ST. LOUIS • The St. Louis University High baseball team adopted a motto going into its Class 5 District 5 championship game against visiting Ladue on Tuesday.

ST. LOUIS • Ladue right-hander Rob Ewald felt comfortable on the mound on Thursday afternoon at St. Louis University High’s Sheridan Stadium.

After putting together one of the most dominant seasons ever recorded in Missouri, the defending Class 2 soccer champion Priory Rebels will look much different this fall. Much different.

Erwin Claggett could do without the yips. An avid golfer, Claggett plays three or four times a week in the summer. His putter, though, hasn’t been good to him the last couple of times out.

Dan Tlapek sat under a canopy and rang the sweat out of his shorts. It wasn’t just hot on the artificial turf at Lindenwood University. It was the oven that’s behind the barbecue in the back of hell’s kitchen. Hot would have been pleasant. This was torture.

FRIDAY, JUNE 1

Sam Erlinger is on another level. Whether it’s in the pool, the classroom or the lab, the St. Louis University High senior water polo standout excels. He was one of four students in his class to score a perfect 36 on his ACT. “I took it twice. I got a perfect score the second time,” the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Erlinger says. “There was a little moment of disbelief.”

Tom Beckmann couldn’t take his eyes away. With his hands on his head, a runner-up medal between his fingers, Beckmann looked through the net as the Francis Howell Central boys’ volleyball team celebrated with its fans. They hoisted the championship trophy high in the air, cheered and then cheered some more.

FRIDAY, MAY 25

SATURDAY, MAY 19

Simply put, Joe Allen was a brick wall last Saturday night. Allen, the Parkway West water polo goalie, stood tall and proud against a vaunted SLUH lineup in the Missouri Water Polo state championships. Allen treaded water for the entire 37 minutes as the Longhorns came away with an 11-10 victory in sudden death. “You watch movies, and it’s kind of like every athlete’s dream to go out and win state your senior year, especially in this fashion,” Allen says. “It just went back and forth and back and forth and fortunately for us, it went forth at the perfect time.”

Alex Groesch has fleet feet and nimble fingers. A sprinter for the St. Louis University High track and field team, Groesch is an accomplished cellist. He somehow finds the time to balance his athletic, musical and academic endeavors while performing at a high level in each (he’s carrying a 4.1 grade point average). “I stay up super late,” Groesch, 17, says. “I stay up as late as it takes.”

Paul Baudendistel relished the past week. The head coach of the St. Louis University High water polo team, Baudendistel and the Junior Billikens had a week with no games, no worries and no stress. They did not, however, have the week off. Instead, SLUH’s polo players went through an intense week of fitness and conditioning. They treaded water for five minutes with just their legs and intermittently were told to do jumping jacks. There were walls squats, squat jumps and hard lap after hard lap. “It’s our last chance to do hard conditioning and gear up for one last push,” Baudentdistel says.

FRIDAY, APRIL 27

FRIDAY, APRIL 20

Come Monday, many of the area’s top prep golfers will take their shot at the biggest tournament of the spring, the Webster Cup. Now in its 15th year, the Webster Cup will tee off at 9 a.m. at Crescent Farms Golf Club with a field of 22 teams all chasing the regular season’s top prize.

FRIDAY, APRIL 13

Thomas Place lives to make goalies miserable. His perfect day involves a blue sky, a perfectly manicured lacrosse field, a never-ending supply of scoring chances and a goalie with more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese.

FRIDAY, APRIL 6