89.05

Jesuits for Generosity: Jr. Bills raise $12,656.11 for annual Food Drive

Salsa in the Si! Hispanic Heritage Week celebrates Hispanic culture at SLUH

BY Finn Rose and Hendrix Fyvie reporters

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ispanos y Latinos Unidos kicked off their biggest celebration of the year this past Monday: Hispanic Heritage Month, a celebration of Hispanic and Latino culture taking place from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. This week was dedicated entirely to the celebration of Hispanic heritage, featuring many festivities for students to par-

Davis introducing the Food Drive at the Mass of the Holy Spirit.

BY Lucas Hayden News Editor

P

rocessions of Jr. Bills lined up with cash and cans in hand at tables in the Si. Commons last week for the annual Food Drive, raising $12,656.11 over the course of the

week and bringing in roughly 1500 food items.

“Fr. Paul Sheridan, who was President of SLUH in the late 90s, early 2000s, used to describe these kinds of things as ‘Opportunities for the community to be generous,’” said STUCO Moderator Frank Corley. “I would take

BY Micah Doherty

Editor in Chief

uthorities were notified on Tuesday night of an Instagram post that mentioned five schools in the St. Louis area alongside a picture of a gun and a threatening message.

One of the schools mentioned in this post was Compton-Drew ILC, a neighboring school of St. Louis U. High. Throughout Wednesday morning, SLUH administration took measures to ensure the safety of their students, faculty, and staff and to make communication to the community clear.

At around 3 a.m., members of the SLUH administration were notified by numerous members of the SLUH community about this alarming post.

According to law enforcement, the post was regarded as a threat with no credibility behind it, but the administration decided to notify the larger community about the issue before

The weekly student newspaper of St. Louis University High School 4970 Oakland Ave. St. Louis, MO 63110 (314) 531-0330 ext. 2241 online at sluh.org/prep-news prepnews@sluh.org ©2024 St. Louis University High School Prep News. No material may be reprinted without the permission of the editors and moderator.

the school day started.

“We, as a school administration behind the scenes, are trying to take care of things that we thought were important to keep the school safe and the community safe,” said Assistant Principal for Student Life Brock Kesterson. “That’s the number one priority.”

“There was never a threat to the St. Louis U. High community, or anyone in our community, but we’re always vigilant behind the scenes,” said Director of Security Dan Schulte.

“We always think of what the worst thing is that can happen and plan for that, and then, hopefully, the best thing does happen.”

To bring clarity to the threat to the SLUH community, two emails were sent to parents, students, faculty, and staff keeping the community informed on SLUH’s own steps and information.

“The first thing is that the

ticipate in and embrace Hispanic culture. The activities included a dancing performance on Monday, trivia on Wednesday, and food trucks on Friday.

“This year, we have had the chance to have the main emphasis be on this week,” said Hispanos y Latinos moderator Javier Moreno. “In previous years, there were events here and there, but because of other things happen-

continued on page 4

photo | Sean Cajigal

it a little further and be more specific and say it’s supporting Freshman Service, which in my opinion is in a way the most important thing we do at SLUH, because every student at SLUH goes through it, and it’s where we first start teaching guys to be men for oth-

Alma de Mexico performing on Monday. photo | Courtesy of SLUH Instagram

continued on page 4

Administration handles safety threats to nearby school, plans with caution

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sluh.org/prep-news

St. Louis University High School | Friday, September 20, 2024

Volume LXXXIX, Issue V

Feature Where does your food come from?

BY Jens Istvan Core Staff

I

n Advisory last year, students took a quiz from footprintcalculator.org that calculated their ecological footprint. One of the questions asked students how much of their food was grown less than 200 miles away.

Nearly every student had to ask their teacher because they didn’t know enough about the origin of their food to make an estimate.

“I think probably about 10 percent of students know (where) their fruits and vegetables come from,” said science teacher Bill Anderson.

“I can’t remember the last time I went shopping with my parents,” said senior Theo Agniel, an AP Environmental Science student under Anderson. “I’m grateful to be able to find food consistently in my house when I need it.” continued on page 3 How local your produce is de-

pends a lot on how you get it. First, there are the major grocers in St. Louis City and County, Schnucks and Dierbergs. On the Schnucks website is a list of all the farms where the stores obtain their produce. About half of the produce is grown over

locations are close enough that inquisitive consumers can research or visit the sites to determine whether or not they approve of the farm practices themselves.

While Dierbegs advertises being more local, their website lacks transparency. However, all farms on the website are within 100 miles of the city, and are advertised to be transported from farm to store in less than 24 hours.

If you can afford it, Schnucks and Dierbergs aren’t terrible options for obtaining fresh produce. The problem with these two supermarkets, however, is that they are located mostly in high income areas, especially in the case of Dierbergs. Recently, food deserts have been brought to public attention, but many buyers in low art | Colin Schuler income areas are forced to reach for 150 miles away from the city—but these non-local options, or settle for the company’s transparency is defi- fast food. There are, however, betnitely a good sign, and many of the continued on page 4

news Selective College Sunday How selective are colleges really? Selective College Sunday worked to answer this question.

Page 2

news Rowers at SLUH Row, row, row, your boat, not so gently down the stream. Find out more about Jr. Bills dedicated to club rowing.

Page 3

sports XC Protect. Our. House. SLUH shows depth and comes out on top against deep Missouri competition at festival.

Page 6

features The Kirkwood Call Wait… other schools have student papers? Apparently. PN investigates The Kirkwood Call!

Page 2

sports Swim and Dive The aquatic Jr. Bills take a hike down to Cape Girardeau and bring home trophy with a whalloping 474.5 point win, over Chaminade’s 302 points.

Page 5

sports Fantasy INDEX Maybe the real football was the friends News we made along the way. Hear our sports 2-4 reporter’s picks for the next week 5-7 Sports Page 7 8 Entertainment

entertainment Crossword Clues await up and down this week’s puzzle.

Compete for a shoutout in next week’s edition.

Page 8

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NEWS

Prep News

September 20, 2024

Volume 89, Issue 5

AMDG

Feature: The Kirkwood Call

Kirkwood High School’s monthly newspaper shares similarities to Prep News, embracing student voices and curated, creative layout

BY Andrew Hunt and Leo Hahn News Editor, Features Editor

T

he Pioneers of Kirkwood High School are a rival in the eyes of most Jr. Bills, facing off in bitter competitions on the hockey rink and soccer pitch. A similar rivalry festers between the media publications of the two schools. But in the spirit of being Men for Others, the Prep News took a trip this Tuesday to Kirkwood High School to familiarize itself with this distant nemesis, visiting the newsroom of their student-run publication, The Kirkwood Call.

The Kirkwood Call is a student-run, student-funded publication distributed approximately every three weeks to students and faculty of Kirkwood High School, coupled with a deep online presence through Instagram and its website, thekirkwoodcall.com. The Call is printed in a laminated magazine format, which makes it much more durable than newsprint copies of the Prep News (albeit, less numerous: they print 1500 copies every three weeks as compared to our 1200 every week).

Unlike the Prep News, The Call is an elective class, where students are given a dedicated hour in their schedule to report, write, and conduct interviews.

It fits into a broad and robust scene of media classes and groups at Kirkwood: the school offers two class periods of The Call; one of broadcasting; three of their

yearbook, called Pioneer; and multiple Journalism I classes.

Alongside its counterparts, The Call occupies a robust and large media center at Kirkwood, which has over 20 computers, breakout rooms, and a whiteboard space. The space sometimes houses up to 70 students at a time, like when Pioneer has its production night.

In fact, SLUH faculty took inspiration from Kirkwood in designing the Claude Heithaus, SJ Media Center before it opened almost two years ago.

Additionally, a lecture hall sits adjacent to the center, housing all of the classes and up to 75 students at a time.

The Call’s class is not “taught” by media teacher Katie Meyers—rather, it is operated by the paper’s three editorsin-chief: seniors Mia Intagliata, Nicholas Copeland, and Sophia Webb (who also determine grades for the students).

The trio guides the staff of 70 students through the paper’s three-week production process. The first week consists of interviews, reporting, and writing stories; the second of editing, peer-reviewing, and finalizing stories; and the third of laying out these articles onto the pages through Adobe InDesign, prepping them for the upcoming print edition. New ideas are then hashed out in the latter half of the third week, and the process starts all over again.

But staffers and editors at The Kirkwood Call are not just sports and news

Sophomore Desmond O’Connor lays out a feature story on a math teacher for The Call’s latest edition.

The lecture hall of Kirkwood’s publication classes.

Kirkwood High’s joint media space, housing 38 computers, during Call late night.

writers, as the vast majority of Prep News staff are. A significant portion of the 70 dedicate all of their time in the paper behind the camera, behind an artist’s desk, or behind a screen, filling roles such as Photo Editor, Web Design Editor, or even more specialized fields such as Breaking News Editor. So as news and sports writers follow this more typical three-week production schedule, photographers, artists, and web experts work alongside them to supplement the publication’s writing with a stellar visual appeal, both on paper and in the website.

Additionally, article writers are the creative auteurs of the pages in which these articles are layed out. Usually, one article along with its images and art takes a two-page spread, unlike at the Prep News where anywhere from three to seven articles may fill two broadsheet pages.

The Call would not be a newspaper without its production nights, known to them as “late nights”—a term jeered at by Prep News staff, who stay until 10 photo | Andrew Hunt p.m. or later every week. The Call goes only until 8:30 p.m.

Nevertheless, these late nights— which The Call splits into two nights in a row for each edition—share the same camaraderie and charm as those of the Prep News, albeit with less chaotic shouting about dinner orders, headlines, and getting somebody to answer the credits question, as is common with Thursdays at the Prep News.

Just as Prep News has a tradition of doing an “out photo” (a selfie after the paper is sent at the end of the night) and a honk, The Call has the (somewhat less fun) tradition of spinning a wheel photo | Andrew Hunt of dares, ordering pizza, and blasting

music on late night.

Members of The Call plan out the layout of their pages ahead of time, including the color scheme, pull quotes, and headlines, and then work on their designated pages individually.

“This article is about school nurses,” explained web design editor junior Kiley Huang, displaying her finished pages, which had artwork of nurses in superhero costumes, in-line with the superhero theme of the upcoming edition.

With art, photography, and text layout curated to the visions of the writer and their collaborators, the results are striking: each page of the magazine pops. For example, the first page of this year’s first edition of the magazine has an announcement from the editors in chief, coupled with a hand-drawn picture of the three, in a comic book style.

Furthermore, writers choose their own article topics. As compared to Prep News, The Kirkwood Call has a more laid-back, reflective approach that focuses less on urgent news and more on bringing out student voices and highlighting the unique, fun, and creative ways in which students experience Kirkwood High School. Articles from the first edition of The Call include summer concert reviews, student athlete profiles, and an opinion piece on cicadas. Stories like this are also published alongside profiles of new faculty announcements and administrative decisions.

The larger body of articles, however, lies in the paper’s online presence. The website and/or Instagram are updated almost daily with articles, quizzes, photo galleries, and more, filling the threeweek gaps between the paper’s physical release. Numerous articles also appear

photo | Andrew Hunt

online that are not in print.

As a whole, The Kirkwood Call lends itself more to entertainment, the student experience at Kirkwood, and to the thoughts and opinions of its staff, in a drastic difference from Prep News.

This may result from three-week style of the paper, the natural environment of a co-ed public school, or the fact that the monthly Webster-Kirkwood Times also covers major news stories related to Kirkwood and the Kirkwood School District.

The Call staffers use the additional time and space to consider improvements to their paper.

“I’m starting a new program here with our newspaper where we’re trying to get inclusion articles written, so in our print issue we’re going to make the font bigger and simplify the story for the kids in Special School Districts,” said Huang.

Just like at Prep News, members of The Kirkwood Call share an appreciation for its community and bonding.

But while Prep News members like ourselves tend to find satisfaction and pride in the opportunity the paper gives to be of service to the school community, to sharpen your writing and communication skills, and to explore new areas of the school, The Kirkwood Call staff tend to point out the paper’s ability to bring forth student voices and important social topics.

“Sophomore year was when I fell in love with Call. All my friends were there,” said Huang. “I won an award for a story I did on a charity, and I just realized, ‘Oh, I can use this to help people. I can use this to be a voice for the voiceless’, which everyone says about journalism, but it’s true. This is 100 percent student voices.”

College Counseling hosts UChicago, WashU to Selective Sunday

BY Gavin Simon Staff

A

s the 2024-25 college admissions process enters full swing, many St. Louis U. High students want to know more about the ins and outs of the process—how they can get into some of the best colleges in the country. This past Sunday, the thirst for such knowledge was quenched as representatives from two of the top 25 colleges in the country (according to the U.S. News & World Report’s latest rankings) stepped into the Schulte Theater for Selective Sunday.

Admissions experts from the University of Chicago (ranked No. 12) and Washington University in St. Lou-

is (ranked No. 24) gave presentations about their particular institutions and also gave some tips and tricks on how students can get admitted to their preferred colleges and universities—how a confident SLUH student could one day find himself walking the halls of one of the best universities in the world.

The presentations are meant to demystify the selective admissions process for SLUH families and make clear the work needed to receive a top 25 college acceptance letter.

“Selective Sunday is our attempt to help our families get a sense of what goes into highly selective college admissions,” said college counselor Kevin Crimmins. “It helps families set

realistic expectations about chances, odds, but also the reality of the whole process.”

Selective Sunday has been helping SLUH families out for years, with numerous highly selective colleges coming to speak with students: Boston College, Wake Forest, and USC are the schools to send representatives to the event in recent years. While much of the highly selective college information is similar, each college representative has a different perspective on the process that provides valuable information to students, a key element that SLUH’s college counselors want to have for Selective Sunday.

“We purposefully try to spread it around,” said Crimmins. “We want

different perspectives because there are small differences in how each college does things.”

While visiting the University of Chicago representative during Activity Period might provide a student with a vast array of bullet points about why the university is so great, Selective Sunday provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the admissions process itself, rather than just getting to know a specific college.

“It made me realize how behind I am and how fast this is all coming,” said senior John Hasemeier. “It gave me a good outline of what I need to do.”

While getting into a top college is inevitably a difficult pursuit, one of the

main goals of Selective Sunday is to allow SLUH families to recognize that it is not only possible but there are steps students can take to reach that goal.

“Every student looking at a school that admits less than 30 percent of their applicants would benefit by going to Selective Sunday,” said Crimmins. “Each student should come out of this knowing more information on how to handle highly selective applications.”

“I learned some helpful stuff about schools on the top level and even schools not on that highly selective level,” said Hasemeier. “I would recommend Selective Sunday to all guys looking to push themselves towards getting into a competitive college.”

NEWS

September 20, 2024

Prep News Volume 89, Issue 5

AMDG

Seven Jr. Bills cut through currents as members of STL Rowing Club

BY Lincoln Shorley Core Staff

M

any members of the St. Louis U. High have joined a new club sport over the past few years: rowing. This brings those interested in rowing at SLUH together through the St. Louis Rowing Club.

Seven SLUH students are currently practicing with the St. Louis Rowing Club; they began their season, which goes through the spring, around the start of school.

These students are seniors Giambo Carapella, Caleb Brown, Boden Brokaw and junior Brendan Tracy who are all incoming varsity rowers, junior Mitchell Orr and sophomore Gavin Palatt who are second varsity, and senior Adrian Neumann who is on first varsity.

Their fall races are dedicated to the longer races, the 5Ks. The winter is dedicated to training and conditioning, and the spring races are the shorter races; the 2Ks as well as the regional races. All of these events are regattas, where there are multiple races in one larger event.

Although there are no local races in St. Louis, there are smaller regattas in nearby cities, and a much larger race in the spring: the Cincinnati Midwest finals or the Midwest regionals. If they place in the top varsity boat they can advance to nationals in Miami.

The students dedicate six of their days each week, two hours each day, perfecting their craft.

They practice at their own club on Creve Coeur Lake, where they can practice inside on machines or outside on the water.

The St. Louis Rowing Club is made up of a collection of students from schools across the St. Louis area. This brings the SLUH students who are a part of the club into groups with other high school

Senior Adrian Neumann rowing. students, growing the community that we are connected to through our school.

“With it comes a similar patriotism that we have through our high school, but instead of rooting for just our school, we support the entirety of St. Louis,” said Brown.

“You have this patriotism because it’s St. Louis versus cities like Cincinnati and Chicago.”

This citywide community has brought many connections and friends to the SLUH rowers, helping them to grow their inner circle of friends outside of just their friends at SLUH. “It’s interesting because you get to meet people from all over St. Louis that go to different high schools than SLUH,” said Brokaw.

“I’ve met people from Kirkwood, Glendale, St. Charles and even like Glensville.”

The teams each consist of eight people, with one person being the coxswain and the rest as the oarsmen or rowers. In order for the teams to be successful, each and

photo | Courtesy of Giambattista Carapella

every one of them must have great technique, strong coordination, timing with one another, and lots of teamwork. The teams are pushed to be their best by the coxswain in their boat, who encourages the team to push and not quit as well as making the others focus on the other skills needed to succeed.

“In a boat of eight people, you have to row as one person,” said Palatt. “We pretty much have to perfectly match up to be our fastest.”

The teams are organized based off skill after the first year. People entering the sport begin as a novice, move up to varsity after the first year. Varsity team placements are based on individual 2K times on. The members with the lowest times are placed on the top teams and the higher times placed on lower team.

Although the sport takes lots of time and energy, it is not as much of a skill-based sport as most may think. In order to be a good oresman and have the lowest times, it

Near power outage cuts Prep News night short, nearly cancels school

BY Micah Doherty, Lincoln Shorley, and Logan Schimweg Editor in Chief, Core Staff, and reporter

S

t. Louis U. High experienced a power outage inside and outside of the school last Thursday night. The loss of power was due to a blown fuse and wiring issues with the switchgear.

On the Wednesday evening before, the SLUH football field had lost some of its power. The maintenance crew investigated with Ameren on Thursday to find that these electrical issues were, in actuality, greater than they seemed.

There was a problem with an underground transformer that could possibly result in the entire school shutting down if the crew did not finish before 6 a.m. on Friday morning. SLUH faculty and staff worked to ensure that

the school would be prepared for this slight power outage.

As they prepared to begin their work, Ameren set a time of 9:30 p.m. on Thursday for the power to cut out. This left the Prep News, working diligently in the Media Center, with a hard deadline to complete their paper for the week. At around 8:45 p.m., the internet in the building cut off. Thanks to the help of Director of Information Technology Jonathan Dickmann, however, the Prep News received alternative internet access and sent off their paper to the printers at The Missourian with less than five minutes to spare before the 9:30 p.m. deadline.

“Ameren moved their start time up mainly to have enough time for the soccer game but also for the Prep News because the work they wanted to do was going to be extensive,” said Dickmann.

art | Jesse Heater

takes raw strength and power.

“It’s more similar to an endurance sport like cross country rather than a more skill-based sport like soccer,” said Neumann.

The sport of rowing is also very easy to get into, with many starting in just 8th grade or freshman year, and growing through the program onto some of the top teams that they have in the club.

3

The strongest skill that is needed in all of the rowers is their technique. This technique that they have can not be changed in any way and needs to stay similar to the rest of their teams in order for them to succeed.

“One of the hard things about rowing is that you can not risk having any independence or special twists to your form,” said Orr. “Rowing is not a sport of individuality, it is a sport of being in sync with one another.”

The Jr. Bills have one of the largest representations of one school in the club. The SLUH students are often some of the best, moving up in the program quickly with their skill and athleticism. In the past there have been many Jr. Bills who have gone to top schools in the country for rowing, like Christian Lawrence ’24 at Brown and Grant Skube ’23 at Northeastern.

Overall, the impact that the St. Louis Rowing Club has had on the Jr. Bills has been massive, bringing them a new experience that many may not have the opportunity to do as well as bringing them many new connections outside of the SLUH community.

(Second from left to second from right): seniors Caleb photo | Courtesy of Boden Brokaw Brown, Boden Brokaw, and Giambattista Carapella.

Administration handles safety threat to nearby school, uses caution

Due to the circumstances, the possibility of there being an outage (continued from page 1) cially with (this threat) because of his to the whole school without being communication is accurate,” said Stew- connections,” said Kesterson. able to fix it in time raised the poten- art. “The idea is we want the clearest “We are super fortunate to have Mr. tial for no school the following day. communication and the most trans- Schulte,” said Principal Fr. Matt StewThe team worked with Ameren, who parent that we can possibly be with art, S.J. “His connections with law enworked the entire night, and other things we actually know, so that in forcement, and, yeah, he can get a cop stakeholders to prevent the outage the event of an emergency, people are here to help us, but then the follow up from going school-wide, and the is- actually responding to real informa- and the learning about what’s happensue was completely resolved by Friday tion and not perceived information or ing and those kinds of things, he’s just morning, with no disruption to SLUH made up.” a tremendous resource for the school.” activities and classes. The widespread The first email was sent at 7:22 a.m.

As issues like these have become outage was prevented, and the 9:30 and described the current situation more common within schools, law p.m. deadline only resulted in some early on in the morning in regards to enforcement works to prevent these systems being powered down, rather the threat, detailing the vigilant steps attacks while schools continue to stay than the whole campus.

SLUH was taking to ensure the school’s alert on their plans of action.

“They didn’t end up losing power safety, even though there was no indi“A lot of schools are dealing with to the main school, but again, they cation in the post of SLUH being en- these copycat kind of things that follow only can go off of what could happen dangered. The following email at 2:26 every time there’s a school shooting nain the worst case scenario, and it’s p.m. informed the SLUH community tionwide, but this is the first time in a better to plan for that, than not plan,” that they could confidently say that the while that I have seen law enforcement said Director of Facilities Services Joe threat had been resolved. take a pretty active approach. They are Rankin.

One of the steps to take was to un- doing search warrants, searching IP “Just a big shout out to our main- derstand the context of and informa- addresses, and finding people who do tenance department and security team tion known about the threat. this,” said Schulte. “It’s a malicious act and all the guys behind the scenes.

“There’s a lot of things that we to cause fear and harm and terrorism They do a lot of good things for the wrestle with behind the scenes to make threats. But the FBI is investigating school and they do a lot of things be- sure we’re doing the right things. And these things now, and the police dehind the scenes,” added Rankin. “It’s a again, that people are informed and partment is investigating these things blessing to have people like Rick Figge making sure we’re keeping this place now.” coming in and staying late making safe,” said Kesterson.

“We have good plans in place for sure everything works smoothly.”

Thanks to Schulte’s background as these things, and that’s how we drill “The work that the maintenance a police officer and his contacts with (SLUH), so that (our community) staff did to get us ready to go was the St. Louis police, he was able to have know what to do in these situations,” amazing,” said principal Fr. Matt a police officer with him at the turn- said Stewart. “(Our community’s) Stewart, SJ. “Those guys work their around to add a sense of security to the safety is more important than coming tails off and the attentiveness they morning routine. to school, of course, and we take the have is great.”

“Having Mr. Schulte, I’ll say this measures to make SLUH a safe envibecause he won’t, is invaluable, espe- ronment for them.”

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Prep News

NEWS

September 20, 2024

Volume 89, Issue 5

AMDG

Food drive raises goods, runs to Hispanos y Latinos Unidos brings Hispanic fuel a year of Freshman Service Heritage Month to SLUH with cultural festivities (continued from page 1)

ers. And that, to me, makes it hugely important.”

Planning for the drive was fairly extensive, starting a few weeks out with a small committee composed of Corley, seniors Clark Davis and Michael Patrick, junior George Fahim, and sophomore Javi Vigil.

“We just kind of sat down and brainstormed ideas about what we could do with the Food Drive, and I was just the guy who helped get the meeting going, (senior Clark Davis) kind of got that meeting going, and we put together the ideas,” said Corley.

The committee didn’t keep the drive the exact same as it had been in the past. One new thing introduced were competitions between the freshmen and sophomores, and between the juniors and seniors. The winning class between the freshmen and sophomores wouldn’t have to stack chairs at the end of their lunch for a week, and the losing class between the seniors and juniors would have to enter the servery five minutes later than the winning class after their lunch started.

Attentive students may have also noticed that—though the bringing in of cans was still celebrated— this year had a very strong cash focus.

“It was sort of an atypical food drive, it wasn’t really a lot of donating cans or giving the food items themselves,” said Student Body President Noah Butler. “It was really money driven, which actually helped it be more successful than it had been in the past.”

That also explains why individual advisories weren’t given set lists of items to buy, like students may remember from years past.

“It helped make it more streamlined,” said Butler. “Sometimes if you give advisories specific things to donate, it makes it a little confusing. Let’s say one advisory has a more expensive item, but it’s worth less points. It just kind of made for a bulky system, so we were just trying for more of a streamlined effort with the whole thing. I think students would probably feel that the streamlining of it made it easier for them to donate food items and cash, I think it was a change that worked really well.”

“It was very successful,” said Davis. “We raised 12 percent more money than last year, and just a little under how many cans we raised last year, so we did really good.”

Although the drive didn’t officially start until Friday, Sept. 6, many students learned of it the day before, during the Mass of the Holy Spirit, in which an opening speech on the drive, rallying students to bring in all the cans and cash they could muster, was given by senior Clark Davis.

After the speech, despite some technical difficulties, a video produced by sophomore Steven Gorsuch on the journey of a can from car to service was shown to the student body, who gave it a resounding hand of applause to end out the assembly.

“It highlighted freshman service so well,” said Corley. “It was kind of goofy, but kind of serious. He just did a wonderful job.”

“It was fun, it was like going back to freshman service,” said Gorsuch. “I started off with filming freshman service, that’s where I started, and then that Friday I went and I developed the whole front part of the kids taking the cans from the car and walking up, and then I later pasted it all together.”

Even as the actual drive rolled around and items began to be brought in, the week was still not without sur-

prises. On several days, the Advisory that brought in the most donations won Ted Drewes ice cream at lunch, and on Thursday hot wings from Seamus McDaniels were even awarded to the Advisory who could flash-raise the most cash during the first few minutes of the period.

“The chicken wings thing, that was really kind of a spur of the moment, like I think literally Friday football game, it must have been Running of the Bills,” said Corley.

“I was working the chain crew and I’m just sitting there, staring off into space, working the chains, and thinking about the Food Drive. And I went up to Fr. Stewart at halftime and said ‘Ok, here’s what I’ve got. What do you think?’ And he’s like ‘Oh yeah, do that.’ So I sent him an email and he took it and ran with it … my goodness, like $2,800 came in.”

And though planning mainly flowed through the committee, STUCO as a whole did play a big role during the actual drive.

“For us it was more like getting in touch with class moderators, getting them invested, getting into contact with class councils, getting them invested. We wanted people to really be invested this year, which is kind of why we did our transition from more cans into money,” said Butler.

One wide success of the drive’s strategy was the usage of dress down days.

“We did multiple dress down days, which I think rose support well and helped raise enthusiasm and participation all around. I think that was a change that really worked well, (though) it was sort of an atypical food drive (with all the cash),” Ultimately, after the flocks of students brandishing money and cans for treats and a cause subsided, the freshmen beat the sophomores, and the junior class defeated the seniors.

However, the junior victory was not without controversy as the Class of ’26 has roughly 40 more students than the Class of ’25, who actually averaged more points per capita than the juniors.

At the end of the day, though, the real winners of the Food Drive will undoubtedly be the freshmen going through service and the people that they’re serving.

“I would simply say, given the mountain of food that’s down in the Currigan room right now, and the deposits I know we made upstairs, I feel like Freshman Service is set for the year, and that’s the goal,” said Corley.

“We remembered Mr. Deves from last year and the massive role that he played in the Food Drive, and how he was responsible for carrying the transition to the Food Drive from Campus Ministry to STUCO, and so I know something that personally motivated me was that I really wanted to do this for Mr. Deves, a massive figure in our community, someone I’m really proud to call a friend, and a mentor that I’ve learned from. So for me, and I think for a lot of the guys, we really wanted to keep a good thing going,” said Butler. “And I think in some ways, we differed from how the Food Drive had been, but in other ways, we made the Food Drive better and kind of adapted to what modern SLUH works like, and how we can maximize our support. And so I think not only did we continue on a great SLUH tradition and something that was taken care of so well by someone that we really care about, but in many ways we made positive changes to the Food Drive that will help continue support for years to come.”

Students dancing in the Si Commons with Alma de Mexico. photo | Courtesy of Hispanos y Latinos Unidos

(continued from page 1)

ing in school, like Mission Week and Spirit Week, we had to get organized and dedicate this week exclusively to Hispanic heritage.”

To kick off the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, this past Monday during the Activity Period, there was a performance from Alma de Mexico. The performance, which was held in the Si Commons, showcased traditional dancers and music from Mexico.

“There was a group of three people performing traditional dances along with singing songs.

What made this so different is the deep culture of inclusion. Through their performance they provided such an inclusive environment,” said sophomore Liam Burgoon.

At the end of the performance,

they allowed for all students who were watching the performance to join in a traditional folk dance.

“My favorite part of the performance was when everyone was invited to learn a simple song at the end,” said sophomore John Comerford. “Everyone was trying their best to stay in time and do the moves correctly.”

This past Wednesday, there was trivia during Activity Period, challenging students to test their knowledge and answer trivia questions about Hispanic and Latino culture. The winners of the trivia would be awarded money to buy food from Friday’s food trucks.

This year’s winner of the trivia was junior Martin Miller.

Today, in the final celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month at

SLUH, there will be food trucks at the Circle Drive during Activity Period and lunch. The food trucks will sell authentic Colombian, Chilean, Puerto Rican, and Mexican food to students, allowing students to enjoy delicious food from other cultures.

Hispanic culture is a core element of American culture. With almost 65 million Hispanic people in America, it is critical to have events like this showcase the beauty and complexity of the culture.

“I think that celebrating Hispanic Heritage is important because it honors other peoples’ backgrounds and enables them to represent their culture and the countries that they are from,” said Comerford.

“With Spanish being the second most spoken language in the US, Hispanic and Latino culture is part of American culture as well,” said Moreno.

The celebration of all cultures is something that SLUH continues to place emphasis on, encouraging students to be open to growth, and to embrace other cultures.

“We’re a school that invests a lot into teaching our guys that the world is bigger than St. Louis,” said Moreno. “I think every student should be always looking for opportunities to learn more about other cultures, learn other languages and expand their views on the world.”

Backer Garden deliveries bring new promise of locally grown lunches (continued from page 1)

ter and worse alternatives to these markets.

Significantly less transparently sourced than both of these are chain retailers such as Target.

Almost none of Target’s food or produce is obtained locally, much of it being shipped internationally to stores in the US. Figuring out where Target’s produce comes from is also extremely difficult, as their website is intentionally misleading.

If a buyer tries to find where their food is grown, they’ll be redirected to the “Traceability and Transparency” tab of the website. The only actual piece of information on this page is a link to a downloadable PDF of Target’s list of their global factory lists in the supply chain, without including where the food is grown. It is a 23-page long list of every piece of Target’s global supply chain, most of which are located in Asia or Central America.

Only four out of the 23 pages are dedicated to US locations.

Farmers’ markets are an excellent way to obtain produce that you know is fresh, but they have several problems. Many times, farmers’ markets intentionally drive the price up because consumers don’t know how much fresh food is actually supposed to cost. Additionally, farmers’ markets aren’t a steady source of food because they occur infrequently or at inconvenient times. While there are sometimes farmers markets in low-income areas, for many it isn’t a reality to steadily buy produce from them.

The best way to obtain fresh produce is in a home or shared garden. The benefits to home gardens are numerous. For example, you know exactly what’s going in your food and what kind of things

you need to plant. Seeds are overwhelmingly cheaper than buying produce, and after some time home gardeners won’t need to buy seeds because the plants produce them themselves.

Of course, though, home gardens also have their own problems.

Most Americans don’t have time to maintain a garden. However, according to a Purdue extension study, one third of home gardens are maintained by families with at least one child. This study also cites a correlation between children who participate in gardening and psychological benefits.

Although the study was done on young children, the principal benefits of on-site gardening can be applied to St. Louis U. High’s own Backer Garden, located just south of the Danis Field House.

Fortunately, Anderson’s AP Environmental Science class has taken the first steps to making homegrown food at SLUH a reality. On Wednesday, the students spent the first part of class harvesting potatoes for the freshman service meals.

“I think gardening in general does a lot of things,” said science teacher Teresa Corley. “Number one, it just makes you aware of where food comes from and how we produce food. Number two, although we are not certified organic, we use a lot of organic practices and don’t spray pesticides. It’s a teaching opportunity to show the amount of time and effort it takes to produce food.”

Several weeks ago, the class collected a massive harvest of cherry tomatoes and peppers and took them to the servery to be used by Food Service for student lunches.

Many students didn’t initially

consider how significant of an event it was for lunch food to be grown, prepared, and served all without leaving SLUH’s campus.

“It was really cool to be a part of the process that goes into making my lunch,” said senior Lucas Hayden, another AP Environmental Science student.

“I think having food in the garden helps raise awareness to the fact that we can all sustain our meals off our own hard work,” said Agniel. “Having a garden here is pretty cool, and I wish I would’ve seen it in action more before I graduate.”

However, this was unfortunately only an isolated event.

“Keeping up with the garden has gotten very difficult once school starts,” said Anderson. “It’s a tremendous amount of work, and for the most part, that means Mrs. Corley and I (getting there) early in the morning.”

The main challenge to the garden has been a lack of volunteers: with only Corely and Anderson down there, tasks like watering can take up unmanageable amounts of time. With more volunteers, garden food in the servery could be a reality once again.

The good news is that, come spring growing season, the garden is expected to receive some much needed renovations.

“We really need a (drip) irrigation system down there,” said Corley. “I’ve been working with (president) Mr. Carruthers, and he’s really supportive of that.”

With renovations and volunteer help, hopefully SLUH can one day have on-campus grown food once again, but until then, it’s important that Jr. Bills learn the value of home gardening to be Men for Others.

SPORTS Volume 89, Issue 5

George Albert in motion as he competes in the 100 meter fly. photo | Myles Tatum

Top of the Rock

Swim and Dive glide through competition in Cape Giraurdeau

BY Brendan Hunt and Henry Hassenstab reporters

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t. Louis U. High’s varsity swimmers started a road trip south to Cape Girardeau at 8:45 a.m last Saturday . A two-hour bus ride later, the athletes arrived at the “Cape Rock” meet, a very competitive event hosting 21 teams from all over Missouri.

After numerous grueling races, SLUH came out on top and took home the Cape Rock, a literal rock with a plaque reading “Cape Rock 2024 First Place”.

Despite hopping onto the bus pretty early in the morning after a grueling practice the day before, all the swimmers were pumped up for the meet, an event highly anticipated by the varsity squad every year. In preparation for the big event, the team ate numerous snacks loaded with carbs and drank various electrolyte drinks. The atmosphere on the bus was filled with excitement and some nervousness for what is one of the first big meets of the swim season.

“There’s a lot of energy in the bus”, said junior Nick Zimmerman.

“A lot of anticipation for the event, and then on the way back, everyone just sleeps.”

Heading into the meet after listening to two whole hours of a swimmer’s playlist blasting in the bus, the guys were hyped up. The pool was newly renovated and completely new to the swimmers who had swum at the event in years prior. Renovations including a new pool basin, new diving blocks, and various other upgrades had begun on the pool in early 2023 and were finished this past May. “We’ve only been going to Cape for three years, and we’ve won two of the three,” said varsity head coach Lindsey Ehret. “Last year we sent the JV team so they could gain experience and because the pool was under construction. The first year we competed at Cape Rock, the meet was outside. The Cape pool had a bubble over it in the winter to make it usable once it gets cold out. So, before they put the bubble back on, they’d host a boys’

season meet outside in the sunshine.

However, they recently finished putting up a more permanent structure around it, so the meet was inside this year and will be for the future.”

The meet began with the 200 medley relay, which SLUH took a comfortable first in, with a time of 1.37.39 seconds, a blazing fast relay that was led by senior Ben Chumley, and followed up with junior Nick Zimmerman, sophomore Drew Hopkins, and junior Ethan Hill.

The W’s continued for the Billikens with wins and top 3 finishes in the 200 free, 200 IM, and 100 fly.

One event that showed special promise was the 50 free, with solid performances from junior Will Steurer (5th place) and sophomore Ethan Hill (7th).

As the meet progressed, a Jr. Bills’ victory became ever clearer as the U. high racked up big points race after race.

“Going into the meet I figured we were going to win,” said junior George Albert. “We have already

beaten some of our big rivals like Parkway Central, and we come into meets with the mindset that we are going to win.”

The mindset was certainly on point as the team took first, second, and sixth in the 500 free, a daunting middle distance race that SLUH excels in. The momentum carried into the latter half of the meet after the Jr. Bills dominated the 200 free relay, setting the scene for a great end to the meet.

One highlight of SLUH’s performance were two well-developed races for the team: the 100 backstroke and the 100 breaststroke. The 100 back was nothing short of a spectacular show of how powerful the team was, with sophomore Drew Hopkins, senior Ben Chumley, and juniors Will Dino and George Albert tearing up the top eight spots in the race. Swiftly after that, Zimmerman finished fourth and sole varsity freshman Eliot Sapp sixth in the 100 breast.

“Going to the big meets like Cape Rock is always a lot of fun because

you see a lot of different teams from all around the state,” said Zimmerman. “You get to race against some really fast guys.”

The meet came to a roaring conclusion when the Jr. Bills and Chaminade Red Devils faced off in the 400 free relay, a race that was neck and neck until senior Charlie Hill’s screaming 47.57 100 free sealed the deal against Chaminade’s Henry Mura, who could simply not keep up with Hill’s blazing pace.

After that race finished, the meet concluded, and the Jr. Bills took a very comfortable win of 474.5 points to Chaminade’s second place position at 302 points.

“My expectations were that we’d finally have a little bit of competition,” said Ehret. “Having some really fast swimmers from other schools like Rock Bridge, Chaminade, and Parkway West helped up our game. I’d expected we’d win and I like rocks, and the boys delivered.”

Athlete of the Week: Connor Dunker

BY Theo Agniel Sports Editor

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he St. Louis U. High swim team found leadership and first place finishes from junior Connor Dunker at its recent Cape Rock Invite meet last Saturday. Dunker put up an impressive display, winning all four races he participated in. Dunker went 1:43.88 in the 200, 4:42.55 in the 500, 22.0 in the 200 freestyle and 49.30 in the 400 freestyle to help carry the Jr. Bill swim squad to a 474.5 point victory.

Theo Agniel: So, how long did you swim before SLUH? When you got to SLUH what was your goal with swimming and was it a part of the reason why you decided to go here?

CD: It’s crazy how good Cooper was and how many records he’s broken, and how talented he was. He wasn’t just good at swimming—he’s also really good at water polo. So I think just looking up to him and seeing how great he was, kind of inspires me to work harder every day, so I can try to get as close to him.

TA: What would you say your trajectory has been so far in the SLUH swim program? Did you start out on JV, or were you a varsity player your first year?

CD: For freshman year, we had tryouts. I made varsity since I was in a swimming club and a lot of kids who did swimming club made varsity their freshman year. Freshman year I decided to put in the work because at that I had the potential to get better. I hadn’t really committed to going to practice every day and trying really hard in the past, so I set my goals high so I could try to keep doing the best I could. Seeing all these other people around me work really hard really inspired me to be my best.

Connor Dunker: When I shadowed, I was partnered with Jaden Yarbrough, a swimmer, and I think that one of the major reasons I came was because I saw how close the team was and I really liked that. I started swimming in fifth grade, and when I came to SLUH, I didn’t really think about state or winning state or anything like that. I didn’t ever think I TA: Last year as a sophomore, you could be at that level. really helped the varsity team place high at State. At the end of the day, TA: By the time you arrived at SLUH, you guys unfortunately placed seclegendary Cooper Schwarf ’22 had ond behind Rockhurst. Even though graduated. How has his legacy lived second place at State is still an admion after his graduation and how does rable feat, in what way does that loss he help inspire you to be a good spur you guys to want to win state swimmer? this year?

CD: Last year, our goal was definitely to win state. We thought we could do it the whole year and actually we got closer to winning state than I expected. We were tied until Rockhurst had an insane relay—we had a good relay, just not as good as theirs. So we ended up getting third in the last relay and losing State by eight points, which was devastating because we all worked so hard and had amazing, fast times. I think that sparked a fire in us—we’re really determined this year not to have that happen again.

TA: I know that swimming is unique in that you guys will come in early Dunker swimming the 100 meter free. photo | Courtesy of Connor Dunker a lot and do workouts in our weight room here and then you will also did you do to put our swim team in what is it going to take for this team swim after school. What’s it like to contention for being one of the best to win State? have two workouts a day? teams in Missouri?

CD: We had a lot more guys last year CD: I’d say it’s definitely a challenge CD: I’d say Cape Rock was definitely who were brand new. So now that because we do weights Monday, insane. Everyone on our team went they have experience this year, it’s Wednesday and then we swim every fast. I had my goals in mind, the going to be a lot better because they day after school and have practice times I wanted to reach and I wasn’t know how to work hard at practice Saturday morning where we do a sure if I’d actually reach them or not, and how to use their energy right. core workout before. It’s definitely a but I did. I went faster than both of Since they have more experience and lot and I’d say it’s hard sometimes try- my goals, which I was really excited more experience behind them, they ing to get all your homework in and about. I think definitely since we have more speed as well. I think last trying to get enough sleep so you can went to this meet freshman year, I year was kind of a good setup for this wake up early and go to practice be- took that energy and kind of used it year. This year, we’re trying to get our fore school. But I think it’s definitely this year for a clean sweep over four divers good as well as make up points worth it and it helps us a lot. events. from the deficit of points that we lost last year from having no divers.

TA: This past meet was down in Cape TA: We talked earlier about how you Girardeau and featured a variety of guys were only eight points behind TA: Hopefully we’ll be seeing you competitive teams from around the Rockhurst. Do you think that this with a gold medal at the end of the area. What happened in the meet that current SLUH team is better than the season! made you Athlete of the Week? What one last year? And even if they aren’t,

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SPORTS

Prep News

September 20, 2024

Volume 89, Issue 5

AMDG

It’s coming home! Cross Country wins FPXC for second straight year

BY Otto Reitenbach and Tristan Kujawa Core Staff, Staff

he St. Louis U. High varsity cross country team was dominant again last Saturday, winning the Forest Park Cross Country Festival (FPXC), for the second straight year. With two teams running in the varsity race—one took first place, the other 11th—SLUH showcased both amazing depth and blazing fast top-end speed.

FPXC is a massive meet, with 30 teams in the top boys varsity division alone. An updated course added a large 400-meter home stretch to finish right near the starting line, putting an emphasis on the final kick. This level of competition is one of the biggest in the region, and the Jr. Bills were up to the task.

“The meet lives up to the hype,” said assistant coach Peter Dillon ’20. “You got tent city pretty close to the start right near the river basin and there is never a

shortage of spectators throughout the course.”

Not only was there a large number of racers, but top competition was present, ready to prove themselves. The Rockhurst Hawklets entered the day as one of the fastest teams in Missouri, and they intended to prove it again on the Jr. Bills’ home turf.

From the opening gun, the top pack opened fast. The Jr. Bills had two runners in the fastest group after one mile: sophomore Jackson Miller and senior Alex Bendaña, both coming in around 4:52.

Unfortunately, the Hawklets had the pace to match. Rockhurst seniors Henry Acorn and Andrew Davis were neckand-neck with the Jr. Bills. Teamwork was on the SLUH’s side, however, as their varsity depth gave the Bills a 6191 lead a third of the way into the race.

Despite an evenly matched top group, the tight team running of the Jr. Bills gave them the edge, with senior

Joe Talleur powers through his race.

photo | Clark Davis

T

Gus Talleur and sophomores Michael Luna and Ben Yoffie rounding out the scoring five.

This race was far from over. After two miles, the Hawklets cut the lead down to 19 off of massive gains by Rockhurst freshman No. 3 runner Jack McGovern. The Jr. Bills continued to run strong, maintaining their placement within the pack, but the Hawklets continued to compete.

Combining into the finish, Benton senior Gabriel McLain held off the second place Acorn for first place, winning in a 5K time of 15:14. Miller followed up as the first Jr. Bill finisher at 15:24 for third place. Bendaña snagged seventh (15:38) and Talleur was a third SLUH finisher under 16 minutes (15:53).

Rounding out the scoring five were Luna (16:11; 20th place) and Yoffie (16:13; 23rd). In total, the Jr. Bills had six runners before the Rockhurst No. 4 runner, solidifying a dominant 79-63 win.

SLUH B, the second Jr. Bill varsity team in the meet, placed 11th. The scoring five of juniors Jake Fitzpatrick (16:37) and Tristan Kujawa (16:52.0), sophomores Nathan Khouri (16:52.6) and Joe Talleur (17:15), and senior George Donahue (17:06) raced admirably against a tough field. This is a wildly impressive feat, beating solid teams like Jackson, John Burroughs and Vianney, a fellow MCC team. This display of depth is a testament to the work this team puts in on every level.

“They get the opportunity to race teams from Illinois, Wisconsin and Texas that we will never see again throughout the year,” said Dillon. “It gives us a great opportunity to go there and compete against some of the best in the region.”

The JV squad looked to match the success of both varsity teams with new

leaders coming in the forefront due to the 18 racing in varsity.

“There was a lot of excitement building up to race day,” said junior Brayden Bussmann. “It was really fun to lead warmups and just be one of the lead guys of the pack.”

As the gun was fired, senior Gavin Smith led the Jr. Bills through the first mile at 5:25 in third with Bussmann right behind him at 5:28. Both of these athletes were able to take out the race fast, displaying not only confidence but leadership in their racing.

As the racers came down the closing stretch, Smith was the first SLUH guy to come in at 18:00, an impressive performance coming back from sickness.

“But yeah, so I had pneumonia, and it really took me out for about a week, but after that, it was pretty hard to get back into it,” said Smith. “I really felt the effects for probably two and a half or three weeks, but it was just really nice to get back out there for the first race in a while. I think my fitness kind of stayed around for the most part, but a lot of work still left to be done” The next Jr. Bill was Bussmann in at 18:16 for 19th place bringing with him two fellow juniors, Brady Vogt (18:25.3) and Jesse Brower-Toland (18:25.5). Behind them to round out the scoring 5 was sophomore Alex Pollaci, who had a breakout race with a time of 18:51 and a huge personal best of 1:21, a feat rarely seen at FPXC. This race tested the program’s depth to new levels, as the JV squad placed 4th in a highly competitive JV field.

“The JV placing 4th is still very respectable,” said Dillon. “It shows we are incredibly deep and a lot deeper than many of the teams in the Midwest region as a whole.”

For SLUH, the freshman race was

the last race of the day, but for the meet it only marked the halfway point with six races still remaining. The freshmen were put up to the test in this race with Festus and Rockhurst also having strong squads. When the gun was shot, freshman Warnicke Beatty took an aggressive lead on the pack with two other talented competitors from Rockhurst and Festus going with him for a first mile of 5:35.

The pace remained hot but Beatty and the rest of the freshman squad held their ground well, having a sizable team lead over the competition.

Beatty came in third right behind the two runners from Rockhurst and Festus with a time of 18:20. Freshmen Gibby Fyvie and Owen Williams battled it out for 4th and 5th place in the final stretch with Fyvie coming out on top at 18:54.6 with Williams less than a second behind at 18:55.4. Freshmen, Phin Gilbert (19:13) and Jonah Ebenhoh (19:21) sealed up the scoring five. The freshmen won easily with a score of 27 points as well as taking home 12 of 30 medals available to them.

“Again, it shows our incredible depth,” said Dillon. “We have a bright future looking forward. Warnicke did a great job being bold in his race plan and I think the rest followed.”

With those 6 races still to go in the meet, many of the program’s athletes were put to task volunteering from jobs in the concession stand to distributing water at the finish line. This service to the team helped make the meet even more of a success for SLUH. Now the program shifts its focus to a new race this year, the Festus-Bowles Invitational. With the top runners being held out, the V2 squad looks to set the new, unknown course on fire while the freshmen combine with the JV’s to create an even deeper JV squad.

Strong defense not enough; football falls to De Smet, 23-3

BY Jake Fitzpatrick and Daniel Neuner Core Staff

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he St. Louis U. High football team came up short last Friday night against their bitter Jesuit rivals, the De Smet Spartans, losing 23-3 at home in the annual Jesuits vs. Cancer game.

Seeking revenge for their playoff exit last season in the District Championship, a fired-up SLUH charged onto the field, motivated by the De Smet student section unoriginally displaying the upside down U. Starting on defense, SLUH was led by senior captain Landon Pace and junior linebacker Kendall McNutt. On second down, junior defensive end Sebastian Tate came up with a huge tackle for loss, setting the tone and forcing the Spartans to punt on their first possession.

The Jr. Bills offense began at their own 32-yard line thanks to a 20-yard punt return from senior Matthew Moore. SLUH came out feeding the ball to running back junior Jordan Taylor, who was fresh off of a 56 yards and one touchdown game against Hillsboro.

After driving down the field, the Jr. Bills were stuffed on third and 4 and forced to kick a 32-yard field goal by Christian Ziegler, taking an early 3-0 lead.

De Smet went 3 and out on the next possession, powered by a big third and 10 tackle from McNutt.

McNutt led all SLUH tacklers with 9 tackles to bring his season total to 13.

SLUH took over on their own 40 after the Spartan punt. However, the Jr. Bills were forced to do the same after a crucial illegal procedure penalty and a tackle for loss in the backfield.

With a rowdy Jr. Bill student

section behind them and the clock winding down in the first quarter, the momentum shifted on first and 10 as Pace beat the offensive linemen off his block and stripped and recovered the ball from De Smet quarterback and Kansas State commit Dillon Duff. In addition to the forced fumble, Pace recorded three sacks in the game.

The SLUH offense took over with excellent field position, but could not turn the momentum into points. The De Smet defense sacked Eleby on two consecutive plays and forced a punt.

“With the size of De Smet’s offensive and defensive line, what they do to teams is wear you down. Their game plan is to tire you out, wear you down, and pull away late,” said head coach Adam Cruz.

A fantastic punt from senior Jakob White bounced out at the 9-yard line, backing De Smet into tough field position. White finished the game with five punts under his belt and an average of 32.4 yards per punt. With this advantage, the SLUH defense bore down and, after a near-interception from sophomore Ben Yust, drove De Smet to punt from their own end zone.

SLUH’s next possession, though, was much like that of De Smet. Following a fair catch from junior Keenan Harris on the return, SLUH couldn’t find a first down and punted the ball back to De Smet.

“Obviously, it was frustrating offensively in the first half, but we always want to end drives with a kick,” said Cruz. “When it ends with a punt, we’re giving them back field position.”

Defensive excellence and stagnant offenses continued to be the name of the game for both teams. On their next drive, De Smet was stifled by a crowdpleasing sack by Pace on third down that led them to yet another punt.

“I was really proud of how our defense showed out early. Hanging with them for so long kind of showed people that we can compete with some of the best teams in St. Louis and Missouri,” said Pace.

Again, the SLUH offense could not move the chains, resulting in the fifth consecutive punt of the quarter by the two teams.

This time, De Smet picked up yardage from the get-go. Great blocking on the punt return allowed the Spartans to set up at SLUH’s 30-yard line.

SLUH’s defense was within a down of forcing a field goal attempt, but on third and 14 De Smet executed a nifty screen pass to Spartans junior Jayden McCaster on the near sideline, who then cut across the field, going untouched on his way to the end zone.

Taking the lead seemed to fuel the De Smet defense further as they pressured Eleby in the backfield repeatedly, causing several incomplete passes and a three-and-out on the next possession.

“We couldn’t really get anything going,” said Eleby. “It was just a lot of mental mistakes that we can’t make going into the future.”

Fortunately for SLUH, De Smet punted the ball back to them with just under a minute remaining in the half.

However, the Jr. Billikens weren’t able to muster a drive before time expired.

As the Jr. Bill squad ran off the field, a herd of SLUH and Spartan students alike sprinted across the field to the northwest corner of the field where more than 30 students had their heads shaved throughout the span of the game to support those affected by cancer.

SLUH received the ball to begin the second half, hopeful for a score.

Instead, their first possession fell apart

when a pass on third down landed in the hands of De Smet senior A.J. Byerley, who tiptoed 29 yards down the sideline to the end zone for a pick six.

The SLUH offense finally found some rhythm on its next drive, including a first down reception by sophomore Quincy Jones on a wheel route and a 16-yard reception by Keenan Harris. Rather than an immediate punt, at last SLUH was able to sustain a longer drive with first down conversions to lead them into Spartan territory.

However, De Smet’s high-pressure defensive line reasserted itself. They forced SLUH to move the football quickly, choosing screen pass plays more often and scrounging for small gains. SLUH was able to find a way around this until a third and one play in De Smet’s half where Eleby was flocked by Spartans and had to get rid of the football in an instant. His pass was intended for Pace, but Pace was covered in the middle of the field and the ball was intercepted by De Smet senior Jason King.

“In the second half, we didn’t take care of the football. We turned the ball over twice to start the second half, and those turned into points,” said Cruz.

After the turnover, De Smet moved down the field with ease. McCaster snuck through a hole in the middle of the field and picked up a first down on the ground to start the drive. Following a penalty against SLUH, De Smet was able to set up even deeper in SLUH’s territory. Once again, McCaster ran the ball, this time waltzing his way into the endzone.

McCaster’s touchdown, however, was called back due to holding, and the SLUH defensive unit was given another chance. Pace made a crucial tackle for loss on McCaster to suppress

De Smet’s run game, but the Spartans found the end zone through the air instead. On 3rd and 15, Dillon Duff connected with DeSmet senior Liam Russo on a shallow post en route for a touchdown that extended their lead to 20-3.

After a successful extra point, the Jr. Bills took the ball back with three minutes left to go in the third quarter.

With five receivers split out, SLUH finally got a glimpse of momentum as Eleby launched a bomb to a diving Zach Allen, who hauled in the deep ball to put the Jr. Bills within scoring territory at the De Smet 43. However, the Jr. Bills were not able to capitalize, as they proceeded to turn the ball over on a turnover on downs after a series of short incompletions.

Going into the fourth quarter, SLUH managed to make De Smet go three and out and forced a punt that pinned the Jr. Bills at their own ten.

However, this amounted to nothing as the Jr. Bills were also forced to punt with 9:07 left to go in the game.

After a deep punt return that set De Smet up at SLUH’s eight, the Jr. Bills were able to hold De Smet to a field goal, making it 23-3.

Two more series of turnovers on downs on the Jr. Bills’ final two offensive possessions closed out the game with an encapsulation of the Jr. Bill offensive performance: a lack of big plays and a multitude of penalties.

Going into next week’s game, the Jr. Bills look to bounce back against the 1-3 Lutheran St. Charles Cougars on the road.

“We can’t take this game lightly at all. We need to dominate from the first drive until the buzzer sounds,” said Tate. “We need to play a complete game.”

SPORTS

September 20, 2024

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Prep News Volume 89, Issue 5

AMDG

Soccer struggles to find the net among Fantasy Football Week toughest competition of the season 3: Starts and Sits

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layer availability and trouble keeping the ball made the week a tough one for the St. Louis U. High soccer team. The team’s patience and an additional man against Kirkwood led to a comeback to salvage a tie, and their strong first half against Vianney led to another tie. However, their second game in the CBC Tournament wasn’t as bright as a brilliant goal by CBC and little offensive pressure by the Jr. Bills led to their first loss in over two weeks.

Kirkwood: The Jr. Bills hoped to come out strong in their first Champions League match of the season. Skill over size has led the team to an impressive 5-2-2 record, as they have used their speed, foot skills, and experience to conquer opponents.

However, this theme wasn’t as evident in the first half against Kirkwood, as the Pioneers’ aggressive physical play led them to win the opening half. With sophomore Cole Chambers out sick and senior John Hasemeier taking the ACT, the Jr. Bills bench players would have to step up to fill the gaps in the starting lineup.

Within the first two minutes of the game, Kirkwood was awarded its first yellow card of the game after junior Andrew Wolf was held back as he tried to attack a ball.

Although their physicality awarded SLUH some free kicks at the start of the game, Kirkwood took an early lead with a header off a corner in the first five minutes. Down by one early was not a good look for the Jr. Bill side, whose defense had been a highlight the past few games.

Things only got worse for the Jr. Bills, as sophomore Paddy Byrne channeled the feistiness of a Pioneer and received a yellow card right after the opening goal.

With frustration high, the Jr. Bills started to slow the game down, changing their formation to create more offense. For the final 30 minutes of the first half, SLUH tried to poke the ball over the Kirkwood back line to generate a fast break.

This strategy saw little luck, as the Pioneer backline’s overpowering size allowed them to head the ball away.

With four minutes left, Kirkwood received their second yellow card of the game. Wolf ’s free kick looked to be a sure goal as it sailed top right of the net. However, a courageous effort from the Kirkwood goalie saw the Jr. Bills best chance of the first half tip off the top of the goalpost and out of bounds for a corner.

Despite attempts to generate another good chance on goal, the Jr. Bill’s found themselves in a hole that they would have to dig themselves out of for the second half.

In the second half, the Jr. Bills saw themselves in the same place they were in the first, as the Pioneers nearly scored on a corner, but senior goalkeeper Henry Neff ’s layout save kept the Jr. Bills in the game.

Five minutes into the second half, starting midfields Byrne and junior Henry Sanders were pulled from the game as they both suffered injuries from Kirkwood’s rough play. Down four starters, the Jr. Bills bench took the spotlight. As senior right-winger Caleb Bircher went up for a header, a Kirkwood player with already one yellow card collided with him, and after Bircher was knocked

down, the ref held Kirkwood’s fate in the palm of his hand. Deciding that the foul was egregious, the ref issued the Pioneer player a second yellow, removing him from the game.

The Jr. Bill side needed a break, and having one more player on the field for the final 35 minutes gave them confidence on offense. After many chances, SLUH found their break when junior James Barry took advantage of a ball that was rocketing from player to player in the frenzy of a corner, and slammed it on the ground into the net to tie the game.

“Although it’s very important that we were able to tie up that game, I don’t think we should see that game as a win in any way. We should’ve come out stronger against Kirkwood, and fortunately Bubba (Barry) was able to have a great finish. We have to give credit to him and his hard work throughout the game,” said senior captain Nick Hammond.

With Kirkwood down a man, and the Jr. Bills patching together an acceptable performance after a dreadful first half, both teams felt relieved after the full-time whistle signaled a draw in the group stage of the champions league.

“We are no different than we were when we played Chaminade. Scoring goals is a challenge for every team at every level. Even the wins that we have, we have grinded them out by taking advantage of mistakes. That’s where we are at right now,” said head coach Bob O’Connell.

With less than five minutes left in the game, the Jr. Bills showed their fatigue and Vianney found the back of the net to end the contest in a 1-1 draw.

“In the second half, we had all of the shots besides one,” said Hasemeier. “It was extremely frustrating to give up the three points and have to settle for only one after such a good game, but we will take the point and build. We are just hoping it doesn’t bite us in the long run.”

As players reflected on the performance, they saw where they could have improved. Mainly an effort based tie, the team looks to the next few games in hope for more hard work. ”The game wasn’t as fast as we would have liked,” said Barry. “We played pretty slow, especially towards the end of the game. We’re gonna have to pick it up for the rest of the tournament if we want to win.”

“The game had an unfortunate ending but it showed us how hard we’re gonna have to work to win these next few games against De Smet and CBC,” said junior Andrew Chalmers. “We know what we’re capable of. We just have to work harder.”

Looking Ahead: The Jr. Bills continued play in the CBC Tournament last night against the Cadets. After a hard fought game, the Jr. Bills lost 1-0 on a CBC goal off a throw-in in the 53rd minute.

Tomorrow, SLUH plays Jesuit rivals De Smet at CBC for their final game in the tournament. On Monday, the team travels to Jefferson City to play Capitol City high school before having their first home game in over a week against Clayton on Wednesday.

“We have to continue to get better. Hopefully, we can figure out how to score goals in these next couple games. Hopefully, we’ll be able to attack De Smet a little bit differently and net one or two goals,” said O’Connell.

“I’m excited for the CBC Tournament. It’s always exciting to play MCC teams and see what our team can do,” said Hammond. “It’s also the end of the early season, so we’ve played a couple games and we know what to expect from ourselves and the other teams. It’s all about putting what we’ve learned so far to the test.”

BY Matteo Abbate and Anderson Kramer Staff, reporter

W

eek 2 was another success for fantasy football predictions with all four of our picks being useful to managers. Our best pick was WR Ja’Marr Chase, as we predicted he would underperform in WeeK 2, and he did just that, putting up a pitiful 7.5 fantasy points. We also predicted J.K. Dobbins’ massive week where he put up 22.5 fantasy points. Remember, nowhere else can you get these kinds of insights that we are bringing, so trust that we know what we are talking about, and have the ability to give you the information you need to win your matchups. Good luck this week, and here are Week 3’s picks!

(94.5% start) Travis Kelce, Chiefs, TE: SIT. Kelce, once again, has gotten off to a slow start. Even though this may seem like a must start, ask yourself how much longer you are going to take being screwed over by this start. He’s coming off a week where he had 1 reception on 3 targets for just 5 yards. Now, with RB Isaiah Pacheco out, and a tough Falcons secondary (led by stars such as A.J. Terrell, Jessie Bates III, and Justin Simmons) fully aware of his absence, Kelce will likely match his previous performance. If you think there are no better options at TE, then do as you must, but just know you’ve been warned.

(25.0% start) Derek Carr, Saints, QB: Vianney: START. Derek Carr and the Saints Coming off the frustrating tie against have already put the league on notice Kirkwood, the Jr. Bills were fired as they proved that they are for real in up for their first game of the CBC their win against the Cowboys. With a Tournament play against the Viantotal of 6 touchdowns so far, and 443 ney Griffins. Despite playing at CBC, passing yards while not even playing SLUH took the home bench, a spot the fourth quarters, Derek Carr is a in the shade, on the brutally hot fall must start this week. If you’ve been day. watching his highlights, you know Opening the game, Vianney better than anyone that he has just seemed to be dominating their side been dropping bombs on the opposof the ball. Near miss after near miss ing defenses, especially with his deep characterized much of the beginning threat WR Rashid Shaheed. This week of the game for the Griffins with their could be his best yet as the Saints take first two shots coming in only the on yet another weak secondary in the first five minutes of play.

Eagles, so pick him up if you can.

However, as play progressed, the Jr. Bills made their fight for pos(89.3% start) Mike Evans, Buccasession noticeable. With the senior neers, WR: SIT. Before you go all craduo of John Hasemeier and Nicholas zy on this pick, consider that the BucHammond in the middle, SLUH also caneers are playing a Broncos defense responded with quite a few shots in the first half. A near missed header and a few good runs pushed the ball onto SLUH’s half.

Despite the new dominant possession from the Jr. Bills, it was not until there were five minutes left in the first half that SLUH capitalized on an opportunity. In the Vianney box, Hasemeier pressured a Vianney defender, causing him to stumble with the ball, which ended up at the feet of sophomore striker Javi Vigil and then in the back of the net.

SLUH finished out the half comfortably up 1-0.

Entering the second half, the Jr. Bills felt confident in their ability to maintain the lead. Working through the September heat, they once again found themselves dominating their side of the ball. Similar to the first Caleb Bircher settles the ball against Kirkwood. half, near miss after near miss proved WEBSTER them to be the better team on the field. A beautiful ball by junior James (date) 1 2 F Barry led to a closely missed header SLUH 0 1 1 from Hasemeier.

Opp. 0 0 0 As the game progressed, however, SLUH began to play more deKIRKWOOD fensively. Clearing the ball, making (date) 1 2 F fewer offensive attacks, and taking SLUH 0 1 1 fewer shots led to the ball on their Opp. 1 0 1 defensive half to finish the game.

art | Kane Luchun

BY Theo Agniel and Aiden Erard Sports Editors

where Pat Surtain II will match up against Mike Evans. With WR Chris Godwin lining up in the slot, and with his outstanding performances as of late, Baker will continue to look for Godwin to make an immediate impact. Mike Evans struggled last week as he was overshadowed by Godwin in a win against the Lions, and in my opinion, he can’t be trusted again with one of the best corners in the league in Surtain.

(14.6% start) Brian Thomas Jr, Jaguars, WR: START. With the mass change in the Jaguars receiving core, the Jags used their first round pick for Brian Thomas Jr. This young receiver was put into a spotlight quickly coming into the system as the initial WR2 behind Gabe Davis, yet as the first two weeks have passed, the Jaguars offense has looked towards Thomas the most despite only having 2 catches the week prior, totaled 94 receiving yards.He’s the deep ball threat that can make an immediate impact and is worth considering to make that FLEX spot.

(49.7% start) D’Andre Swift, Bears, RB: SIT. Despite coming off a great year with the Eagles, Swift has not been able to get much going with an even more poverty franchise in the Bears organization. As someone who drafted Swift, I realize that this was a stupid pick. I have since released him from my fantasy team, as he will come of no use to me this season.

He’s just been absolutely abysmal in the backfield coming off a week where he rushed for 18 yards on 14 carries.

Also, it’s worth noting that the Bears O-Line has been awful, as expected, and they will continue to be awful this week against the Colts.

(96.2% start) Kyren Williams, Rams, RB: SIT. The Rams whole team has been in a dumpster fire of injuries to start the season, including big names like Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp.

The O-Line has also been torn up, which is why the Rams don’t really have many options at the moment. If they run the ball with Kyren Williams, the Niners defense, specifically Bosa and Warner will have feast against that injured O-line. Bottom line, don’t expect much from him and find another option.

photo | Jack Auer

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Prep News Volume 89, Issue 5

KIRKWOOD CALLED

September 20, 2024 AMDG

PN CROSSWORD: On Foot

67. [Index] ... to be butchered an- Osaka other day?

27. Brit’s “Right?”

29. Drifters DOWN 30. Ye _____ Shoppe 1. Instrument with up to 47 strings 31. Alpha’s counterpart 2. Commandments pronoun 32. Absorb, as 9-Across 3. Old Russian ruler 33. Cable sports awards 4. Sheriff ’s band 35. Ancient Brit or Jayson Tatum 5. Streaming installment 39. Miser 6. Aid in crime 42. Los Estados Unidos, en México 7. “Fix” opener, appropriately 44. Single, double, triple, home run 8. Gut punch reaction 46. ...

9. Peculiar 50. Worm still used in medicine 10. Orbital period 51. Microwaves 11. Chessboard row 52. Ferromagnetic element 12. Group pic 53. Currency that’s Spanish for 13. Confined, with “up” “weight” 18. Something tickled besides this 54. Den puzzle’s theme 55. Sleek, in car lingo 21. Scratch the surface 56. What Horton hears 23. Chi. newspaper 57. Baseball stitching 24. Chopping down 58. Head of France?

25. Record of one orbital period 60. Tail motion 26. Actress Watts or tennis player 61. Self-importance

Last Week’s Answers

Crossword | Paul Baudendistel | criticisms, compliments, and ideas welcome at pbaudendistel@sluh.org

ACROSS 1. Address starter 5. D.C. newspaper 9. Sap product 14. “I see,” facetiously 15. Spain’s longest river 16. Razz 17. [Middle] ... to be fattened up?

19. Entered quickly 20. Trivial _____ 21. [Big] ... to be butchered?

22. 911 responder

23. Part of < and > 25. Vader’s childhood nickname 28. “Author” of this puzzle’s theme 34. Fictional teen detective 36. St. _____ fire 37. [Ring] ... to be starved?

38. Face-plant 40. Portrayer of Sparrow and Wonka 41. Talk _____ a minute 43. “No more _____.”

45. Toe, per this puzzle’s theme 47. Coll. credit courses

48. Accident investigation agcy.

49. Stomach acid 51. Resealable bag brand 55. > or = 59. Toward the back 60. [Pinky] ... squealing in fright?

62. Put forward, as a hypothesis 63. Taj Mahal city 64. It appropriately bookends “chew the fat” 65. “Zzzzz ...”

66. Fine

Satire: PN investigates StuCo promises of the past

BY Leo Hahn Features Editor

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romises. It seems politicians will say anything to get elected nowadays, and that’s true even in the smallest elections, even here at Saint Louis U. High. Promises of phones and dances fill the speeches of StuCo reps, but these are tame compared to the guarantees of student politicians in the past. Prep News has combed through over 100 years of records to find the following promises of the past: One of the first recorded promises made by a student body president was in 1939, when a young Earving McWilliams ’38 promised to halve the school day so students could work more hours at the nearby Steel Erection Company, securing more money for their families in the later years of the Great Depression.

“Those days we would spend at the steel plant were long, but at least it was an honest day’s work,” said a 105-year-old McWilliams. “Boys just wanted to cut more sheet metal.”

The promise was never kept as administration saw that extended time inhaling fumes from the plant had lowered the overall GPA of the school. Despite this, in 1939 McWilliams was successful in installing the first SLUH hand dryers, which remain in the bathrooms to this very day.

The middle of the century was relatively calm for politics at SLUH, but resolutions to “repeal school policies that may align with the communist agenda” were made periodically.

Despite the anxiety, no communists were expelled or elected from the student body in these years.

In 1959 a group of students were recorded to have lobbied for the

Prep News Credits

right to smoke in classes. The idea was briefly considered by the existing Student Council before a portion of carpet in the chapel caught fire during a sophomore class Mass.

The holy water smothered the fire and any hope for smokeshows in the halls.

“In the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Ghost,” Fr. Hoyle Flanagon, SJ is recorded saying as he later doused outside smokers with holy water.

StuCo representatives often make promises to make the best of their schools’ situations. This was the case in 2013 when sinkholes began opening up under SLUH’s athletic fields.

Campaigning StuCo VP Michael Pittman ’14 sought to turn it into a business opportunity for the school.

“The SLUH caves will be the biggest tourist attraction in the tristate area,” Pittman is recorded saying in

Volume 89, Issue 5

Editor in Chief Micah “the otto-draft” Doherty

Visual Editor Jesse “the SLU rugby team” Heater

Sports Editors Aiden “I’m losing by 50” Erard Theo “Mr. Steingruby” Agniel

Core Staff Patrick “Frederick Douglass” Byrne Jake “SLUH football” Fitzpatrick Jens “Mr. Garavaglia” Istvan Thomas “Jim Winterton” Juergens Daniel “my LinkedIn pal” Neuner Otto “the Crumbl Maple Cinnamon Square” Reitenbach Lincoln “Kyren Eleby” Shorley

Staff Artists Kane “I don’t watch sports-ball” Luchun Colin “Brandon Aubrey” Schuler

News Editors Andrew “Doctor Kruse” Hunt Lucas “Duke Orsino” Hayden Features Editor Leo “Matty ‘The Mallet’ Kleinberg” Hahn

Staff Tristan “my dead vaporflys” Kujawa

a May 3, 2013 edition of the Prep News. “Just think of the amount of money the school could make off of the River Des Peres boat tours, zip lines, and geode shop!”

While the project fell through due to lack of funding, the idea stuck with Pittman. After getting his Master’s degree in geology at the Univer- Bazinga! Congrats to Mr. sity of Colorado-Boulder, he is now the youngest head of operations in Dickmann for a stellar Meramec caverns’ history. crossword win!

Next time you sit through a speech promising more vending machines, a spring mixer, or a longer Studium, be sure to remember the promises of SLUH’s past.

“I for one say that we get two more service dogs,” said Student Body President Noah Butler. “The increase in morale would be great for the school, and the social media col- Friday, September 20 labs with Serena have netted StuCo a University of Kansas good 3000 followers.”

Truman State University University of Iowa

College Visits

“Who’s carrying your fantasy football team?”

Gavin “NOT Christian McCaffrey” Simon

Reporters Matteo “Julius Caesar” Abbate Hendrix “Henry Acorn” Fyvie Henry “Steve from Minecraft” Hassenstab Brendan “Dhunt” Hunt

X-Word Winner

Anderson “Cookie Monster” Kramer Finn “Tulip” Rose Logan “Serena” Schimweg Steven “Trades” Gorsuch Photographers Jack “Canon 80D” Auer Sean “Studium” Cajigal Kathy “Periodic Table” Chott Clark “The Boss” Davis Myles “Huh?” Tatum Moderator Steve “Lizzie” Missey

Monday, September 23 University of Dallas Rockhurst University

Tuesday, September 24 Providence College

Wednesday, September 26 University of Missouri - Kansas City St. Mary’s University The New School Rhodes College

Thursday, September 5 Dartmouth College