This is junior Brooke Samuelson’s first year on the Eureka track and field team. The distance runner has competed during the summer for a club team, and done some racing indoors. But Wildcat girls head coach Darrell Lewis said the 15-team Northwest Invitational in Cedar Hill on April 12 might have been her largest meet yet.
“Coming off the starting line with 16 other girls, moving around the pack, we had talked about getting out fast, and she did,” Lewis said.
And Samuelson finished fast in the 800-meter run, winning in 2:17.3, a personal record by two seconds and seven seconds ahead of Westminster senior Anna Drochelman in second place. Eureka sophomore Sofia Hoerchler was fourth in 2:25.65.
“I was trying to focus on my second lap,” Samuelson said. “Usually, I fall off there, so I tried to keep that strong and honestly just compete. The crowd and my teammates were definitely helping.”
“She raced aggressively, which is what she always does, but that second lap, she ran really strong,” Lewis said.
The Wildcats placed third in the team standings with 124.5 points. That would be enough to win many meets, but Eureka was up against Festus (Class 4) and Lafayette (Class 5), teams with state championship aspirations this spring. The Tigers flexed their muscles across all 19 events and won with 153.5 points and the Lancers were second with 128. Both teams were fifth in the state last season.
Samuelson, freshman Claire McKinnon, junior Haley Meek and senior Olivia Pearce teamed up to finish second in the 4x800 relay in 9:59.7, 11 seconds better than their performance at the Festus McCullough-Douglass Invitational two weeks earlier. Senior Daphne Bishop was second in the 1,600 in 5:11.84.
Bishop’s twin sister, Ayla, won the pole vault at 3.32 meters. She tried to top her school record of 3.5 but missed on three attempts at 3.65.
“A lot of people say if you don’t make it on the first two attempts, you’re not going to make it on the third. That’s silly,” Bishop said. “You go three times for a reason. Use them and you’ll make it. I kept my timing the same, so I need to wait and go up the pole a little bit more. I like (getting PRs). I wanted a better height. I want to get 12 (feet) so bad.”
Freshman Leah Gilmore competed in her first varsity meet and finished third in the shot put in 9.54 meters. Sophomore Hannah Garrett was right behind her in fourth at 9.27. Festus senior Rylie Moore, a state contender, won with a throw of 11.51.
Eureka senior Jenna Cubbage competed in the 100 hurdles and 4x400 and was a half-inch off her PR in the triple jump, placing second in 10.61.
The Eureka boys hosted their annual Wildcat Classic on April 11, bringing in teams from across the St. Louis area. The Wildcats finished first in three of the 19 events. The 4x800 team of Joe Rauls, Mitchell Barth, Liam McAullife and Evan Wilke trimmed 20 seconds off their time from the Festus meet, winning in 8:20.92, six seconds faster than second-place Jackson.
“We have six different guys we can roll through (the 4x800),” Eureka boys head coach Brad DeMattei said. “They’re all pretty comparative. Joe is having a good start coming off basketball season.”
Senior Jackson Lange broke a school record in the shot put that had stood since 1998, tossing the steel sphere 16.98 meters for first place. Raymond Haynes held the previous record of 16.49.
“(Lange) has had a really nice spring and based on what he’s done in practice we knew he was ready to pop off a big one,” DeMattei said. “He’s ranked No. 4 in the state.”
Senior Braden Kirn won the javelin in 46.70.
“He’s got an arm and worked his way through the lineup,” DeMattei said. “He picked (the javelin) up and keeps throwing it farther every time.”
Eureka senior Evan Wilke placed third in the 3,200 in 10:02.01, a whopping 28-second PR.
“He’s really looking forward to going under 10:00,” DeMattei said.
Junior Jackson Dalton finished fourth in the 1,600 in 4:42.56.
Offense leaves Eureka soccer fit to be tied
After being shut out 3-0 by both St. Joseph’s Academy and St. Dominic on April 9-10, the Eureka girls soccer team looked to bounce back Monday night at Parkway Central.
Not that the Colts were pushovers. At 4-1, they entered the game with a better record than the Wildcats (2-3-1), who hadn’t won since defeating Webster Groves 2-0 on April 1.
And it didn’t inspire great confidence when Colt senior Tori Nelson beat Wildcat goalie Jenna Selbert for a goal with the game barely a minute old.
But soon thereafter, at 3:55, senior midfielder Bailey Flanagan beat Central goalie Clara Fritz with a rising shot under the crossbar for Eureka’s first goal in three games and a 1-1 tie. Sophomore forward Caroline Conley assisted on the goal.
“Caroline passed me the ball and I hit it with my left foot,” said Flanagan, who had been scoreless with two assists this season.
With a cold front coming in, from there both teams struggled to mount attacks and the game ended, after a 10-minute overtime period, still deadlocked at a goal apiece.
“We had a couple of chances against (St. Joe’s and St. Dominic) and didn’t score,” Eureka head coach Mike Hanna said. “Today (vs. Central) it was similar. We got the chances we were designing. We just couldn’t find the back of the net and it’s hard to win when you don’t.”
Free kicks and corner kicks by the Wildcats in the second half came up empty and the Colts had the best chance to score with three minutes left in regulation. But freshman goalie Addie Clark, replacing Selbert, was in position to make a crucial save in the first varsity minutes of her career.
“We’re trying to find her some minutes and decided this was the game to get her in,” Hanna said. “That save she made was amazing.”
During overtime, senior forward Marleigh Allen left the game with an apparent hamstring injury. She was last year’s second-leading Wildcat scorer with 14 goals and her absence for any duration won’t help solve the team’s offensive woes.
“Not having her for even the last six or seven minutes was a difference-maker,” Hanna said. “We had spells where we knocked the ball around real well, especially in the first half. In the second half it looked like our legs went a little bit. It’s in us. We have to find it for 80 minutes.”
Flanagan said playing St. Joe’s and St. Dominic factored into her team’s goal drought.
“Those are some real good teams, but we’re still trying to find our game and score goals,” she said. “Keep practicing and working together.”
Eureka has a Yellow pool game tonight (April 17) at home against Rockwood Summit (7-2) and another one vs. visiting Kirkwood (3-3) April 21.
Girls lacrosse falls to MICDS
In their first meeting since Eureka won the Missouri State Lacrosse Association championship last May, Mary Institute-Country Day School visited the Wildcats Monday night and got some payback with a 14-6 victory. Goalie Sophia Huddleston made 11 saves and Caroline Koman led the Rams with five goals. The Wildcats fell to 7-2 this season, their other loss coming against Brentwood of suburban Nashville, Tenn.
Eureka, averaging 15 goals per game in its previous four contests, beat visiting Rockwood Summit 15-4 April 10. Katie Criswell scored four goals and Ruby Copeland and Amelia Craig each netted three. Copeland (45 points) and Criswell (34) are two of the highest scorers in the St. Louis area.
Boys volleyball team on a roll
The Eureka boys volleyball squad improved to 11-2, winning five of six matches (best-of-three format) April 11 in the Northwest Tournament at Legacy VTC in Fenton. The Wildcats beat Orchard Farm, Westminster, Northwest (twice) and Affton and fell to Rockwood Summit. Eureka hosts Parkway South (7-2) tonight.
Wildcats forced to play twice at Lafayette
When the Eureka and Lafayette baseball teams clash, there’s more at stake than just the Rockwood and Suburban Conference Yellow pool rivalries.
Both schools are in Class 6 District 2 and split their home-and-home series April 8-9, so their seeding in the upcoming district tournament at Parkway South will rely more heavily on how both teams fare against common opponents – including another rival, Marquette, whom the Wildcats play on April 29-30.
Marquette (8-4) also is in Class 6 District 2 along with Lebanon, Rolla, St. Francis Borgia, Waynesville and the host Patriots.
Eureka (7-3) and Lafayette (7-4) split their series, the Lancers winning the first game 6-5 in a walkoff and the Wildcats taking the second contest 7-4. Both games were played at Lafayette because of poor field conditions at Eureka from heavy rains.
In the opener, Eureka jumped ahead 4-0 in the first inning and led 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh when the Lancers pushed across four runs for a comeback win. Lafayette outhit Eureka 9-5 and capitalized on six walks.
“We felt like we should have won the first game, but didn’t catch a couple of breaks,” Eureka head coach Ken Droege said.
Levi Fieser had three hits, including a triple, and he, Carson Leuthauser, Kyle Rehg and Tyler Sweeney each had a run batted in. Wildcat pitcher Ben Lackey tossed four innings, allowing three runs (only one earned) on two hits and three walks, with three strikeouts. John Haberkorn was tagged with the loss on one-third of an inning’s work, giving up two runs on a hit and a walk. Ralph Gianino pitched the other two and 1/3 innings, yielding one earned run on three hits and two walks.
In the second contest, the teams each scored two runs in the first inning and a three-run third helped lift Eureka to victory. Lafayette plated two runs in the bottom of the third, but the Wildcats scratched out an insurance run in both the fourth and fifth.
“Bouncing back was a good test for us,” Droege said. “In the first inning they scored two quick runs and we immediately came back when Rehg roped a single on the first pitch and jump- started us offensively. We tied the game up and we ran with it from there.”
Rehg was two-for-three, drew a walk, stole a base and scored twice. He leads the team with eight RBIs. Craig Ringe was four-for-four with a double, run and RBI. It was his fourth multi-hit game this year.
“Big game and moments for (Ringe),” Droege said. “He had tremendous at-bats. He’s a tough out this year and it doesn’t matter the count, he’s battling hard.”
Jaxson Joggerst pitched a complete game for Eureka, allowing five hits, four earned runs, walking two and striking out two. Joggerst is 3-0 and has allowed seven runs in 16 innings.
“Jaxson’s dialed in with three pitches. He disrupts the hitter’s timing. He’s able to command all three and if you can do that, it makes hitting hard.”
Eleven stolen bases and a four-run sixth boosted Eureka to a 7-1 win at Ladue on April 11. Cole Rogers was two-for-two with a home run, two walks, three RBIs and two stolen bases. Fieser had a hit and a walk and swiped three bags.
“Offensively, (Fieser) has been doing really well, stealing some bags and having tough at bats,” Droege said.
Mike Siebels started on the mound for the Wildcats and fanned five batters in four innings. He allowed five hits and one run. Tyler Hall and Cade Gustafson combined for three scoreless innings in relief. None of the three hurlers issued a walk.
“(Siebels) made some adjustments after they had a couple of good barrels, and commanded his off-speed pitches. We were planning on him going three innings, but he was looking so good, we left him in for another.”
Droege said catcher AJ Scott has handled the pitching staff well. He had a hit and RBI against the Rams.
The Wildcats returned to Yellow pool action Tuesday and Wednesday against Parkway West (2-9), after the Leader deadline. Then the team will play in a tournament in Columbia starting today (April 17) against Nixa (12-4), with games Friday against host Rock Bridge (11-3) and 9-6 Truman (Independence). Bracket play concludes Saturday.
“We’re right where we want to be,” Droege said. “We haven’t been perfect, but what’s fun is now it’s a testament to the depth of our program. Opportunities were limited the way our schedule worked early, but we’ll be able to get a lot of kids to really get dialed in.”