Water Polo and Golf Championship Recap

by Jim Powers | May 17, 2023

It is championship season in prep sports as we crowned both water polo and boys’ golf champions over the past few days. This is the beginning of an extremely busy next three weeks on the prep sports scene as we head toward the end of the school year.

Let's start off in the pool as the Missouri Water Polo finals took place at Pattonville this past Saturday with the top seed in the tournament knocking off the defending state champs.

Parkway Central took control of the match in the first period and did not look back as the Colts defeated the defending champions from St. Louis University High School 19-11. Parkway Central's offense exploded in the first quarter as they grabbed a 7-3 advantage at the end of the period and extended the lead to 10-4 at the break as the Colts defense limited the Jr. Bills to only one goal. SLUH cut the lead to five at the end of the third quarter as they outscored the Colts 4-3 in the stanza to make the score 13-8. Parkway Central put the game away as they scored six times in the final period to claim the title. Tyler Bryant and William Jost each scored five goals to lead the Parkway Central attack while Bryant added five assists in the victory. Brendon Harris and Evan Zimmerman each scored three times for the Jr. Bills in the loss.

In the girls’ final contest, Ladue rallied in the second half to defeat Marquette 6-4 to claim the championship.

Photo Credit – Missouri State High School Activities Association

The MSHSAA Boys’ Golf championships took place at five sites around the state and Chaminade was the top team in the area as they won the Class 5 title for the second time in three years. The Red Devils finished the 36-hole event with a score of 594 and were able to hold off Rockhurst by a stroke to earn the title. CBC finished fourth with a score of 615 with Marquette finishing in fifth place with a score of 619. John Paul Chapman led the Chaminade efforts as he tied for the top spot in the medalist race with a score of 142. Logan Forister of Eureka placed fourth with a score of 143 while Harrison Zipfel of SLUH earned the sixth spot with a score of 144.

In Class 4, Rockwood Summit earned the third slot in the team race with a score of 617 to finish behind the winners Pembroke Hill who finished with a score of 611, and Rolla who finished second with a score of 615. Trey Rusthoven from Fort Zumwalt East was the top player from the area as he finished third with a score of 143 while Savyasaachi Kandula of Parkway West earned a tie for fifth with a score of 146. Ben Gelven from MICDS also landed in the top 10 as he finished in a tie for ninth place with a score of 149.

In Class 3 action, Ian Hollander paced the locals as he finished in a tie for fifth place with a score of 149 while in Class 2 play, Lutheran St. Charles placed fifth in the team race with a score of 702 with Owen Tormala leading the Cougars by finishing in a tie for 10th place with a score of 166.

The state championship will continue this week as the Class 1 and 2 track and field athletes will ascend to Adkins Stadium in Jefferson City for the State Meet starting Friday morning while the state boys’ tennis individuals and doubles teams will head to Springfield for the state finals at Copper Tennis Complex.

Jim Powers has been covering prep sports in the St. Louis area for 15+ years and a part of the Missouri State High School Activities Association Championship Broadcasts for the past 11 years. Powers is also a part of the Fox 2 Verlo Mattress Prep Zone Friday nights at 10:10 during the football and basketball seasons. If you have a prep sports story, please contact Jim at [email protected]. Follow Jim at @hssportscaravan

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