the last two years.
For the first time in years, Eureka doesn’t have any schools from the Metro Catholic Conference scheduled. Class and district assignments will be released Aug. 28, and it’s likely the Wildcats will end up in a district with a school from the MCC. So playing one might be inevitable.
“The schedule on paper is more manageable, more balanced,” Hanna said. “Last year we had to play well to stay in games, and perfect to win them. Our hope is to find wins early and build off of those. We struggled against (Red) pool teams last year, and I actually thought (the Red) was better than the top pool (Yellow).”
Removing the deep end of the schedule should greatly benefit Eureka’s chances at breaking the surface of .500. And the Wildcats have some interesting, talented players to begin the program’s comeback. That quest begins Aug. 27 in Wentzville at Timberland High. Practice for fall sports began on Monday.
“We feel like we have a competitive group,” Hanna said. “We have a lot of numbers. The boys are all excited to play. We’ll get a better sense of who will be with us this fall in the next couple of weeks.
“After the past two struggling seasons, this group is poised to get back out on the field and raise Eureka soccer back to the highly competitive and winning program that it has been for the past few decades. That hunger has translated into a very competitive summer, and we are hoping to see this translate to success on the field.”
Eureka scored 31 goals in 21 games last season, and didn’t have a player score more than five. Senior Jameson Foley spent a considerable amount of time patching holes in the Wildcat defense last year, but is going back to his natural position up top.
“His speed, strength and ability to find the ball helped us during a more defensive season last year,” Hanna said. “This year we look to be more balanced and all of ‘Jamo’s’ attributes that saved us countless times last year have shown to be very lethal on the opposite side of the field as he has found the goal often this summer.
“We’ve struggled to put the ball in the net the last two years, and that’s not gone unnoticed.”
Joining Foley at forward is senior Dominic Woods, who plays baseball in the spring and summer.
“Dominic’s done a nice job for us,” Hanna said. “He spends a lot of time in the summer playing baseball, but he’s clicked in with us now.”
Eureka’s midfield is experienced with senior Henry Eicholz and junior Logan Klingler leading the way. Eicholz is also making a position switch, coming off the back line.
“We look to give him the reins of the midfield this year,” Hanna said. “So far this summer he has done a fabulous job jumping into the attack and finding the back of the net.
“Logan is an extremely talented player who can really elevate the level of our play. Last year we saw glimpses of him taking over games as a sophomore and we believe he is primed to have a dominant season.”
The backfield is even in better shape with the return of seniors Charlie Zoeller and Ben Schuemann. Zoeller stands 6-2-6-3, and Hanna said he’s stepped into the leadership role in the back.
“We told him the backfield is yours,” Hanna said. “Ben played a lot of minutes last year. He gets the job done.”
Landon Flaherty played in goal for the Wildcats in all 1,720 minutes last season and graduated this spring. Sophomore Charlie Kovis trained in the Eureka goal alongside Flaherty “a lot” last year.
“He’s a big guy, 6-3 or so,” Hanna said. “Landon had a lot of skill, but size wasn’t his strong suit. Charlie has worked hard with his dad. We gave him things to improve on and he did that.”