Blog

Prep Year In Review-2011-12

By Jim Wieners

McCluer North won 28 out of 29 games including the last 26 in a row to win their second straight Class Five State title. North became only the second Suburban North Conference Boys Basketball team to win back-to-back titles joining Class 4A Champion McCluer who won in 1973-1974 and 1974-1975. While McCluer won in 1974 with Larry Jacob (father of current McCluer Athletic Director Kurt Jacob) as coach and 1975 under the coaching of Mark Bernsen, McCluer North head coach Randy Reed is the first in the Suburban North to win back-to-back titles.

McCluer North only lost to Washington-based St. Francis Borgia at the opponent’s Thanksgiving Tournament. The Stars became the first Missouri high school to win the Collinsville, Ill., Tournament during Christmas Break including wins over three Southwestern Conference teams — Belleville East, East St. Louis and Collinsville — in less than 32 hours. North dealt McCluer two of their four losses and the Stars also defeated Hazelwood East twice, both in convincing margins.

North also was one of three Suburban North teams to take home a Class Four Boys Track And Field State Trophy. The Stars scored 32 points but it was good enough to finish in fourth place, two behind McCluer and Blue Springs, six behind Hazelwood Central and two ahead of fifth-place Liberty. Aaron Mallet scored 18 points by winning the 110-Meter Hurdles while taking second in the 300-Meter Hurdles. In Girls Class Four Track Kimberlin Simon completed a boys-girls sweep of the state 300-Meter Hurdle Championship.

Hazelwood Central, meanwhile, is coming off their third straight Class Four Boys Track and Field title despite scoring 38 points. It was their fourth Boys Track And Field title but was the first sport to three-peat. The Hawks won the 4×200-Meter Relay but it was a second-place finish in the 4×400 Relay that secured the state title while denying Liberty, who won the 4×400 Relay, of a state trophy. Hazelwood Central Girls also won the Class Four 4×200 Relay on their way to a 10th-place finish.

Trinity Catholic took home second place in Class Two Boys Soccer, the school’s fourth runner up trophy in that sport since opening in the fall of 2003. With two runner-up trophies in Girls Soccer Trinity has five second-place finishes, all in Soccer. Last November Trinity Boys finished the season 21-7 and lost in the Class Two title game to St. Louis Priory in a game that snapped a 14-game winning streak. It was the second time Priory won the state title with an undefeated-untied record, going 27-0 last year while going 26-0 in 2005 and defeated Trinity in the title game.

McCluer shared second place in Class Four Boys Track And Field with Blue Springs. Each scored 34 points, two ahead of McCluer North and four behind Hazelwood Central. Leading the way for McCluer was Triple-Jumper Darrion Dillard, whose 48-feet 6.5-inch effort in his final attempt won state. McCluer, also, took second in the Boys 4×200 Relay.

Incarnate Word Academy took home only one state trophy and that was in Class Five Girls Basketball. IWA, in route to a third-place finish in state, was 26-7 and had a 13-game winning streak prior to going to the state semifinals, won the Visitation Academy Christmas Tournament, took third in the Columbia-Rock Bridge Tournament, defeated St Joseph’s Academy three times and Principia twice. However IWA split two games with Lafayette while losing twice to eventual Class Five Champion Rock Bridge.

Lutheran North took third place in Class Three Boys Basketball after winning the St. Charles West Warrior Classic and the MICDS Holiday Tournament while finishing second to CBC in the CBC-D.C. Tournament.

Hazelwood East had a two-event Class Four Girls Track Champion in sprinter Tianna Valentine, who won the 100-Meter Dash and 200-Meter Dash. Ritenour had a state wrestling champion in Eric Bowman, who won at 152 pounds.