Success in the postseason by the Eureka girls soccer team translated into several Wildcats earning 2024 All-State honors from the Missouri High School Soccer Coaches Association.
Eureka lost 2-1 to Nerinx Hall on a penalty kick in the second overtime in the Class 4 state championship this month and finished the season 20-4. It was the Wildcats’ fourth state trophy, including state championships in 2013 (Class 3) and 2017 (Class 4).
Senior forward Blaine Schutte scored the game-winning goal against St. Dominic in the state quarterfinals, with an assist from senior Callaway Combs. Schutte led Eureka with 19 goals and was named Class 4 co-Offensive Player of the Year, along with senior forward Olivia Clemons of Park Hills South. Schutte, who has signed to play soccer at the University of Tulsa, scored 56 goals in her four-year varsity career.
Combs, a tenacious defender, produced 10 points from the back line and joined Schutte on the All-State first team. She has signed to play at the University of Missouri in Columbia.
Midfielder Bailey Flanagan, a junior, led the Wildcats with 16 assists to go with her nine goals. She was named to the second team and has committed to Lindenwood University in St. Charles. Flanagan scored a season-high four goals in Eureka’s 7-1 victory over Parkway South in the district semifinals.
Senior midfielder Anna Beam also was named to the second team.
Wildcat head coach Mike Hanna, who also oversees the Eureka boys team in the fall, took over for Gary Schneider this spring and was selected Public School Coach of the Year. Under Hanna the Wildcats not only won a district championship and state trophy but also swept to the Suburban Conference Yellow pool title with a 7-0 mark.
Pickens earns national honors
Eureka had another girls team reach a championship game this spring and the lacrosse squad one-upped the soccer team by winning the Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association crown, defeating Mary Institute-Country Day School 18-10 in the final. It’s Eureka’s first state championship in the sport.
Leading scorer Kylee Pickens, a senior, was one of seven players from the state to earn All-American honors. Pickens tallied 71 goals and 34 assists for 105 points this spring. She’ll continue her lacrosse career at Rockhurst University in Kansas City.
Football to open vs. Howell
Looking ahead to the fall season, the Eureka football team will open at perennial Class 6 power Francis Howell Aug. 29. The Vikings were 9-3 last year and went 14-0 when they won the Class 5 state championship in 2022. The Wildcats were 8-5 last season and won the Class 5 District 2 championship before falling to Cape Girardeau Central 32-29 in the quarterfinals.
Casey Hobelman started at quarterback for Eureka last season and enters his senior year. As a freshman last fall, Trevor Codak led the Wildcats in rushing with 748 yards on 114 carries and in touchdowns with 14.
Among the players lost to graduation is linebacker Ryan Thornhill, who led the team with 117 tackles in 2023. An all-state wrestler, Thornhill was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy. Thornhill overcame a broken finger suffered during the football season to qualify for the Class 4 state wrestling championships in February.
New Eureka graduates medal at state pole vault
William Geiler finished his sophom*ore year at Eureka two years ago taking eighth place in the pole vault at 4.10 meters at the Class 5 state track and field championships.
Geiler also qualified for the Class 4 state wrestling finals at 132 pounds that year, but in his junior year he failed to get back to state in either sport. So he made the hard decision to stop wrestling this past winter so he could train at STL Pole Vault.
Good move. He’s now the school record holder in the event at 4.57 meters (15 feet, one-quarter inch) and cleared 4.56 at the state championships in Jefferson City May 24-25 to finish fourth. Teammate Carter Langenbacher, also a 2024 graduate, finished eighth at 4.27 (14 feet). Across all five classes, boys and girls, Geiler and Langenbacher are the only teammates to medal in the vault.
Before state, Geiler and Langenbacher had their hair dyed white with purple flames. They wanted everyone to know who they represented. The treatment lasted for a number of days as a reminder of their achievement.
“We thought it would be cool,” said Geiler, who will continue vaulting at St. Charles Community College. “We both placed and that was the best scenario.”
“The hair was what we talked about all season,” Langenbacher said. “We said if we both qualify for state, we’ve got to do it. It’s memorable.
“Throughout the event, I was skeptical about the pole I was using. It was new territory. I was smashing my poles. But overall, I’m very happy. I learned so much from this experience.”
The duo accounted for six of Eureka’s 20.5 points in 13th place. Lee’s Summit North won the Class 5 boys title with 63 points, followed by Kirkwood (52), Columbia Rock Bridge (50) and Rockhurst of Kansas City (49).
Senior Aidan Crews scored 12 points for Eureka, finishing third in both the 200 (21.61) and 400 (48.22). Crews, who will play football at Illinois State University in Normal, was less than a second behind the 400 winner, Rockhurst senior Leo Faulkner in 47.59.
Crews ran leadoff in the Wildcat 4x400 relay that finished sixth in 3:20.24. He was joined by Mitchell Barth, Quinten Bennett and Josh Hotop.
In the triple jump, 2024 graduate Jordan Howlett missed winning a medal by millimeters with a 10th place finish of 13.34.
Despite qualifying in seven events, including all four relays, the Eureka girls finished without any points. None of the Wildcat relay teams made it out of the preliminaries. Cardinal Ritter’s amazing sprinters dashed their way to the Class 5 girls title with 103 points – their fourth straight state championship. Blue Springs (75), Liberty (42) and Columbia Hickman (40) picked up the other trophies.
The Eureka girls sent two pole vaulters to state. Junior Ayla Bishop was 13th in 3.04 and senior Hannah Mitchell didn’t register a height. Bishop finished seventh in the state as a sophom*ore and has another chance to medal in her senior year.
Bishop’s twin sister, Daphne, qualified for state in the 1,600 and 3,200, but was about 10 seconds from a state medal in both.
Post 177 treading water early on
Eureka Post 177 stands 6-6 through June 16, but manager Noah Baker said he believes there’s too much talent on his team to languish at .500.
The team’s ups and downs go back to losing two of three games in the Baseball Battles Cancer tournament June 5-8 at the Ballwin Athletic Association. Post 177’s first opponent was Alton Post 126 (12-5), and despite collecting 10 hits, Eureka lost 11-5 as four of its pitchers gave up seven earned runs on nine hits and six walks, with eight strikeouts.
The following night, June 6, Post 177 fell 4-3 to Chesterfield Post 556 (2-6). Chesterfield came out hot against Eureka pitcher Ty Munk, scoring four runs (three earned) on five hits in the first two innings. Drew Nichols relieved Munk in the third and shut Post 556 down, allowing no runs, three hits and one walk and striking out two. Post 177 scored its three runs late to make it close.
Eureka was back in action June 8 against Jackson Post 158 (6-5) and won 6-5. Jackson struck first in the top of the second, scoring two unearned runs. Eureka plated four in the bottom of the third on two walks and four hits. Post 158 put up three more runs in the top of the fifth, none of them earned. Post 177 squeaked out two more runs in the bottom of the fifth on a series of passed balls and wild pitches.
Will Fieser started on the mound for Eureka and lasted three innings, giving up two unearned runs on three hits and one walk and striking out seven. Nick Fisher relieved Fieser in the fourth, pitching 1 1/3 innings, giving up three unearned runs on no hits while walking three and striking out one. Jacob Kranawetter got credit for the win, hurling the final 1 2/3 innings, yielding no runs and no hits, walking one and striking out four.
Baker said he believed his team could have gone 3-0.
“Chesterfield and Alton are both very good teams, but we are very capable of beating them,” he said. “That’s baseball, any team can win any night. We’re still trying to click on all cylinders. But looking forward, there’s too much talent on this team (to not be winning).”
On June 11, Eureka welcomed talented Maryland Heights Post 213 (8-4) to its new facility on Bald Hill Road and lost 7-2.
Cole Edmiston took the hill for Post 177 and pitched 5 1/3 innings. Maryland Heights scored one run in the top of the first when Mike Carter doubled to center and Ethan Shupe drove him in with a single. Eureka answered in the bottom of the second when Luke Fisher doubled to right, bringing in Fieser, who had walked and hustled to second on a passed ball. Both teams remained scoreless in the third and fourth innings.
Post 213 regained the lead in the top of the fifth on a solo homer to left center by Keegan Fowler. The top of the sixth spelled trouble for Post 177 when Maryland Heights scored four runs on five hits. Kranawetter relieved Edmiston, who gave up 10 hits, five runs, walked no one and struck out four. Eureka put up one more run in the bottom of the sixth, and Post 213 added another in the top of the seventh. Kranawetter finished the contest, allowing two runs on three hits and one walk and striking out two.
Edmiston said he felt good going into the game.
“We got some good outs, but I just hung a couple pitches in spots I shouldn’t have and they hit it,” he said.
Eureka traveled to Terre Haute, Ind., June 14-16 to play in the John E. Hayes Best of the Midwest Tournament, where it went 2-2, defeating Lancaster (Ohio) Post 11 and West Terre Haute Post 501 and losing to Danville (Ill.) Post 210 and Madison (Ind.) Post 9. Baker had hopes that facing strong competition would work some of the kinks out of his defense. But the weekend was more than just wins and losses as he saw it.
“Getting these guys out of town, getting them together as a big group, hopefully it will gel us and make us more of a team,” Baker said.
Baker remains optimistic that with several weeks left in the regular season, his club can find a higher gear and stack up some wins.
“Playing on this beautiful turf field (Eureka) put in, it should be the easiest part of our game,” he said. “(The defense) will work itself out down the line. I think this team is so talented, it’s not going to be an issue come playoff time.”
