West Newsmagazine 11-1-23

28 I SPORTS I
November 1, 2023
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09/2023
Westminster Christian Academy is the new Class 3 District 1 women’s golf champions.
SPORTS
BRIEFS
By WARREN MAYES
High school tennis
St. Joseph’s Academy now has 14 state
doubles champions.
Juniors Ali Kenney and Ashely Behan
won the Class 3 doubles championship held
at the Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield.
They defeated the John Burroughs duo
of Allie Wayne and Eva Kasal 6-2, 7-5.
Kenney and Behan beat Pembroke Hill’s
Helen Hendricks and Tatum Smith 6-4, 4-6,
10-6 in the semifinals.
“The Pembroke girls were very active
at the net, so our girls wisely used lots of
effective lobs to neutralize their poaching
efforts,” Coach Doug Smith said.
The win set up a championship match
against Wayne and Kasal. Kenny and
Behan defeated the Burroughs pair 6-1, 3-6,
10-0 in the District 2 championship final.
The Angels needed just two sets in the
state final. Unfortunately, Smith missed the
team’s match due to pneumonia.
Both girls will be back for their senior
season but Smith said it was too early to tell
if they would be paired next fall. However,
their leadership will be called on once more.
“With no seniors on this year’s squad,
Ali and Ashley were appointed captains
as juniors, and they performed their duties
very well,” Smith said. “I know they will
continue to demonstrate the same leadership
to anchor the Angels’ next editions.”
High school softball
Parkway West captured its first district
softball championship since 1997 with
a thrilling 6-5 win over the Westminster
Christian Academy Wildcats.
The Longhorns were the top seed in the
Class 4 District 3 tourney.
Sophomore Elena Potsou hit a two-out
bases-loaded double in the bottom of the
seventh inning to lift the Longhorns to the
victory. It capped a four-run inning.
St. Joseph’s Academy juniors Ali Kenney
and Ashely Behan
(Photo provided)
(Photo provided)
Longhorns coach Andrew Jett was not
surprised Potsou delivered in the clutch.
“She’s made huge strides since her freshman
year,” Jett said. “We’re confident with
her at the plate. There’s no moment too
big for her. She has ice water in her veins.
Once it happened, I let out a huge sigh of
relief that we won.”
The Wildcats grabbed a 5-0 lead in the
first inning but did not score after that.
“We battled and battled,” Jett said. “The
girls never let down. They never stopped.
They’ve been in these moments before
but I don’t know if it was five runs. They
know we can score runs. We talked about
that first inning. We let them know that five
runs is not insurmountable.”
The Longhorns improved to 21-9.
Westminster, which reached the state
semifinals last season, saw its 15-game
winning streak come to a disappointing
halt. The Wildcats finished 24-5.
“This was a really good softball game,”
Westminster coach Dan Petke said. “It had
two really good teams battling and it came
down to the last out. We competed. It just
didn’t go our way in the end.”
High school golf
Two schools – St. Joseph’s Academy and
Westminster Christian Academy – won district
golf tournaments.
The St. Joseph’s Academy Angels won
the Class 4 District 1 tournament held at
Westborough Country Club in St. Louis. It
was the ninth consecutive district team title
for the Angels, who have also won seven
successive state championships.
The Angels shot a team total 323 to win
first place by seven strokes. There were 15
teams and 71 girls competing in the tournament.
Senior Catherine Cronin and sophomore
Maggie Drozda each shot an 80 for the
Angels carded a 9-over 80 to tie for sixth
place. Senior Isabella Buckley came in
eighth with an 81. Junior KC Lenox finished
with an 82 to come in ninth. Freshman
Tess Guigon was 12th with an 88.
Lafayette junior Addie Surber tied for
second place in the Class 4 District 1 tournament
with a 75. She also was second last fall
in the district. Surber wrapped up her regular
season by being the medalist in the Suburban
Conference Yellow Pool championship. She
took first by three strokes with a 1-over-par
73 at Crescent Farms Golf Course.
• • •
Westminster Christian Academy captured
the Class 3 District 1 tournament
played at Crescent Farms Golf Club in
Eureka. There were 15 teams and 71 girls
competing in the tournament.
Westminster finished with a team score
of 342, good for an eight-stroke win over
Summit. The state moved Westminster up
to Class 3 this season after a second-place
finish in Class 2 at state last year.
Sophomore Caroline Domyan led the
Wildcats with a fifth-place finish with an
82. Junior Maryn Hill ended with an 84
to finish tied for sixth. Sophie Nall and
Kelsey Muschick each tied for 16th with
scores of 88. Anna Drochelman tied for
34th with a 102.
Parkway West senior Kyle Secrest was
the medalist in the tournament. She shot
a 1-over 73 to win the district title and be
able to return to the state tournament for a
fourth time.
Secrest finished fourth at state as a junior.
As a sophomore, she scored an eighth-place
result. As a freshman, she came in 27th.
MICDS junior Morgan Withington finished
second in the Class 3 District 2 girls
golf tournament at The Golf Club of Wentzville.
She fired a 2-under-par 69. That was one
shot behind Hannibal’s Siena Minor in the
tournament.