2013 spring sports

2013 SPRING SPORTS

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EI

TIGER BASEBALLThe Edwardsville Tigers secured a state-

record 28th regional title in 2012 and posted a record of 28-10.

Unfortunately, they saw their season conclude with a 3-2 loss to Southwestern Conference rival O'Fallon in the Class 4A Bloomington Sectional semifinals. The loss also saw the conclusion of the careers of players like Derek Page, Matt Huelsmann, Jevon Boyd and Devin Breihan among others which had become synonomous with the EHS program over recent years.

With the third season of the Tiger sum-mer baseball program though, head coach Tim Funkhouser was able to witness the maturation process of some younger players.

Names like Alex Meyers, Alex Lay, Jacob Trueb, Matthew Zielonko and Brock Weimer appeared onto the EHS baseball landscape and helped the Tigers compile a 27-9 mark over the summer.

With returning varsity players like Blake Graham, Drew Curtis, Zack Sparks, Jacob Fisher, Jordan Heckler, Alec Pizzini and Cole Hagen along with the new faces, Funkhouser is ready to see how it transitions to success in 2013.

“Each year there is some transition but real-ly with our summer it has helped us out,” Funkhouser said. “We get a good understand-ing of a good portion of the guys who are competing for spots and it’s always interesting to see how the guys have gotten stronger in the weight room or they’ve developed their skills. We’re really looking forward to getting outside to see how that transitions, but so far we’ve seen some good things.”

Funkhouser is blessed with having his core foundation up the middle still intact. Pizzini, who hit .318 with three homers and 26 RBIs last season, will handle the catching duties again. Sparks (6-3, 2.41 ERA) and Curtis (2-1, 2.94 ERA) will offer pitching depth, Heckler (.350, 16 RBIs) will patrol shortstop, Fisher (.337, 14 RBIs) will man second base and Graham (.298, 2 HR, 13 RBIs) will flash his leather in centerfield once again.

“It always helps out when you have a core group returning to kind of know what the expectation is for the team and know how we do things,” Funkhouser said. “All those guys are still developing their skills and we’re try-ing to progress them developmentally, but also there are a lot of guys competing for spots. We always have some of that heading into the season, but I think this is something that will continue throughout the whole year. We have multiple options in multiple places and right now we don’t have a good understanding of how that’s going to be put together before Game 1.

“That’s kind of the fun part, having competi-tion at each spot and also it’s a healthy competi-tion because our guys are really working hard and working together to better their skills.”

Curtis gives Funkhouser a very nice pawn to move around the field. The senior is committed to play at Saint Louis University next season and brings with him a hefty bat.

Last year Curtis hit .417 to lead the team, tied with Page, who is now at Eastern Illinois, to pace EHS with six round trippers and was second to Page with 35 RBIs.

Curtis has experience playing corner out-field positions as well as first and third base. Funkhouser said he will fit where it best suits the team and that is fine with Curtis.

“It’s really what our team needs are,” Funkhouser said of where Curtis will play. “I was impressed with the way he played third

base this summer and he ended up playing a good portion of it (at third). A lot of it was for his development, a lot of it was to show some schools where he could play and be a viable option and a lot of it was for our team needs. With the emergence of Alex Meyers being able to play some first base, I think both those guys can play some first base. It will be interesting to see if anybody emerges as an everyday third baseman, or if we decide to go with Drew Curtis at third. There are some options. There are a lot of guys that can do different things, but with Drew Curtis it gives us a lot of flex-ibility that benefits the team. I even asked him to get an indication of his favorite position and he said, ‘Coach, I’ll do whatever is best for the team.’ To have one of your guys do that can be beneficial.”

Funkhouser is anxious to see the contribu-

tions of the younger guys that stepped it up over the summer, too.

“Meyers is a guy who emerged on the mound,” Funkhouser said. “Him and Cole Hagen. We’ve seen Cole in a few varsity innings and each time out he did really well. Those two guys in particular really commanded the zone and I thought had good stuff and gave us a consistent five, six innings each time out.

“Position wise, we got to see Brock Weimer a little bit as a catcher and to see his develop-ment continue and how he stacks up behind the plate and also offensively and we’ve got a few other guys,” Funkhouser said. “(Matt) Zielonko was a guy playing as a true freshman over the summer and to come right into that was a heck of a challenge. He battled through it and he struggled at times, but he also showed some success. Zielonko has made great strides and

I’m anxious to see where he progresses. Tyler Worthey kind of focused on golf, but he’s out and we’re anxious to see where he fits in. He’s done some good things.”

As for the schedule, it remains primarily the same with just a couple subtle changes.

EHS plays its Busch Stadium game at 7:30 p.m. vs. Greenville on April 13 following a 3:15 Cardinals matchup with the Milwaukee Brewers. That is a Saturday night, which is a change.

“The Busch game has been a great event all around for us, fundraising and the kids’ experi-ence is No. 1 with it,” Funkhouser said. “Seeing a Cardinal game and then playing after it, last year was the Cubs, this year it’s the Brewers on a Saturday opening weekend. It’s also the replica jersey giveaway. The Cardinals will be wearing them that day, too and everybody 21 and over will get one, so that should be a good sell.”

There were a few other tweaks Funkhouser noted from last season, too.

“The Parkway Tournament we got in last year, we played four games, we’ll be able to play two of those this year,” he said. “We ran into some overscheduling last year and had to cancel some games and didn’t want to put our-selves in that situation again. We couldn’t find a date with Vianney this year, so maybe if we get some rainouts and they get some rainouts we can hook up. We go back to the Lincoln Tournament. Triad is out and Metamora is in, so it’s Metamora, Streator and Lincoln so we’ll see a different team there. Moline is coming down on a Friday early in the season. Other than that very similar teams that we’ve seen in the past.”

He expects the conference to be its normal grueling challenge. Last season Edwardsville tied with Alton for second while O'Fallon won it outright.

“I think our conference is going to be very similar to what it’s been in the past, very com-petitive up and down,” Funkhouser said. “I think O’Fallon being the conference winner last year, I know they return a few pitchers that really had success, but they lost their best pitcher (Sam Hopkins), but they’re always right there with 3-2, 4-3, 2-1 ball games. Alton has some arms coming back as well as solid posi-tion players with (Brent) Gibbs leading the way. Granite City’s catcher (Chad Spanberger) is a solid player and they have several other play-ers. Collinsville pitcher Tanner Houck commit-ted to Mizzou and they have some other guys that gave them a good chance on the mound last year and then you always have Belleville East and Belleville West in there. I think it will be another hard go, but that’s the beauty of being in our conference, you’re going to be tested everyday. You better be ready to go.”

The orange and black kick off the season at home in 2013, hosting Greenville at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Bill Roseberry/Intelligencer

Pictured are senior members of the EHS baseball team. In front from left to right are: Drew Burns, Jordan Heckler and Alexander Lay. In the middle row from left to right are: Dan Levey, Blake Graham, Alec Pizzini, Caleb Frey and Maxwell Gabriel. In the back row from left to right are: Zack Sparks, Cole Hagen, Bryce Cantrall, Max Rolens and Brock Gulledge. Not pictured is Drew Curtis.

By BILL [email protected]

TIGER SOFTBALLLast year's so-called rebuilding season turned into a region-

al championship and a 33-3 record for the Edwardsville Tiger softball team.

EHS, which featured four underclassmen starters, now enters the 2013 campaign with the lofty expectations that the program has come to expect during head coach Lori Blade’s tenure.

Prior to the 2011 season, when the Tigers lost to Collinsville in the Class 4A Alton Regional championship game, Edwardsville had won six straight regional titles and posted five consecutive 30-win seasons. The 2011 team finished 27-4.

Last year, EHS, facing a number of question marks to begin the season, delivered strong results.

“We were very fortunate that we had some things fall in place for us and we had young kids step in with what we graduated the year before,” Blade said. “We have a very good nucleus coming back, some young kids with experience and a good senior class of leaders that will provide a lot for us.”

Edwardsville did lose two seniors from last year’s team, Kendall Navin and Megan McNamee.

Navin, the starting catcher and cleanup hitter, hit .544 with five home runs and 47 RBIs, all three led the team. McNamee, who played right field, hit .421 with four homers and 29 RBIs from the No. 5 spot in the batting order.

The loss of the two could hurt the Edwardsville offense, which led the Southwestern Conference with 9.7 runs per

game.“I think the biggest question mark is going to be the

offense,” Blade said. “Offensively, replacing Kendall and Megan’s bats in what they produced is going to be tough to replace. We do have some kids that I think are healthy and could provide for us. I think we are going to be fine, but we have to find a way to stay healthy and replace some runs that those two led us through."

Health was an issue last season for EHS’ ace and No. 3 hitter Amber Toenyes. Back and arm problems sidelined the Eastern Illinois recruit for a portion of the second half of the season. She was unable to hit during the final four games of the season. Even with the injuries, Toenyes still batted .410 with four homers and 28 RBIs. In the circle, she was 15-1 with a 1.22 ERA in 109 innings.

Toenyes is one of three senior starters on the team. Taylor Maggio returns for her third season in center field and Aubry Dickmann, who will play volleyball at McKendree, finds her-self back in left field. Both slap hitters, Maggio hit .370 with 13 RBIs and a team-best 38 runs scored from the leadoff spot while Dickmann hit .346 with 10 RBIs.

The senior class offers more than just the numbers, and that goes beyond the three senior starters to the role players Megan Pranger and Anna Stamer.

“We have three great seniors that have a lot of experience,” Blade said. “The seniors provide a lot of good leadership. Megan has done a great job. She does whatever we ask her and she is going to get her opportunity. Anna Stamer is a good team player that does whatever we tell her. We have a great nucleus to build around.”

Continued on Page 2

Matthew Kamp/Intelligencer

Pictured from left to right are Edwardsville softball seniors: Anna Stamer, Amber Toenyes, Megan Pranger, Aubry Dickmann and Taylor Maggio.

By MATTHEW [email protected]

Spring SportsFriday, March 15, 2013 — www.theintelligencer.com

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TIGER SOFTBALLContinued from Page 1

EHS also has a very strong founda-tion of youth returning, especially in the infield. Two freshmen flanked the left side of the infield while a couple of sophomores played on the right side for Blade’s Tigers last season.

Now juniors, Carly Weimer and Olivia Nicholls will look to contin-ue their upward path. Weimer, who played first base when Toenyes was pitching or injured, hit .365 with a home run and 22 RBIs. The second baseman Nicholls was a .333-hitter with 21 RBIs. She had six straight hits to start the postseason.

On the left side, sophomores Katelyn Bobrowski and Ari Arnold are back. Bobrowski, who played third base, hit .390 and drove in 34 RBIs, second best on the team behind Navin. Arnold hit .365, drove in 27 runs and played stel-lar defense at shortstop.

Another sophomore, Kallen Loveless, shined in her first season with the team. Loveless went 14-2 with a 1.50 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 103 innings. She also smashed two home runs and drove in 20 runs while hitting .390.

As for replacing Navin and McNamee, Blade has a few options.

Sophomore Lindsey Toenyes (.522, 9 RBIs) and junior Anna Walschleger (6 for 10) will battle for Navin’s former spot behind the plate. Pranger (.583, 7 RBIs) and freshman Rachel Anderson are the primary candidates to replace McNamee.

“Rachel is a dynamic kid. She is quick and has a great feel in the out-field and can slap it and hit for power. With that weapon in there, that will be tough. We will see how she does in the first part of the season with varsity pitching,” Blade said. “I foresee her making a big impact in this.”

Edwardsville also has a handful

of other players that will be battling for playing time in various positions. Sophomores Torrie Kruse (.438, 10 RBIs), Sara Radae (.389, HR, 5 RBIs) and Melanie Russo (.214, 3 RBIs) could also make big contributions.

Blade said it may be the deepest team she has had at EHS.

“We have two kids at pretty much every position. That is good depth-wise, competing-wise. I do not think that we fall off in that. This might be the first year that we have that with the depth and two kids at each position,” Blade said.

The depth will come in handy in a conference race that may be wide open.

O’Fallon, last season’s champion by a game over Edwardsville, lost four starters, including its top hitter Macy Oswald (.431, 9 HRs, 50 RBIs) and pitcher Taylor Barnouski (15-5, 1.90 ERA). The Panthers, the two-time defending league champs, do return Sam Ralphs (.447, 17 RBIs), Taylor Underwood (.430, 5 HRs, 32 RBIs) and Taylor Bowlby (14-1, 0.92 ERA).

Belleville East, Belleville West, Collinsville and Alton will also provide challenges to a SWC championship the Tigers have not grabbed since 2010.

“I think the conference is going to be good. It always is,” Blade said. “O’Fallon is returning its pitcher and I know they graduated a lot, but they are a good program. They will roll them in and roll them out.

“Belleville East, I think, will be very competitive and probably just as much as anybody. They may be the sleeper. Alton returns good pitch-ing and there’s Collinsville. I do not see anybody going undefeated in the conference.”

EHS starts the season at Gillespie at 4:15 p.m. Monday.

TIGER BOYS' TRACKChad Lakatos is entering his fifth year

as the head coach of the Edwardsville Tiger boys' track and field team and to say the program has flourished under his tutelage is an understatement.

The Tigers are coming off their best finish in school history, bringing home a second-place trophy in May from the Class 3A state meet. Previously, the program's best had been a third-place finish in 2003.

Now Lakatos moves ahead with-out the first class he spent four years with at EHS. The class also happened to be blessed with some pretty good athletes.

Gone are Cameron James, Garrett Sweatt, Vincent Valentine, Garrett Jensen, Josh White and Deonte Andresen, all state medal winners from a year ago. Also gone is pole vaulter Tom Schuette who narrowly missed a medal.

Bennett Gray, Julian Harvey and Craig James all return to the program with medals from a year ago, and Lakatos is ready to forge ahead with another solid squad.

“A lot of people might say with what we lost we might be looking to rebuild, but I like to look at it like we’ve just reloaded,” Lakatos said. “We have a couple kids who are young and then a couple like Julian and Bennett who have experience as well as Craig. Those are the three guys that com-peted at state last year and with those three guys we’ve tried to work things around them. Our expectations are going to maintain high at Edwardsville and our kids are working hard and I

think that’s going to pay off.”Strength looks to remain on the track

where Gray was third in the 100-meter dash last year at state with a time of 10.65 seconds.

Gray and Craig James were also part of the 400-meter relay team that took third and the 800-meter relay team that finished fourth. They teamed with Andresen and Cameron James in those events.

“Craig has made some big strides in the sprints and of course Bennett placed third in the 100 last year,” Lakatos said. “We’re also looking at some other guys that might mix in. Time will tell. With track season a lot can happen. A lot can go well and a lot can go wrong and the main thing is just keeping our kids healthy and not trying to over train. They’ve had a good winter in the weight room so the strength is hopefully going to prevent some injuries down the road.”

Lakatos really hopes to see some guys step up their game just like what happened last season.

Cameron James was coming off a junior season where he was fifth in the 100 with a time of 10.88, the fastest time in the race for an underclass-man. A hamstring injury hampered him during his senior year though and Gray sprinted onto the scene — liter-ally.

“With C.J. (Cameron James) being hurt (in 2012) it was almost as if we didn’t have him,” Lakatos said. “We didn’t have the full C.J. last year, let’s just put it that way, so that made Bennett step up.”

The distance running group will take a hit with the loss of Sweatt, who is now competing at Stanford University.

He was fifth in the 3,200-meter run as a junior and fourth as a senior.

Youngsters like sophomore Brydon Groves-Scott and freshman Ethan Townzen will look to cut their teeth on the track while Lakatos expects the Tigers to be able to lean on senior Chad Maxwell.

“We’re going to ask some of these other guys in the distance program to realize they have big shoes to fill,” Lakatos said. “I know coach (George) Patrylak is excited about the group that he has. Chad Maxwell is one indi-vidual we’re thinking we can get some state points out of and the rest of the group is kind of young so the chances of us getting points from the rest of that group is pretty slim, but I think they realize with hard work and time their time will come.”

The field events will be led by Harvey who boasts an eighth-place medal in the high jump from state in 2012. He leaped 6-06 to earn his medal.

Much of the rest of the field events will be comprised of new faces.

The throwing events leave some big shoes to be filled. Jensen took third in the discus at state last year with a throw of 168-05 while Valentine was fourth in the shot put with a toss of 56-11.5.

Lakatos foresees some new guys will step it up this season though.

“We’ve talked to our throwers and (Matt) Compton threw 50 feet last year (shot put),” said Lakatos. “Kavan (Weiss) was a 48-footer last year, so we we’ve talked to those guys about what we expect from them and the shoes they need to fill.”

Some of the other field events that

will need to be revamped are the triple jump and the pole vault.

White was ninth at state in the triple jump in 2012 with a jump of 46-06.5. That was even with straining his MCL on the final day and having to have his jump from the preliminaries carry over.

Schuette finished 10th in the pole vault, missing a state medal by one spot. He vaulted 14-06, a jump of 14-09 took ninth.

Lakatos said it's hard to reload immediately in the specialty events like those, but he hopes the Tigers are heading in the right direction.

“Those specialty events, pole vault, triple jump and the hurdles, those are hard to replace quickly,” Lakatos said. “We’re asking (Brendan) Northcutt and a couple other guys to continue to give a good effort and continue to work hard. I know O’Fallon has got two returning good vaulters so we’re just asking our kids to stay competitive and compete and give a great effort.”

Winning the Southwestern Conference will be a goal of EHS according to Lakatos. The Tigers have won it three years in a row and aren't ready to give it up yet.

“Our goal is to win it,” Lakatos said of the SWC. “We had a three-peat last year and I think for these seniors to have a sweep would be kind of a sweet way to end the conference for them, but it’s also kind of the beginning of us heading into our postseason. Conference is one meet that we take pretty serious, both varsity and JV. We did win the JV section last year and a lot of coaches don’t look at that too serious, but we do. It’s a good sign to us for the future.

Continued on Page 3

TIGER GIRLS' TRACKExpectations for second-year girls’ track

and field head coach MiKala Thompkins are going to be very high entering this season.

Thompkins would not want it any other way.

The Tigers are coming off the program’s first-ever state championship, as they out-distanced themselves from Belleville West to claim the Class 3A state title at O’Brien Stadium at Eastern Illinois.

Now, EHS is hoping for a repeat perfor-mance.

“The girls took charge last year. They saw an opening and they went for it. The stars aligned for us,” Thompkins said. “The girls are working just as hard so we can have a repeat.”

Edwardsville will be looking to become the first team out of the state’s largest division to earn consecutive state championships since Evanston had a four-peat in Class AA from 2003-06. No team has accomplished the feat yet in 3A, which came into place in 2009.

The Tigers do have the luxury of returning all but two athletes from the eight events they competed in last season. Meih Huddleston and Sierra Rallo both graduated following the state meet. Huddleston competed on the 400-meter and 1,600-meter relay teams while Rallo was on the 400 relay team. Both of the teams failed to get past Friday’s preliminar-ies.

“They are all back, every last one of them,” Thompkins said. “We have a lot of girls that are looking at those girls and they want a taste of it, too. We have other girls out here, especially freshmen, that are working so hard so they can have a taste of it.”

The newest members of the girls’ track and field team have a lot to look up to.

Back for Edwardsville is its shot put and discus state champion Emmonnie Henderson, who will be looking for state medals No. 6 and 7 this spring. Henderson won her third shot put state title with a toss of 48-02.5. Her second discus championship came by way of a heave of 157-11, a Class 3A record.

Also back with the senior Henderson is junior throwing partner A’aliyah Covington, who had two top-six finishes in the shot put and discus. Covington was fourth in the

shot put at 42-06.25 and sixth in the discus at 124-01.

EHS assistant coach Ben Bishop, who works with Henderson and Covington throughout

the season, said it is always nice when you can earn plenty of team points from two throwers. Last season, they combined for 30 of the team’s 51 points.

“Emmonnie is not always considered to be an automatic 20 points, but she is a heavy favorite as long as she goes out and takes care of business. I knew both throwers were superiorly talented with great athleticism and they are willing to work hard,” Bishop said. “I would like to see us match or outdo what we did last year. It will be a tough gig for A’aliyah, but it was tough for her last year. The biggest thing with her was the experience that she got at state. That was her first time up there. She is going to be ready to go.”

Last year’s performance was very enjoy-able for Bishop, and now he is hoping for even more.

“It puts a smile on the throws coach face, that is what it does,” Bishop joked. “We look to them to be the backbone before the state meet even gets to track. We like to see where we stack up point wise after the field events get done. To have that head start with the throws really puts us in good position.”

Junior Kristen Dowell is aiming to build on her two top-six finishes in the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles, including third in the 300 at 42.77. Dowell was also part of the 400 relay team.

Deborrah Blackburn, now a junior, returns for the high jump after placing fourth last season. Her final successful leap of 5-06 gave the Tigers their final points to solidify the state title.

Senior Lauren White, who was sixth in the 300 hurdles, is the other Tiger returning with experience from state’s final day. She also ran anchor on the 1,600 relay team.

Those that did not make it out of Friday’s preliminaries and will be looking to do so this year are senior pole vaulter Kennedy Roderick and relay holdovers Morgan Sharpe and Amelia Williams.

Sharpe and Williams headline the group of sprinters that will look to earn team points this season in Charleston. Last year, outside of Dowell and White on the hurdles, the Tigers saw all their points come outside the track.

Thompkins believes this season will be different.

Continued on Page 3


Senior members of the Edwardsville Tiger girls' track and field team are, in front: Kennedy Roderick, Millie Larue, Sarah Smith and Alysia Winters. In the back row from left to right are: Emmonnie Henderson, Melissa Calcara and Lauren White.




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Pictured above are senior members of the Edwardsville Tiger boys' track and field team. In front from left to right are: Logan Weshinskey, Chad Maxwell, Bennett Gray, Ben Gabel and Ajamu Hetep. In the back row from left to right are: Kurtis Niemeyer, Joey Best, Matt Compton, Julian Havey, Josh Clark, Ryker Frohock and Nick Ferrrari.

TIGER BOYS' TRACKContinued From Page 2

“I know O’Fallon is going to be strong. They have a lot of depth and their distance program is coming off a second place finish at cross country. I think them and East St. Louis are going to be strong and then Belleville West. It’s going to be a dogfight and track and field is all offense. There’s not a defense we can set up to stop those guys. We’ll see how the season progresses and we’ll go from there.”

But conference is just one of the

goals for Edwardsville. Lakatos always likes to set the bar early so his guys have a tangible goal to reach by the end of the year. This season will be no different.

“I told the kids coming in that I want to bring a trophy back again this year and I think we’ve got the group to do it if things fall into place,” Lakatos said. “If we can avoid injuries, kids stay healthy and work hard, if those things happen then I think we have a pretty good chance of potentially

doing something exciting again. I think (Roselle) Lake Park is super loaded and they may win it in the field, but we’re going to do what we can do.”

EHS has already been competing in indoor meets this season but begins the outdoor season at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Belleville West.

The Tigers will be at home at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 23 for the Southwestern Illinois Relays at the Winston Brown Track and Field Complex.

TIGER VOLLEYBALLEdwardsville head coach Andy

Bersett is starting to see the trans-formation for his boys’ volleyball program.

The understanding of the game is no longer having to be taught during tryouts, and instead Bersett and his coaching staff can finally start to focus on the intangibles of the game with their team. The lone exception to this came in 2011 when EHS advanced to the state tournament with a group of players that had been around since the program began in 2009.

“We had more kids play year-round volleyball than we ever did before. We should be fairly deep this year. I have an idea, but who knows who is going to fill what position. It depends on who comes out and works the hardest, but we do have options,” Bersett said. “We were down a little bit (in terms of numbers) at tryouts, but the number of kids playing volleyball all year is the differ-ence. This is one of the first try-outs that I have had that is more like a practice. We are not show-ing them how to swing, serve or pass. It is more refining the skill than it is beginning the skill.”

The program has shown an upward trend in production since the program started in 2009. After winning just two games in their first season, the Tigers went 14-8 in their second season with Bersett. The 2011 team rattled off 25 straights wins en route to a 25-2 season and an appearance in the state tournament. The success began to draw more kids out of the EHS hallways and into Lucco-Jackson Gymnasium, as the num-bers game started to turn favor-able for Bersett.

Once the kid is in the program, Bersett and his coaching staff do the rest to get them ready.

“You always have a plan year to year. The second year a kid has been in the program it has been leaps and bounds (of growth),” Bersett said. “We continue to see that growth. The kids are playing more volleyball and that is the biggest difference.”

Sustaining success was some-thing that was in question after the 2011 team finished. Five of the starters were seniors, includ-ing hitters Eric Fitterer (Lewis University) and John Pranger (Quincy University) and setter Stephen Billiter.

Though EHS did not make a repeat appearance to state, the Tigers did go 18-14 and claimed their second consecutive region-al championship. They pushed Southwestern Conference champ Belleville East to three games in the sectional semifinals, before ultimately losing for the fourth

time that season to the Lancers.The season was “not a surprise”

according to Bersett, despite Edwardsville having to replace a handful of starters with multiple years of experience with first-year varsity players.

“Last year was really gratifying to win a regional, and we were right there in the sectional semi-final against Belleville East. They were the better team. I thought we played one of our best matches at the end. I thought we were play-ing our best ball at the end,” said Bersett. “The kids showed a lot of growth. We had a lot of young guys stepping into new positions. It was a new year, but it was a good year.”

Going into the 2013 season, the Tigers must again replace an iden-tity player in Nathan Henning. The 6-foot-5 hitter led the team in attacks with 273 kills. He also had 31 blocks and a team-best 30 aces. Also gone is Tony Miner, who had 128 kills and 35 blocks.

EHS does have the beni-fit of returning its setter, Adam Douglas.

Now a senior, Douglas will enter his second season as the starting setter. He replaced Billiter last season, and he showed that he could handle the position in his first year. Douglas had 645 assists, 54 digs and 23 aces.

Bersett is expecting even more production this year.

“Adam has made tremendous strides. When he was a sopho-more, we were thinking that we were going to need a setter in the future. He showed us that he has good hands. He has come a long way,” Bersett said.

With Henning and Miner gone, Douglas and the Tigers do have some hitting options.

Senior Nathan Woolverton is the leading returner. He had 183 kills and 11 blocks a season ago. Seniors Wes Grigaitis (34 kills, 17 blocks) and Jordin Ray (73 kills, 39 blocks) and junior Brandon Davis (14 kills) also return, look-ing for even bigger roles this sea-son at the net.

“We have a pretty deep set of hitters. Both of our middles are coming back. We have a couple of young middles that are making strides. We have a couple guys on the right side and a couple of guys on the left side,” Bersett said.

Edwardsville’s depth could be an advantage in the conference race.

Belleville East, which went 10-0 in SWC play, lost six seniors, including Sam Pruett (181 kills, 94 blocks). O’Fallon, which tied the Tigers for second at 7-3, lost its top two hitters.

The subractions from two of the top league teams means the con-ference race could be wide open.

“I think the conference is look-ing real even right now. Everyone lost a little bit last year. The con-ference is much more well-round-ed. It is not that they have one stud here and one stud there. I think the teams are more well-rounded with kids playing club,” Bersett said.

EHS starts the season against Bersett’s alma mater CBC at 5 p.m. Friday in St. Louis. Edwardsville then has its home opener when it welcomes Belleville East to Lucco-Jackson Gymnasium on Tuesday, March 26 at 5:30 p.m.


Returning senior members of the EHS boys’ volleyball team from left to right are: Wes Grigaitis, Nathan Woolverton, Adam Douglas and Jordin Ray.


TIGER GIRLS' TRACKContinued from Page 2

“The girls have rerouted what their goals are and we want to make sure that we are consistent. Once we get to state, we want to make sure that we are able to get some finals and be even across the board,” she said.

Thompkins is also hoping to get more production from her runners.

Included in the group is long-distance runner Allie Sweatt, a junior. She missed advancing in the 1,600-meter run out of the Normal West Sectional by four seconds.

Also looking to help out are senior Sarah Smith, sopho-more Elizabeth Lynn and freshman Rachel Schoenecker.

“Allie Sweatt, in the mile this year, wants it bad. We have Sarah Smith, who is a senior. This is her third year in track, and she has made some tremendous improvements. Rachel Schoenecker, who is a freshman, is one to watch. She has been continuously working hard. You can not forget about Elizabeth Lynn. She definitely wants to redeem herself in the track season,” Thompkins said.

A new face to the team this season is senior Melissa Calcara. She sat out last season after making it to state in the 300 hurdles as a sophomore.

With all the returnees and last season’s success, the Tigers are heavily favored to have another strong showing at state this year. Thompkins said the team is not thinking about it though.

“The girls are not thinking about how they got it last year, so they are going to get it this year,” she said. “We are think-ing about going out there and working hard. It is not about what you do at the beginning of the season, but what you do at the end of the season.”

EHS proved that last year. The Tigers were fourth in the Southwestern Conference meet, placing behind Belleville West, O’Fallon and East St. Louis, and then took third in the Normal West Sectional. Those finishes did not matter, as Edwardsville ultimately claimed the biggest prize of all.

There will be a team missing this season from the Class 3A postseason, as the East St. Louis Flyerettes have dropped down a class due to enrollment. Even though the high-powered Flyerettes will not be present, there will still be plenty of competition in the SWC from Belleville East, Belleville West and O’Fallon.

“We have great competition around us, especially here in the south. This is where state is if you ask me. We also have some northern schools that are showing up too,” Thompkins said.

Edwardsville travels to O'Fallon for a quadrangular with Granite City and Alton at 4 p.m. Wednesday to start the outdoor season.

EHS then hosts the Southwestern Illinois Relays at the Winston Brown Track and Field Complex on Saturday, March 23 at 10 a.m.

TIGER SOCCERFor the first time in the last few seasons,

expectations for the Edwardsville Tiger girls’ soccer team are quite high.

The Tigers are coming off a 12-9-4 season that included the school’s first win in a regional game and regional championship since 2008. That last win and title came in the final year of the two-class system, and the accomplishment last season ended a three-year shutout in Class 3A.

The recent success has already had an impact on the future. Edwardsville head coach Abby Bohnenstiehl said this season’s tryouts brought out the largest number of

players in her four years at the school.“We have a lot of players back this year.

Not only do we have them, but we also have quite a few freshmen that have come out for the team this year. Last year we only had about 44 players for all three teams, but this year we kept 53 players. We have big numbers this year,” Bohnenstiehl said.

With another successful season, that number could climb again.

It is the Edwardsville defense that will help set the foundation for this year. Last season, the Tigers allowed 33 goals in 25 games. Seven of EHS’ victories came via shutout, including a 1-0 double-overtime win over rival Granite City in the Alton

Regional championship game.Gone from Edwardsville’s back line are

Rachel Kinney and Kaytelyn Meyenburg, both part of last season’s senior class. The Tigers do return a couple of anchors for the backfield in seniors Tayler Heinemeier and Rachel Wiesehan. Heinemeier (Lindenwood) and Wiesehan (Maryville) will both play soccer in college.

As for the other two spots, Bohnenstiehl has a couple of options with seniors Morgan Kerlin and Taylor Tosovsky. Both players saw a majority of their minutes in the midfield last season, and Tosovsky, who will play for St. Louis Community College in Kirkwood, led the team with six assists.

“Rachel and Heinemeier have been back there since they were pretty much fresh-men. They are doing a great job back there. We are looking for big things from them,” Bohnenstiehl said. “I am still trying to figure out who my other two players are going to be. Taylor Tosovsky may be back there. Morgan Kerlin may be back there. That is four seniors right there.”

Playing behind the defense will be junior goalkeeper Kristen Francis. She had all seven of the shutouts last season for Edwardsville.

“Kristen has been doing a great job. She has been doing a great job the past two years,” Bohnenstiehl said.

Hoping to complement the defense is an

offense that started to find a rhythm late last season. During a late five-game stretch, the Tigers outscored their opponents 15-6, including 4-2 in a regional semifinal win over Quincy. In the 15 games prior, EHS managed 13 goals.

The team’s two leading scorers are back. Sophomore Lexi Norton led the way with nine goals, including the game-winner against Alton in the regional. Also back is senior Sydney Bloch, who had six goals in her first season with the team after playing softball the previous two seasons.

Bohnenstiehl is looking forward to see-ing what her two forwards can do this season together.

Continued on Page 4



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From the Sports EditorA lot of people put a lot of work in the Spring Sports Preview each and every year.First and foremost, I would like to thank sports reporter Matthew Kamp for his tireless

work on stories, photos and everything else associated with this publication.In addition, I'd like to thank Jennifer Dyer for her support with layout and design of this

publication and I'd also like to thank the advertising sales staff for another fantastic effort.A special thanks always goes out to Managing Editor Bill Tucker for always being there

for support and words of advice.Finally, as always, big thank yous go out to the coaches and players, who are always will-

ing to give their time to make this publication a success.

Bill Roseberry

Continued from Page 3“It is two different styles, but it

works so well together,” Bohnenstiehl said. “Last year, when we started off the season, our first seven goals were from them. They were both new to the program. I am looking for big things from them again this year.”

Getting the ball to those forwards will be a newly-designed midfield. With the loss of junior Tessa Wagner to an ACL injury, Bohnenstiehl said she decided to mix things up a bit.

The changes may have moved Tosovsky (four goals) and Kerlin back to defense, but the Tigers still have plenty talent remaining if they go through with the move.

“We are changing it up a little bit this year. We are having to find a couple of new spots for our mid-fielders,” Bohnenstiehl said. “We still have Ashley Krekovich there, Allison Pritchard, Riley Mushill and Taylor Thompson is still here. Lily Cobb and Sydney Bloch could be playing a little bit in that midfield also.”

With nine of 11 starters back, the Tigers are hoping to surpass last season’s mark. The team to beat in the Southwestern Conference remains Collinsville, which went 5-1 in league play. The lone loss was a 2-0 setback to Edwardsville. The Kahoks, though, had the last laugh in the sectional semifinals.

Bohnenstiehl said the team is ready to compete for the top spot in the SWC.

“We have not won a regional game in so long, except last year. Winning that regional and then coming so close against Collinsville is a huge thing for us. They see that they can do it,” Bohnenstiehl said. “It is only

going to get better.”Bohnenstiehl later added, “They

are looking forward to it already.”The Tigers defeated Mount Vernon

8-0 on Monday in the first game of the Metro Cup tournament at

the District 7 Sports Complex. They then faced league-rival O’Fallon on Wednesday.

Edwardsville wraps up the tour-nament against Waterloo at 3 p.m. Saturday.


Senior members of the Edwardsville girls’ soccer team from left to right are: Taylor Tosovsky, Morgan Kerlin, Tayler Heinemeier, Rachel Wiesehan, Sara Duft and Sydney Bloch.

TIGER SOCCER

TIGER TENNISThe 2012 season will always be an indelible memo-

ry in Edwardsville Tiger tennis lore.The senior doubles tandem of Justin Leskera, the

winningest Tiger of all-time, and Cam Randall, No. 2 all-time, became the first EHS players to earn a top-four finish at the state tournament. Despite losing their final two matches, Leskera and Randall took fourth overall which led the Tigers to a ninth-place finish as a team. It was only the fourth top-10 finish in school history, joining teams from 1957, 2003 and 2007.

EHS did it with only three entries, too. Brandon Harris qualified for state but was sidelined by injury. Jack Desse went 4-2 as the lone singles competitor and the duo of Jake Gingerich and Jared Zurliene were 3-2.

Harris, Desse, Gingerich and Zurliene all return in 2013 along with a slew of other talented netters. Gone are Leskera, Randall and Alex Guglielmo.

Edwardsville head coach Dave Lipe knows those will be big shoes to fill, especially Leskera and Randall, but he doesn't believe 2013 will be a regression.

“We graduated some good talent again last year, good players, great leaders obviously,” Lipe said. “Losing Justin and Cam, Nos. 2 and 3, is quite a blow, but we bring back Nos. 1, 4, 5 and 6. I think everybody had a good offseason and the kids that were behind those kids had good offseasons, too. I don’t feel like we’ve taken a giant leap backwards in terms of the tal-ent that we’re going to roll out there in every position. I feel like we’re very comparable to last year’s team.”

Lipe has raved about having young talent over the last few seasons and now those players are maturing and ready to take the reins. It's a great conundrum to have when it comes to filling out the lineup.

“I think especially our four state qualifiers that returned, those guys worked really hard and they’re better players than they were last year,” Lipe said. “I also think guys that are stepping in to take bigger roles, guys like: Zach Bryant, Logan Ware, John Koons, Kyle Carlson, Joe Mezo, those guys have improved a lot. Those guys are ready to step into voids left by (Leskera and Randall) leaving.”

In recent years, Lipe has had the luxury of rolling out a consistent lineup with only small tweaks here or there. This year may be a little different, but he's excited for the opportunity to jostle the roster to create some friendly competition.

It's hard for him to project how it will play out right now.

“We don’t know who is going to play singles yet,” Lipe said. “Jake and Jared will probably play doubles, but this might be a year where we change the lineup more than we have in other years. Some years I’ve had a lineup and we’ve stuck to that lineup. In the past it’s

been an obvious lineup. I don’t know if this year’s is obvious.

“Right now we have those four returning guys at the top of our lineup (Harris, Desse, Gingerich and Zurliene) in some order. On any given day I’d say those four guys are close to interchangeable. After the round robins Jake and Brandon were just a nose apart and Jack was right there and Jared was right there, so those top four guys are really competing for those top four singles spots. Zach Bryant, Logan Ware and John Koons are sorting themsevles out for those next two or three varsity spots and also right there are Andrew Serfas, Kyle Carlson and Joe Mezo. In tournaments where we play eight guys, eight of those 10 guys will be in there in some order.”

The philosophy of a demanding schedule will remain for the Tigers. Lipe believes it prepares the team for battle in the postseason.

Trips to Missouri power Columbia Rock Bridge, Downer's Grove South, Lyons Township and Naperville Central highlight the schedule. New will be a visit to Nashville, Tenn. to play Christ Presbyterian Academy and David Lipscomb High School. Those

matches replace last year's trip to St. Xavier High School in Kentucky.

Lipe joked that the trip to Nashville has alterior motives.

“We have a new trip to Nashville, Tenn. to play two private schools. I hope it’s a good trip,” said Lipe. “I plan on taking Jack Desse down there and propping him up with a guitar. He’s musically inclined, he’s the front man for a band named Exit 12 and they play all kinds of gigs.”

Also new to the EHS program this season will be a new assistant coach.

“We have a new assistant coach in Jamaal Heavens, so lots of excitement, lots of newness,” Lipe said. “Lots of familiarity, too.”

The Tigers open the season at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at the Knights Invitational at Triad. They will make their home debut at 1 p.m. on March 29 in the two-day Tiger Invitational.

EHS will be looking for its 12th straight sectional crown in 2013 as well as the 12th year in a row to at least own a share of the Southwestern Conference crown. The Tigers won the SWC outright in '12.


Above are varsity members of the EHS tennis team. In front from left to right are: Andrew Serfas (senior), Jonathan Koons (sophomore), Logan Ware (junior), Joe Mezo (sophomore) and Kyle Carlson (sophomore). In back from left to right are: Jake Gingerich (senior), Zach Bryant (junior), Jared Zurliene (senior) and Brandon Harris (junior). Not pictued is Jack Desse (junior).


Tiger Spring Sports

Schedules

EHS BaseballMar. 19 vs. Greenville, 4:30 p.m.Mar. 21 at Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin,

4:30 p.m.Mar. 22 at Parkway Central, 4:15 p.m.Mar. 25 vs. Jerseyville, 4:30 p.m.Mar. 26 at Alton, 4:30 p.m.Mar. 28 vs. Belleville West, 4:30 p.m.Mar. 29 vs. Moline, 4:15 p.m.Mar. 30 at Parkway South, noonApril 2 at Belleville East, 4:30 p.m.April 4 vs. O’Fallon, 4:30 p.m.April 5 at Waterloo, 11 a.m.April 9 vs. Granite City, 4:30 p.m.April 10 vs. De Smet, 4:30 p.m.April 11 at Collinsville, 4:30 p.m.April 12 at Althoff, 4:15 p.m.April 13 vs. Greenville at Busch Stadium,

7:30 p.m.April 16 vs. East St. Louis, 4:30 p.m.April 17 vs. Centralia, 4:30 p.m.April 19 at Lincoln Tournament (Lincoln),

4:30 p.m.April 20 at Lincoln Tournament (Metamora),

10 a.m.April 20 at Lincoln Tournament (Streator),

1 p.m.April 22 at Wesclin, 4:30 p.m.April 23 at Belleville West, 4:30 p.m.April 25 vs. Alton, 4:30 p.m.April 30 at O’Fallon, 4:30 p.m.May 2 vs. Belleville East, 4:30 p.m.May 3 hosts Tiger Classic (Lockport), 7

p.m.May 4 hosts Tiger Classic (Highland), 11

a.m.May 4 hosts Tiger Classic (Glenwood), 1:30

p.m.May 7 vs. Collinsville, 4:30 p.m.May 9 at Granite City, 4:30 p.m.May 11 vs. East Peoria, 10 a.m.May 11 vs. Civic Memorial, 12:30 p.m.May 14 vs. Mount Vernon, 4:30 p.m.May 17 at Triad, 4:15 p.m.

EHS SoftballMar. 18 at Gillespie, 4:15 p.m.Mar. 20 vs. Herrin, 4:15 p.m.Mar. 23 vs. Mater Dei (DH), 11 a.m.Mar. 26 vs. Alton, 4:30 p.m.Mar. 28 at Belleville West, 4:30 p.m.Mar. 29 vs. Central, TBAApril 2 vs. Belleville East, 4:30 p.m.April 3 at Freeburg, 4:30 p.m.April 4 vs. O’Fallon, 4:30 p.m.April 5 vs. Triad, 4:30 p.m.April 6 at Normal Community (DH), 11

a.m.April 9 at Granite City, 4:30 p.m.April 11 vs. Collinsville, 4:30 p.m.April 16 vs. East St. Louis, 4:30 p.m.April 19 at O’Fallon, 4:30 p.m.April 23 vs. Belleville West, 4:30 p.m.April 24 at Althoff, 4:15 p.m.April 25 at Alton, 4:30 p.m.April 26 vs. Civic Memorial, 4:15 p.m.April 30 vs. O’Fallon, 4:30 p.m.May 2 at Belleville East, 4:30 p.m.May 3 vs. Teutopolis (DH), 4:30 p.m.May 7 at Collinsville, 4:30 p.m.May 9 vs. Granite City, 4:30 p.m.May 14 at Highland, 4:15 p.m.May 15 vs. East St. Louis, 4:30 p.m.May 17 at Waterloo, 4:15 p.m.May 18 vs. Marquette/Quincy, 11 a.m.

EHS Boys’ Track and Field

Mar. 19 at Belleville West Dual, 4 p.m.Mar. 23 hosts Southwestern IL Relays, 10

a.m.Mar 26. at Granite City Triangular, 4 p.m.Mar. 29 at O’Fallon Relays, 3:30 p.m.April 2 hosts Tiger Duals, 4 p.m.April 6 at Belleville West Invitational, 11

a.m.April 12 at Granite City Invitational, 4 p.m.April 20 hosts Winston Brown Invite, 10

a.m.April 23 at Madison County Meet (Granite

City), 4 p.m.May 4 at Collinsville Invitational, 10 a.m.May 8 at SWC Meet (Belleville East), 4 p.m.

EHS Girls’ Track and Field

Mar. 20 at O’Fallon/Granite City/Alton, 4 p.m.

Mar. 23 hosts Southwestern IL Relays, 10 a.m.

Mar. 25 at Alton/Collinsville, 4 p.m.Mar. 29 at Lady Maroon Invitational, 3:30

p.m.April 8 at Springfield Southeast Invitational,

10 a.m.April 10 hosts Tiger Relays, 4 p.m.April 18 at Alton Invitational, 4 p.m.April 22 at Madison County Meet (Alton),

4 p.m.April 25 at Waterloo, 4 p.m.April 26 at Collinsville Invitational, 4 p.m.April 29 at Belleville East, 4 p.m.May 2 at SWC Meet (Belleville East), 4:15

p.m.

EHS Boys’ TennisMar. 16 at Triad Knights Invitational, 8:30

a.m.Mar. 16 at Metamora Invite, noonMar. 29 hosts Tiger Invitational, 1 p.m.Mar. 30 hosts Tiger Invitational, 8:30 a.m.April 3 at O’Fallon, 4 p.m.April 5 at Christ Presbyterian Academy,

4 p.m.April 6 at David Lipscomb, 4 p.m.April 10 vs. Alton, 4 p.m.April 11 vs. Granite City, 4 p.m.April 11 at Jerseyville, 4 p.m.April 12 at Rock Bridge Quadrangular, 9

a.m.April 17 at Collinsville, 4 p.m.April 17 vs. Civic Memorial, 4 p.m.April 19 at Belleville East Invitational, 2

p.m.April 19 at Lyons Township, 4:30 p.m.April 20 at Downer’s Grove South, TBAApril 20 at Belleville East Invitational, 8

a.m.April 24 vs. Belleville East, 4 p.m.April 26 at Pitchford Invitational, TBAApril 26 hosts Tiger Duals, 1 p.m.April 27 hosts Tiger Duals, 8:30 a.m.May 3 at Naper Valley Tournament, TBAMay 4 at Naper Valley Tournament, TBAMay 7 at Belleville West, 4 p.m.May 10 at SWC Tournament (TBA), 1 p.m.May 11 at SWC Tournament (TBA), 8 a.m.

EHS Girls’ SoccerMar. 16 hosts Tiger Soccer Tournament,

TBAMar. 19 vs. Columbia, 7 p.m.Mar. 21 vs. Collinsville, 7 p.m.Mar. 25 vs. Cor Jesu Academy, 7 p.m.Mar. 26 at Belleville West, 7 p.m.April 2 vs. Belleville East, 7 p.m.April 3 at Marquette, 6:30 p.m.April 4 vs. Glenwood, 6:30 p.m.April 6 at Normal Community, 3 p.m.April 9 vs. Althoff, 7 p.m.April 12 at Triad, 4:15 p.m.April 23 at Granite City, 7 p.m.April 26 at Quincy Tournament, TBAApril 27 at Quincy Tournament, TBAApril 30 vs. Alton, 7 p.m.May 3 vs. Springfield, 7 p.m.May 8 at O’Fallon, 7 p.m.

EHS Boys’ Volleyball

Mar. 22 at CBC, 5 p.m.Mar. 26 vs. Belleville East, 5:30 p.m.Mar. 28 at O’Fallon, 5:30 p.m.April 2 at Granite City, 5:30 p.m.April 9 at St. Charles East Invite, 9 a.m.April 10 at Althoff, 5:30 p.m.April 16 at Belleville West, 5:30 p.m.April 18 vs. St. Dominic, 5:30 p.m.April 23 vs. O’Fallon, 5:30 p.m.April 25 at Belleville East, 5:30 p.m.May 2 vs. Granite City, 5:30 p.m.May 3 at O’Fallon Tournament, 6 p.m.May 4 at O’Fallon Tournament, TBAMay 9 vs. East St. Louis, 5:30 p.m.May 14 vs. Belleville West, 5:30 p.m.


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Pictured clockwise from the top are Edwardsville Tiger athletes in action from the 2012 spring season. EHS softball pitcher Amber Toenyes delivers a pitch to the plate. Edwardsville baseball player Blake Graham prepares to connect with a pitch. Tiger Bennett Gray outdistances the competition on the track during the 2012 Madison County Meet. The EHS girls' track and field team poses with their Class 3A state champi-onship trophy. Tiger tennis player Brandon Harris smashes a one-handed forehand shot. Photos by Bill Roseberry and Matthew Kamp.


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KNIGHT BASEBALLWith recent success, the Metro-East

Lutheran Knight baseball program is build-ing a strong tradition.

In two seasons under head coach Joel Rempfer, the Knights have secured back-to-back regional championships. Those regional crowns came just two years fol-lowing a 2009 season where MELHS played in the state finals in Class 2A.

Rempfer thinks the burgeoning tradi-tion is a point of pride for the Knights and something his players work hard to keep up. He's not expecting any regression in 2013.

“You can talk about maybe the added pressure of being the team that under-achieves, but I think more than that you definitely see it as the opportunity to con-tinue the string of success we’ve had here,” Rempfer said. “You don’t want to be the team that disappoints, but the team that continues the tradition of baseball that’s competitive here and teams that play hard and teams that know it’s not over until it’s over, because you look at the last two years and that’s exactly what it’s been. Coming in as the underdog, but knowing that you don’t play the game on paper, you play it on the field. I think from Day 1 that pushes these guys to work hard and to know we’re going to achieve the most that we can.”

Metro is coming off of a 12-14 season that included an early seven-game losing streak and losing eight of its first nine games.

On paper it doesn't look that good, but that's where Rempfer's never-say-die phi-losophy comes in. The Knights entered the Civic Memorial Regional and beat East Alton-Wood River 3-2, Roxana 5-1 and shocked No. 1 seed and host CM 3-2 in the title tilt.

The No. 5 seeded MELHS got hero-ics from catcher Ryan Dawdy against the Eagles with a triple to lead off the seventh inning. His courtesy runner then scored on an RBI-single off the bat of Kory Loew to lock down the win.

Unfortunately, Metro was no-hit in the Quincy Notre Dame Sectional semifinals by the host Raiders, losing 9-0 to end the season.

Pitching was the real star of the playoff run by the Knights. Now gone are two of the three horses Rempfer leaned on. Nick Hoff and Tyler Moore both graduated. The other pitcher from last year's heroics, Christian Aragona, is now a senior but Rempfer is still unsure if he will be able to pitch due to nagging injuries. Aragona had

saves in all three regional games last year.Hoff will be missed most of all by the

Knights. He was the last link to the state runner-up team of '09. He was a contribut-ing freshman in '09.

Hoff was also MELHS' leading hitter with a .364 batting average in 2012.

“You talk about a Nick Hoff, somebody who as a freshman was part of a state base-ball team, and you’re pretty much talking irreplaceable there,” Rempfer said. “But we also have a Ryan Dawdy and a Christian Aragona that have been starting since their sophomore seasons and been part of two regional championships. Every year you’re going to lose players, you just have to find guys that are going to step up and take their spot. It’s just kind of a continuing cycle. You lose guys and you have other guys that step up and replace them and I think we have guys that are capable of doing that again this year.”

Two guys that should have instant

impacts on the Knights are a pair of seniors who transferred into MELHS.

Ryan Keck has previous playing experi-ence with the Edwardsville Tigers and Chris Barry played at Triad. Barry is already signed to continue his playing career at Quincy University next year.

Rempfer expects both of them to be solid contributors to compliment Dawdy and Aragona.

“It’s absolutely huge,” Rempfer said of Keck and Barry. “The question of the talent isn’t there. There’s no question on ability. It’s just as the season moves along, finding their niche on the team and gelling which is a huge part of a team game like this. Fitting into the team part of the game, it’s going to be fun to see how that all plays out.”

Dawdy is the team's returning leading hitter. In 2012, he hit .273 with 14 RBIs. Aragona hit .244 and had nine RBIs for the Knights.

The biggest thing Rempfer looks for out

of his lineup though is flexibility in the field with multiple players able to play multiple positions.

“It’s nice to know you have multiple guys that can play multiple positions just as well as the guy in front of them and the guy behind them,” said Rempfer. “It will be nice to give Dawdy a day off every now and then behind the plate and let Barry fill in there. Having a Keck that can play shortstop and Aragona if his arm is up to it be able to play there. Just having guys that are flexible in the field is a luxury for a coach.”

Pitching-wise Rempfer thinks MELHS should be fine. He knows that is the key to success and he's prepared to use several arms.

“With Ryan Keck coming in he’ll be a big boost for our pitching staff,” Rempfer said. “We also have Harry Garner back who is a very quality pitcher, throws a lot of strikes, works around the plate. We’ll see with

Aragona if he’s able to throw or not. Chris Barry will be able to throw for us, Dawdy will be able to throw for us and Kory Loew who threw a few games as a freshman last year and held his own, he’s another year older as well. We’ll see how things shake out over the year.”

Garner and Loew threw the most innings of the returners. Garner was 0-4 in five starts and 23.1 innings with a 4.80 ERA. Loew was 1-2 in eight relief appearances with a 6.20 ERA. He tossed 14.2 innings.

A new expedition for the Knights in 2013 will be the addition of the Prairie State Conference schedule. Finally having a con-ference schedule will be a bonus for Metro and tack on some more goals for the team.

“It’s just one more thing we can put on our list of goals for the year,” Rempfer said of the PSC. “It gives us a checklist of things we want to mark off as we go. It’s definitely a new experience but I think it will make it that much more competitive and give us that much more drive.”

The conference consists of Alton Marquette, Bunker Hill, Mount Olive and Nokomis.

A strong rivalry with Marquette will get even stronger bringing the conference into the mix according to Rempfer.

“It’s starred every year and now that it’s a conference game it makes it that much more competitive and has that much more riding on it,” Rempfer said of playing the Explorers. “You get almost that playoff like atmosphere early in the year and give our guys a real taste of a super competitive game where everything is riding on it. It will be a good experience to have early in the year, kind of test us a little bit.”

The rest of the schedule will be pretty straight forward to past seasons. There is a new tournament at Lutheran North that Rempfer is excited about.

“We’re in a tournament this year hosted by Lutheran North and will play a few Missouri teams,” he said. “I think that will be a good thing to get a look at some talent from across the river and see how we stack up against those. It’s that opening stretch again where we have a lot of tough games. You’ve got Marquette, Belleville West, Althoff, Nashville, Freeburg, all within that first week. It can show us what we’re made of and where we need to improve and also the areas where we excel.”

Metro opens the 2013 season at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Calhoun before revving up for the showdown at Marquette at 4 p.m. on Monday. The Knights have their home opener at 4 p.m. Tuesday against East-Alton Wood River at Martin Luther Field.


Pictured from left to right are senior baseball players at Metro-East Lutheran: Ryan Keck, Christian Aragona, Chris Barry, Zach Banning, Ryan Dawdy, Tanner Engelke and Harry Garner.


KNIGHT SOFTBALLThe Metro-East Lutheran Knights

are entering their sixth season under the direction of head coach Rob Stock.

Over that period, the Knights set the benchmark in wins for the pro-gram in 2008 going 20-13 and then trumped that in 2011, posting a 22-8 mark. Stock has compiled a respect-able 81-64 overall record during that time, however, 2012 was the worst performance during Stock’s tenure as MELHS went 10-16.

Now with five starters gone from the program, including shortstop Molly Scharnhorst and the entire outfield, Stock is trying to figure out if the Knights can secure a bounce back season.

“It was a different season for us last year,” Stock said. “We had some injuries that really affected our game. We lost five starters from last year as well. This is a year where I didn’t really know what we were going to have coming back. I knew we had pitching coming back and our catcher was coming back but beyond

that there were a lot of positions up for grabs.”

Having senior catcher Lauren Daniels and junior pitching ace Rachel Goff back gives Stock a very solid foundation. Goff battled inju-ries early on last season and Metro struggled without its workhorse. The Knights began the season 0-6, but with a healthy Goff they don’t plan to repeat that in 2013.

Stock said having his battery together for a third straight season will be key to the team’s success. He admitted having pitching is half the battle.

“I think that’s the key,” Stock said. “Anytime you have pitching in soft-ball any coach will tell you that you’re half way there already, so to have a core battery that’s been working together for three years is encouraging. I think we’re going to take a step forward this year after what we would consider as a pro-gram a down year last year. We’re looking forward to it. Rachel seems to be healthy and stronger than she’s been in the past.”

Goff was 10-7 in 2012 with a 3.86 ERA and had 97 strikeouts in 96

innings pitched while only walking 28.

She was also stellar with the bat, leading MELHS with a .500 batting average. She also had 15 walks to only two strikeouts, one home run, two triples, six doubles and 12 RBIs.

Other returners who could con-tribute nicely at the plate are: Daniels (.355, 1 HR, 19 RBIs), Anna Kellar (.356, 1 HR, 15 RBIs), Amy Best (.333, 2 RBIs) and Johanna Johnson (.306, 1 HR, 16 RBIs).

Stock expects more of the same from Goff this year as well as other solid offensive performances from up and down the lineup.

“She’s going to continue to do what she does and that’s get on base for us,” said Stock. “And when she has the opportunity, drive in runs. I said at the beginning of last season that it was all going to come down to whether we could hit or not. It turned out to be one of the best offensive years since I’ve been here. I’m going to say the same thing, it’s whether we hit or not is going to determine a lot of what our record ends up being. What we’ve seen so far is we’ve got a lot of good swings,

but it’s going to take a little while to get back into it because we didn’t have a lot of girls who played sum-mer ball and we have some others that are picking it up after a long lay-off from when they were younger. That’s going to be key, just getting them back into it, seeing pitches and getting their confidence up.”

Players like juniors Mckenna Judge and Mackenzie Gocal and sophomore Abby McMahon are new to the team this year, but played the sport when they were younger and Stock sees potential in all of them.

Filling Scharnhorst’s shoes may be the hardest; a three-year shortstop is a major piece of the puzzle being removed.

“Losing Molly is tough,” Stock said. “She’d been playing shortstop for three years so it’s always tough to replace that, but we have some young athletes that haven’t played the game in a while who have some really good skills and I think are going to fill in nicely there and one (Abby McMahon) who is going to take the position over for the next few years.”

Continued on Page 7



Pictured left to right are Metro-East Lutheran Knight senior softball players: Lauren Daniels and Johanna Johnson.


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Continued from Page 6Stock is also anxious to see how the

outfield pans out.“(Outfield) is definitely going to be one

of the areas we’re going to have to focus on this next week to get ready,” Stock said. “We’re replacing the whole outfield pretty much. We’ve got Amy Best who is coming back and is going to play center field for us. Then we’re going to piece

together the rest of it. We’re going to see where the talent lies. Johanna Johnson is going to play for us out there. Mackenzie Gocal is going to play out there as well when she’s not playing soccer and we’ve got some other girls that are going to have to step up out there as well.”

The schedule looks primarily the same with Alton Marquette, Belleville West, Columbia and Collinsville as some of

the tough matchups. The Knights will be in Class 1A for the second straight season also and Stock predicts teams like Calhoun, Dupo, Mulberry Grove and Carrollton to be the major obstacles come playoff time.

Maybe the biggest edition for MELHS this year is adding the Prairie State Conference. It’s been a long time since the Knights have played in a conference and

had options for conference awards.“It’s totally different for the girls, it’s

something to focus on,” Stock said of the PSC. “Obviously this conference we know is going to be tough. When you have one of the best pitchers in the area (Alexis Silkwood at Marquette) and you have to go through them it’s always tough.

“It’s a small conference for softball, but I think it’s going to be good for them to

get some recognition with some all-con-ference stuff and just have that added pressure during the season to help get them ready for tournament time.”

Metro opened the season on Tuesday at Springfield Lutheran and then played Marquette at Sigmund Bohnet Field on Thursday with games at home at 4:30 p.m. today vs. Brussels and 10 a.m. on Saturday against Gillespie.

KNIGHT SOFTBALL


Senior members of the Metro-East Lutheran Knight boys’ tennis team from left to right are Nolan Wallace and Aaron Roggow.

KNIGHT TENNISThe Metro-East Lutheran Knight

boys’ tennis team is heading in the right direction.

No longer is head coach Matt Gehrke having to continually teach the basics and fundamentals of tennis during tryouts. Now, Gehrke, who is entering his fifth season with the Knights, can focus on other facets of the game.

“I am excited about this year. We have a lot of kids that have been playing for two or three years now. They are still improving. It should be exciting to see how well they improve throughout the season and how well they perform in their matches,” Gehrke said.

Even with the experience some of his players do have, Gehrke said he still is not satisfied with the number of swings they have taken, saying there is always room for more prac-tice.

“As a coach, I am never satisfied with how much repetition they get and I am always wanting them to have more and more to get better and better. I will take what they have, we will continue to compete and get bet-ter,” Gehrke said.

Metro, which won three matches last season, does have a new luxury

this season — two players capable of playing in the No. 1 spot in the lineup. Nolan Wallace, who was MELHS’ top player a season ago, returns for his final go-around with the team. This year, though, he will have his hands full with teammate Chris Norwood if he wants to continue to play at No. 1.

Norwood, a transfer student from Germany, is an exciting addition to the team according to Gehrke.

“We have one new player, sopho-more Chris Norwood. He is going to challenge Nolan for the No. 1 (spot). That gives the team a lift, and it is going to add some excitement,” Gehrke said.

While Gehrke knows who his top two players will be, Wallace and Norwood, he still is not quite sure in which order. It is a decision that may not even be final once the season starts, as it is a competition that could go throughout the regular season with regular battles in practice.

After the top two, the depth chart shows some promise. Sophomore Jacob Roggow is looking to make the varsity squad after taking big strides as a freshman. Juniors Josh Eberhart and Chad Carter will also compete for time in the middle of the lineup. Also back this season is senior Aaron Roggow.

“Chris and Nolan will be No. 1 and

No. 2, but I am not really quite sure in which order. Chris, I think, is going to be a very, very good player,” Gehrke said. “Jacob Roggow, a sophomore, started kind of in the middle of the season last year and almost got to the level of varsity by the end of the sea-son. We are excited to see him. Also excited to see some of the juniors, like Josh Eberhart or Chad Carter. We have maybe five or six of them.”

A majority of the players spent time over the summer working on their games with Gehrke in offseason camps. It is a similar program that Gehrke runs for his girls’ team, too. The Metro coach even joked that he has combined the two camps to help motivate players to come out and play tennis.

“We have a very similar program,” Gehrke said about the boys’ team training during the offseason like the girls’ team. “I have the guys and girls mix it up during the summer. I have been told that guys like to come when girls are here. It is a trusting motiva-tion.”

The schedule remains mainly the same as past years. Two matches with Greenville will offer a little bit of a new look, but opponents East Alton-Wood River, Marquette, Gibault, Mascoutah and Alton still remain.

Continued on Page 8


KNIGHT SOCCERFor the third consecutive season, the Metro-East

Lutheran Knight girls’ soccer team will have a new head coach.

This time, though, it will be one of their own.Noah Enke, a former player and 2004 graduate of

Metro-East Lutheran, returns to his alma mater to take over the girls’ soccer team. Upon graduating from Metro, Enke attended and played soccer for Concordia University in Nebraska.

Now, the former goalkeeper returns home.“I really never thought about coming back here and

coaching,” Enke said. “I always thought that where I went I was going to coach. Actually, coming back here and being part of it again has made me happier. I get to kind of relive the glory days and see and help the kids the way I wish I would have been helped back when I was here.”

Enke was an assistant coach for the boys’ soccer team the past two seasons. He helped Tim Reeb a couple of sea-sons ago and was alongside Kevin Wudtke this past fall.

While helping Wudtke, Enke became familiar with the girls’ team’s top offensive threat, Courtney Levo. The senior, one of three on the team, helped keep statistics. He also knew Emilee Marcuzzo and Rachel Flaherty, but the rest of the roster were new faces and names when prac-tices started in late February.

“The only one I really know is Courtney Levo, because she helped the boys’ team out with stats. I also know a lit-tle bit about Emilee Marcuzzo and Rachel Flaherty,” Enke said. “Other than that, a lot of them are really knew to me. They have been really great. It took me about a week to understand and put faces with names. They beared with me and laughed every time I have messed up. We have been getting along really well.”

Though Enke said he only really knew three girls when the practices started, he said it was still a large enough number to make an impact.

“At least knowing a couple of the players helps me. I can depend on them to rally behind what I am coaching and trying to teach them. It helps out a lot,” Enke said. “Kevin,

who coached them last year, knows everybody and keeps me in line with the IHSA rules and regulations.”

So for the third straight season, the Metro-East Lutheran Knights were learning a new system and a new coach. The combination made for the opening practices to be tougher than for a team with a steady coach.

“The practices have been a little more intense. I have tried to keep it as light-hearted as I can. I mainly focus on getting their fundamentals to where no matter who is on the field with them they feel comfortable,” Enke said. “Everybody can start to see improvement, which will help strengthen them early and get them some confidence.”

Along with learning a new coach, the Knights are also having to adjust to playing without Abby Edwards. The do-it-all player graduated last season, and took with her a skill set that allowed her to play anywhere on the field.

The Knights do have a couple of playmakers they are hoping can help offset the loss of Edwards. Junior Mackenzie Gocal and Levo will team to provide the 1-2 punch for the Metro offense.

“Mackenzie Gocal is going to be huge. She is going to be playing a defensive mid and attacking mid, switching off with Courtney,” Enke said. “Those two are going to be our playmakers. They are going to be keeping us under control, keeping the pace of the game and finding the plays to start.”

In the backfield, freshman Abby Yurchuk has made a quick first impression on Enke.

“We have a freshman, Abby Yurchuk, that is an out-standing defender for us. She is going to be a major key for us on the defensive line,” Enke said.

The trio of Knights could help make Enke’s first year easier.

“It is one thing to have one key player like that, but it is another thing to have three players that you can depend on automatically to keep everybody on your team in check,” Enke said.

And while the three players could make the transition for Enke easier, the newest Metro head coach is already thinking long term. He is wanting to put girls’ soccer on the map, not only at the school but in the area, too.

“My goals this year are to start preparing for the years to come. I would like them to do well and stay over .500. I want to see them start making a name for themselves in girls’ soccer in the region for Metro,” Enke said. “I want to see that come back up to par and not look back. I want this to be another sport that Metro is known for in the area. Other than that, I would like to have no injuries. That would be great.”

Metro-East had its season opener against Roxana rained out on Monday. The Knights did begin play in the Metro Cup at McKendree University, facing Wesclin. After play-ing Tuesday and Thursday, Metro closes the tournament on Saturday.


Senior members of the Metro-East Lutheran Knight girls’ soccer team are: Katlynn Stegall, Maddy Carney and Courtney Levo.



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Continued from Page 7It is a schedule that Gehrke is hoping

will challenge his team and prepare them for the postseason. Like the past,

the Knights are again pitted with the large schools as the IHSA uses just a one-class system for the sport. Gehrke, though, does not complain about it,

but rather accepts it as a good chance for his players to face top-of-the-line competition.

“That is the hand we are dealt with,”

Gehrke said about the one-class post-season in tennis. “I always like to tell my players that if you make it to state, you have really earned it. If you win

against the best players and you are able to do it, you are able to do it. There is nothing to detract from them making it to state.”

Metro opened the season Thursday at Hillsboro. The Knights are sched-uled to play at Greenville at 4 p.m. Tuesday for their next match.

KNIGHT TENNIS


Pictured left, returning letterwinners of the Metro-East Lutheran Knight boys’ track and field team in the front row from left to right are: Jace Dumont, Zeke Jezek and James Dumont. In the back row from left to right are: Ethan Borchers and Alex Engelbrecht. Pictured right are senior members of the Metro-East Lutheran Knight girls’ track and field team. From left to right are: Jenna Gwaltney, Katie Goetter, Jessica Jump, Olivia Daube, Sara Poletti, Katlynn Stegall and Gabbie Mitchell.

KNIGHT TRACK AND FIELDThe Metro-East Lutheran Knight track and

field team will enter their first season in the Prairie State Conference and head coach Dave Redden is more than ready for the new era.

At least a decade since the last time Metro was aligned with a conference, the Knights bring very formidable boys’ and girls’ squads to the PSC in its first year.

“Instead of just pushing towards county and sectional, I have another race to push for. It is a little more fun for the coach,” Redden smiled.

ON THE GIRLS’ SIDE — Senior Jessica Jump, the reigning Class 1A state champion in the 200-meter dash, headlines the girls’ track and field team.

Jump, a state qualifier last year in the 100, 200 and 400 dashes, returns for a chance to add to last season’s record-breaking performance. Her state championship was the first in school his-tory and, along with the third-place finish in the 200 and fifth-place finish in the 100, her 22 points

placed 10th at state in the team standings.Already being looked at by Notre Dame,

Southern Illinois Carbondale, Illinois State and Missouri, Jump has gotten off to a quick start this year with the indoor season. Redden believes she will be able to run quicker than her championship-winning time of 25.43.

“Jessica has been working extremely hard. She has been running AU and USTF meets since the beginning of the year. Her times have melted down significantly since then,” Redden said. “She really is one of the top sprinters in the state, no matter which class we are talking about. I am looking for some really big things.”

Jump is hoping to add another event to her already impressive résumé, as she will also try and compete in the long jump.

“She jumped 16-2 last year with about 10 minutes of practice. She has the speed. It is just a matter of the technique and that takes a little bit,” Redden said. “I do not know if she is going to have the time with the work she is putting into all the sprints. She can win some things.”

Metro-East has a considerable amount of tal-

ent after Jump.Leading the group after Jump are seniors

Madi Henderson (throws), Katie Goetter (hur-dler) and Katlynn Stegall (distance runner). All three could find their way into the state meet to end their respective prep careers.

“Katie was a sectional placer last year in the hurdles. She is really hoping to be a state quali-fier this year. I think she is hard-headed enough to do that,” Redden said. “I look for big things in the throws. Madi has shown some fantastic leadership with some of our younger throw-ers.”

Olivia Daube, Jessica Green, Gabbie Mitchell and Jenne Gwaltney will look to improve on the track after competing for the Knights last season in the hurdles and relays. As far as the distance runners, Redden will utilize his cross country team from the fall. Danielle Anderson, Amanda Schack, Gretchen Engelbrecht, Annie Redden and Karley Schley will handle a majority of the long-distance events.

The regular season is already promising enough, as Jump will provide plenty of chances

for the Knights, but Redden is thinking the big-ger picture.

“I kind have put Jessica in a different zone. I am counting on my 30, 40 points from her, but we are going to win meets with everybody else,” Redden said. “I would like to get more than Jessica to state and I think that is a real possibil-ity. It could be a fun year.”

ON THE BOYS’ SIDE — The boys’ team is not as fortunate as the girls’ team in terms of experience.

Gone from last year’s team are seniors Dan Dixon, Matt Rankin, Matt Horton, Aaron Winenger, Cody Lee and Jacob Fanshier, among others. Fanshier was a state qualifier in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles.

“We lost a lot from last year. We lost a lot of senior leadership,” Redden said.

The Knights do return Jace Dumont, a state qualifier in the 3,200-meter run. Redden is expecting big things out of his junior.

“He is probably going to be on the 3,200-meter relay and the open mile. We have really seen some leadership out of him. That is huge,”

Redden said.Joining Dumont on the relay teams, including

the 1,600-meter team, will be a mixture of Derek Benning, James Dumont, Alex Engelbrecht, Evan Winenger, Matt Morrissey, Paul Klarich, Michah Lance and Andrew Hull.

Freshman Elijah Culberth could be the big-gest surprise for the Knights in the sprints category. The freshman is already turning heads at MELHS.

“I do have a nice little freshman with Elijah Culberth. He is going to be a nice little runner and could be a really good sprinter,” Redden said.

Juniors Zeke Jezek and Jim Callahan will also do sprints for Metro.

Senior Ethan Borchers headlines the throws for the Knights. Austin Grant, Jarrod Hopper, Clinton Howell and Jesse Brendel will also see action.

Dates to circle on the schedule are the Madison County Meet at 4 p.m. on April 22 at East Alton-Wood River and the PSC Championships at 4 p.m. on May 7 at Mount Olive.



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METRO EAST LUTHERANHIGH SCHOOL KNIGHTS!

KNIGHT SPRING

SCHEDULESMELHS

BASEBALLMar. 16 at Calhoun, 11 a.m.Mar. 18 at Marquette, 4 p.m.Mar. 19 vs. East Alton-Wood River, 4 p.m.Mar. 21 at Belleville West, 4:15 p.m.Mar. 23 at Freeburg Round Robin, 11 a.m.Mar. 25 at Marissa, 4 p.m.April 1 at Columbia, 4:30 p.m.April 2 vs. Roxana, 4:30 p.m.April 4 at Staunton, 4 p.m.April 8 at Cahokia, 4 p.m.April 9 at Litchfield, 4:30 p.m.April 10 at Mount Olive, 4:15 p.m.April 13 at Carrollton Round Robin, 10 a.m.April 15 at Civic Memorial, 4:15 p.m.April 18 at Lutheran North, TBAApril 22 at Bunker Hill, 4 p.m.April 23 vs. Mulberry Grove, 4:30 p.m.April 24 at Nokomis, 4:30 p.m.April 26 vs. Lutheran North, 4:30 p.m.April 29 at Breese Central, 4:30 p.m.May 2 vs. Mater Dei, 4:30 p.m.May 6 vs. Gibault, 4:30 p.m.May 7 vs. Red Bud, 4:30 p.m.May 8 at Collinsville, 6 p.m.May 9 vs. Gillespie, 4:30 p.m.May 10 at Roxana, 4:15 p.m.May 11 vs. Dupo, 11 a.m.

MELHS SOFTBALL

Mar. 16 vs. Gillespie, 10 a.m.Mar. 18 at Dupo, 4 p.m.Mar. 21 at Belleville East, 4:15 p.m.Mar. 22 vs. Collinsville, 4 p.m.April 1 vs. Columbia, 10 a.m.April 4 at Staunton, 4 p.m.April 5 vs. Nokomis, 4 p.m.April 6 vs. Jerseyville, 1 p.m.April 8 vs. Litchfield, 4:30 p.m.April 10 vs. Mount Olive, 4:15 p.m.April 11 vs. Roxana, 4 p.m.April 12 at Christ Our Rock, 4:15 p.m.April 13 at Southwestern, 2 p.m.April 15 vs. Cahokia, 4 p.m.April 16 at Carlinville, 4:30 p.m.April 19 at Sheboygan (Wis.) Tournament,

TBAApril 22 at Marissa, 4:15 p.m.April 23 vs. Mater Dei, 4:15 p.m.April 24 vs. Alton, 4:30 p.m.April 30 at Bunker Hill, 4 p.m.May 1 at Lebanon, 4:30 p.m.May 2 at Highland, 4 p.m.May 6 vs. Gibault, 4:30 p.m.May 7 vs. Red Bud, 4:30 p.m.May 8 at Mulberry Grove, 4:15 p.m.May 9 at East Alton-Wood River, 4 p.m.May 11 at Calhoun, 11 a.m.May 13 vs. Alton, 4 p.m.

MELHS BOYS' TRACK AND

FIELDMar. 21 at Mount Olive, 4 p.m.Mar. 26 at Litchfield, 4 p.m.April 2 at Civic Memorial, 4 p.m.April 8 at Breese Central, 4 p.m.April 9 at Southwestern Invitational, 4 p.m.April 12 at East Alton-Wood River

Invitational, 4 p.m.April 20 at Walther Lutheran Invitational,

10 a.m.April 24 at Madison County Meet (EAWR),

4 p.m.April 26 at Staunton Relays, 3:30 p.m.April 29 at Roxana Relays, 3:30 p.m.April 30 at Dupo, 4 p.m.May 2 at Vandalia, 4 p.m.May 7 at PSC Meet (Mount Olive), 4 p.m.May 10 at Gillespie Invitational, 4 p.m.May 13 at Nashville Invitational, 4 p.m.

MELHS GIRLS' TRACK AND

FIELDMar. 21 at Mount Olive, 4 p.m.Mar. 26 at Litchfield, 4 p.m.April 2 at Hillsboro/Vandalia 4 p.m.April 5 at West Frankfort Invitational, 4 p.m.April 8 at Breese Central, 4 p.m.April 9 at Southwestern Invitational, 4 p.m.April 12 at East Alton-Wood River

Invitational, 4 p.m.April 15 at Roxana Relays, 4 p.m.April 20 at Walther Lutheran Invitational,

10 a.m.April 22 at Madison County Meet (EAWR),

4 p.m.April 26 at Staunton Relays, 3:30 p.m.April 30 at Dupo, 4 p.m.May 7 at PSC Meet (Mount Olive), 4 p.m.

MELHS TENNISMar. 21 at Greenville, 4 p.m.Mar. 22 at Alton, 4 p.m.Mar. 25 vs. Mascoutah, 4:30 p.m.April 1 at Marquette, 4:30 p.m.April 2 at Alton, 4:30 p.m.April 8 at Gibault, 4:30 p.m.April 11 vs. Waterloo, 4:30 p.m.April 15 at East Alton-Wood River, 4:30 p.m.April 18 at Roxana, 4 p.m.April 22 at Civic Memorial, 4:30 p.m.April 24 vs. East Alton-Wood River, 4:30

p.m.April 26 at St. Charles, 4 p.m.April 29 vs. Greenville, 4 p.m.May 1 vs. Roxana, 4:30 p.m.May 14 at Jerseyville, 4:30 p.m.

MELHS SOCCERMar. 19 vs. Jerseyville, 4 p.m.Mar. 22 vs. Alton, 5:30 p.m.Mar. 23 at Breese Central, 11 a.m.April 1 vs. Staunton, 5:30 p.m.April 4 vs. Jacksonville, 5 p.m.April 8 vs. Litchfield, 6:15 p.m.April 9 vs. Wesclin, 5:30 p.m.April 11 at Freeburg, 5:30 p.m.April 13 at Gillespie, 5:30 p.m.April 16 at Roxana, 4 p.m.April 23 vs. Greenville, 5:30 p.m.April 25 at Marquette, 4:30 p.m.April 29 at Civic Memorial, 4:15 p.m.May 2 vs. Carlinville, 5 p.m.

KAHOK SPRING

SCHEDULESCHS BASEBALL

Mar. 16 at Breese Central (DH), 11 a.m.Mar. 19 at Carbondale, 4:30 p.m.Mar. 20 at Althoff, 4 p.m.Mar. 21 vs. Cahokia, 4:30 p.m.Mar. 25 vs. Wheaton Warrenville-South, 4:30

p.m.Mar. 26 vs. Belleville West, 4:30 p.m.Mar. 28 vs. East St. Louis, 4:30 p.m.Mar. 29 at Mascoutah, 4:15 p.m.April 1 at Civic Memorial, 4 p.m.April 2 vs. Alton, 4:30 p.m.April 4 at Granite City, 4:30 p.m.April 6 vs. Pekin (DH), 11 a.m.April 8 vs. Centralia, 4:30 p.m.April 9 at Belleville East, 4:30 p.m.April 11 vs. Edwardsville, 4:30 p.m.April 16 vs. O’Fallon, 4:30 p.m.April 17 at Marion, 4:15 p.m.April 23 vs. East St. Louis, 4:30 p.m.April 25 at Belleville West, 4:30 p.m.April 27 at Highland, 10 a.m.April 27 vs. Harrisburg in Highland, 2 p.m.April 30 vs. Granite City, 4:30 p.m.May 2 at Alton, 4:30 p.m.May 3 vs. Waterloo, 6 p.m.May 4 Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin (DH),

10 a.m.May 7 at Edwardsville, 4:30 p.m.May 8 vs. Metro-East Lutheran, 6 p.m.May 9 vs. Belleville East, 4:30 p.m.May 11 vs. Quincy Notre Dame at Busch

Stadium, TBAMay 14 at O’Fallon, 4:30 p.m.May 17 vs. Jerseyville, 4:30 p.m.May 20 vs. Triad, 4:30 p.m.

CHS SOFTBALLMar. 16 vs. Lebanon (DH), 10 a.m.Mar. 18 vs. Civic Memorial, 4:30 p.m.Mar. 19 at Dupo, 4 p.m.Mar. 21 at Jerseyville, 4 p.m.Mar. 22 at Metro-East Lutheran, 4 p.m.Mar. 26 at Belleville West, 4:30 p.m.Mar. 27 at Mater Dei, 4:15 p.m.Mar. 28 vs. East St. Louis, 4:30 p.m.Mar. 30 vs. Rock Falls ,10 a.m.Mar. 30 vs. Waterloo, 2 p.m.

April 2 at Alton, 4:30 p.m.April 4 vs. Granite City, 4:30 p.m.April 5 vs. Breese Central, 4:30 p.m.April 9 vs. Belleville East, 4:30 p.m.April 11 at Edwardsville, 4:30 p.m.April 12 vs. Centralia (DH), 4:30 p.m.April 16 at O’Fallon, 4:30 p.m.April 17 at Gibault, 4:30 p.m.April 23 vs. East St. Louis, 4:30 p.m.April 25 vs. Belleville West, 4:30 p.m.April 26 at Lincoln Tournament, TBAApril 27 at Lincoln Tournament, TBAApril 30 at Granite City, 4:30 p.m.May 2 vs. Alton, 4:30 p.m.May 7 vs. Edwardsville, 4:30 p.m.May 9 at Belleville East, 4:30 p.m.May 10 at Triad, 4:30 p.m.May 11 at Columbia, 10 a.m.May 11 vs. Nashville at Columbia, noonMay 14 vs. O’Fallon, 4:30 p.m.May 15 vs. Marquette, 4 p.m.May 17 at Highland, 4:15 p.m.

CHS BOYS' TRACK AND

FIELDMar. 19 at Granite City, 4 p.m.Mar. 23 at Southwestern IL Relays (EHS),

10 a.m.Mar. 26 vs. O’Fallon, 4 p.m.Mar. 29 at O’Fallon Relays, 4 p.m.April 6 at Belleville West Invite, 11 a.m.April 12 at Granite City Invite, 4 p.m.April 15 at Triad, 4 p.m.April 20 at Winston Brown Invite (EHS), 10

a.m.April 23 at Madison County Invite (Granite

City), 4 p.m.May 4 hosts Collinsville Invitational, 10 a.m.May 8 at SWC Meet (Belleville East), 4 p.m.

CHS Girls’ Track and FieldMar. 18 at Granite City Standards, 3:30 p.m.Mar. 23 at Southwestern IL Relays (EHS),

10 a.m.Mar. 25 at Edwardsville/Alton, 4 p.m.Mar. 29 at Belleville West Invitational, 4 p.m.April 1 at Waterloo Quadrangular, 4 p.m.April 5 at Lady Knights Invite (Triad), 4 p.m.April 8 at Freeburg Quadrangular, 4 p.m.April 12 at O’Fallon, 4 p.m.April 15 at Triad, 4 p.m.April 23 at Madison County Invite (Alton),

4 p.m.April 26 hosts Collinsville Invitational, 4

p.m.May 1 at SWC Meet (Alton), 4 p.m.

CHS TENNISMar. 29 at Tiger Invitational (EHS), 1 p.m.Mar. 30 at Tiger Invitational (EHS), 8:30 a.m.April 2 at Civic Memorial, 4 p.m.April 4 vs. Alton, 4 p.m.April 10 at O’Fallon, 4 p.m.April 11 vs. Marquette, 4 p.m.April 15 vs. Mascoutah, 4 p.m.April 17 vs. Edwardsville, 4 p.m.April 24 at Granite City, 4 p.m.April 25 at Triad Quadrangular, 4 p.m.April 30 vs. Belleville West, 4 p.m.May 1 vs. Gibault, 4 p.m.May 2 vs. Highland, 4 p.m.May 4 at Glenwood Invitational, 9 a.m.May 7 at Belleville East, 4 p.m.May 8 vs. East St. Louis, 4 p.m.May 10 at SWC Tournament (TBA), 1 p.m.May 11 at SWC Tournament (TBA), 8 a.m.

CHS SOCCERMar. 16 at Glenwood, 12:30 p.m.Mar. 20 at Gibault, 6:45 p.m.Mar. 21 at Edwardsville, 7 p.m.Mar. 26 at Belleville East, 7 p.m.Mar. 28 vs. Althoff, 7 p.m.Mar. 29 at Parkway Showcase (Glendale),

6 p.m.Mar. 30 at Parkway Showcase (Pattonville),

5 p.m.April 2 at Belleville West, 7 p.m.April 4 vs. Alton, 7 p.m.April 9 vs. O’Fallon, 7 p.m.April 10 at Marquette, 7 p.m.April 16 at Nerinx Hall, 4 p.m.April 18 vs. Granite City, 7 p.m.April 26 at Adidas Girls Tournament of

Champions, TBAApril 27 at Adidas Girls Tournament of

Champions, TBAApril 30 vs. Triad, 7 p.m.May 7 vs. Mater Dei, 7 p.m.May 10 vs. Carbondale, 7 p.m.

MELHS ACTION


From top to bottom are pictures of Metro-East Lutheran Knight athletes from the 2012 spring season. Top, MELHS baseball player Ryan Dawdy connects with a pitch. Center, Metro soc-cer player Mackenzie Gocal dribbles the ball between two defenders. Bottom, Knight runner Jessica Jump stands on the podium with her championship medal after winning the 200-meter dash at the 2012 Class 1A track and field state meet at Eastern Illinois University's O'Brien Field.

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