It was another memorable year of high school sports in the St. Louis metropolitan area in 2007. Before we move ahead to 2008, let’s take a look back at some of the great accomplishments of our young student-athletes in 2007.
Three area basketball teams enjoyed state championship glory in 2007. The McCluer North Stars won their first ever state title in boys basketball, defeating Kansas City Rockhurst 69-57 in the championship game. Junior guard Torres Roundtree scored a career-high 38 points to lead the Stars. The Wellston boys won the Class 2 state championship after finishing the regular season with a .500 record. The Trojans ran and pressed their way all the way to Columbia, where they defeated Harrisburg and Mansfield for their first state title since 1988. On the girls side, the Metro Panthers won their second consecutive state title. After winning the Class 2 championship in 2006, the Panthers moved up to win the Class 3 title, while defeating all of their postseaosn opponents by an average margin of 26 points a game. The Panthers were led by the senior backcourt of Brittany Dodson and Lachelle Livingston.
Awesome East
Boys track and field in the state of Illinois was ruled by the boys in the Metro East as Cahokia and East St. Louis dominated the IHSA Class AA state championships in Charleston. Cahokia repeated as state champions with East St. Louis finishing right behind in second place by two points. The Cahokia Comanches have emerged as one of the top prep track and field programs in the nation with its overall depth and speed in all events. The Comanches featured great talents such as Clyde Young, Jerdo Williams, Darien “Doc” Donald and Earnest Williams while the Flyers had individual state champions in Kraig Appleton and Artavious Kizer. East Side’s 4×400-relay team of Kizer, Mario McCottrell, Evan Johnson and Javaughn Tabbs set a new state record. On the girls side, East St. Louis’ Ronecia Nash won four gold medals to lead the Flyers to a second-place finish in the IHSA Class AA girls championships.
Girl Bulldogs
McCluer South-Berkeley re-emerged as the power in girls track and field in the state as the Bulldogs won the Class 3 state title with a dominating performance. The Bulldogs scored 76 points with the second-place team 36 points behind. Junior sprinter Alishea Usery continued her dominance as she swept the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes for the third consecutive year. She holds the state record in all three events. The highlight of the state meet came when the Bulldogs quartet of Alishea and twin sister Ashley, Kianna Ruff and Angel Williams smashed the overall state record in the 4×400-meter relay in a spectacular time of 3 minutes 45.78 seconds. MSB coach Keith Rhodes was selected the Coach of the Year in the state of Missouri by the National High School Sports Federation.
Mat champs
A trio of talented wrestlers came away with individual state championships in 2007. Senior Donald Woods of McCluer North won the Class 4A state title at 160 pounds, while finishing with a 47-0 record in the process. Sophomore Ryan Mango of Whitfield won the Class 2 state title at 112 pounds. Mango follows in the footsteps of older brother Spenser Mango, a former two-time state-champion at CBC. Senior Anthony Brock of Hazelwood East was the Class 4 state champion at 189 pounds. He was also ranked No. 1 in the senior class at Hazelwood East. Sumner’s Donte’ Butler concluded a tremendous prep career by placing in the top three in all four seasons of varsity competition.
Rushing record
Belleville Althoff football standout Jason Ford rushed his way into the record books as he became the all-time rushing leader in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Ford surpassed former Hazelwood Central star Tony Van Zant on Oct. 5 against Carbondale. Ford finished his spectacular four-year career with 6,415 yards. Ford also scored 75 touchdowns in his career.
Price is right
It was a great year for Normandy High standout Darwin Price, a unique two-sport star in boxing and track. On the track, Price was the Missouri Class 4 state-champion in the 800-meter run and the runner-up in the 1,600. He was the Amateur Athletic Union national champion at 1,500-meters last summer and the state runner-up at the Class 4 state cross country meet in November. When he wasn’t running up a storm, Price was maintaining his status as one of the top amateur boxers in the United States and a future hopeful for the USA Olympic Team.
Clean sweep
At the AAU Junior Olympics in Nashville, Tenn. in August, the trio of Alishea Ursery, Lajada Baldwin and Paris Daniels of the Blues Track Club swept the top three spots in the 400-meter dash in the Young Women’s Division. It is quite rare to see three teammates sweep an event at such a high-level meet. The trio joined Ashley Usery to win the 4×400-relay and nearly set a national record.
5-3-3
CBC football standout Rayon Simmons finished his tremendous career in high style with a record-setting performance on Nov. 2. In his final game as a high school player, Simmons rushed for 533 yards and seven touchdowns to lead the Cadets past Parkway South. The 533 yards was a new single-game rushing record in the state of Missouri.
Legend retires
Legendary football coach Bob Shannon stepped down as the coach at CBC, bringing to a close one of the most successful coaching careers in the history of high school sports. Shannon won six IHSA state championships at East St. Louis. He came across the river and led CBC to a berth in the Class 6 state championship game in 2005.
