EDWARDSVILLE – Many athletes from both Alton and Edwardsville High Schools were named to the All-Southwestern Conference teams for the fall sports season on voting done by the coaches in each sport, with the teams being released on Thursday.
All fall sports — boys and girls golf, boys and girls cross country, boys soccer, girls tennis and girls volleyball – were announced on Thursday, with the all-conference football team to be released at a later day upon the conclusion of the East St. Louis football season. The Flyers are set to play in the IHSA Class 6A playoff semifinals on Saturday at Crete-Monee, with the championship game scheduled for next Saturday, Nov. 27.
Here’s a look at the 2021 fall all-conference teams:
GIRLS TENNIS
In singles, both the Tigers’ Chloe Koons and Zoe Byron were named to the conference’s first team, and are joined by Belleville East’s Kylee DelVecchio, Mia McIssac and Brodie Rauch and O’Fallon’s Kelsey Dismukes. The second team consists of Sophie Byron of the Tigers, Madison Kinder and Caroline Koch of the Maroons, Lydia Taul of the Redbirds, Isabel Wells of the Panthers and Paisley Struewing of the Lancers. On the third team are both Anna Kane and Anna Brady of Alton, Gabriela Hill of Edwardsville, Logan Phetsadasack of Collinsville, Natalie Spihlman of O’Fallon and Reese Alpeter of Belleville East.
On the doubles’ side, the Edwardsville team of Hannah Colbert and Alyssa Wise were named to the first team, along with O’Fallon’s Megan Mueller and Ava Taylor and Belleville West’s Mariella Pellmann and Hailey Neal. Collinsville’s duo of Anna Falbe and Alyssa Garcia were named to the second team, as were Maya Hataway and Joanna Cullen of Belleville East and Analiese Reidelberger and Bela Sanghavi of O’Fallon. The Tigers’ Jessa and Brooklyn Earnhart were selected for the third team, as were Amelia Redman and Lily Schuler of the Redbirds and Taylor Tieman and Olivia Eiskant of the Maroons.
Pellman, Neal and Cullen were named winners of the SWC’s sportsmanship award, while Sophie Byron was named Rookie of the Year, Koons won the most outstanding player award and both Wise and Dismukes took the most improved player awards.
GIRLS GOLF
Senior Grace Daech and junior Nicole Johnson were named to the league’s first team in girls golf for Edwardsville, and are joined on the team by O’Fallon’s Maddie Vanderheyden, Reagan Martin and Valerie Meinkopf and Belleville East’s Kathryn Smith. Named to the second team were Caitlyn Dicks of the Tigers, Addison Kenney and Olivia Boyd of the Redbirds, Maya Clark of the Kahoks, Caitlyn Chor of the Panthers and Sydni Thurlow of Belleville East. The third team consists of Edwardsville’s Morgan Landry and Jasmyn Story, Alton’s Josie Giertz, O’Fallon’s Shaylee Ficken, Belleville East’s Ellie Eversman and Belleville West’s Emma Bernard.
BOYS GOLF
Three members of the Tigers — sophomore Carter Crow and freshmen Ryan Suhre and Mason Lewis — were voted onto the first team, and are joined by Alton’s Sam Ottwell and both O’Fallon’s Caden Cannon and Hunter Ficken. The second team consists of Edwardsville’s Joe Chiarodo and five golfers from O’Fallon — Thai Prakit, Jaylen Warren, Gavin White, Luke Jackson and Andrew Rottschalk. On the third team are Edwardsville’s T.J. Thimes and Drew Suhre, Collinsville’s Jack Geisen, Belleville West’s JoJo Jones and Adam McGee and Belleville East’s Ryan Phillips.
GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY
Three Tiger runners — juniors Emily Nuttall and Madison Strotheide and sophomore Olivia Coll — were named to the first team and are joined by O’Fallon’s Peyton Schieppe, Julia Monson and Brittney Brown and the Maroons’ Alyssa Elliott. Three other Edwardsville runners — Maya Lueking, Whitney Dyckman and Emma Patrick — were named to the second team, joined by Mackenzie James and Ella Peterson of the Panthers and both Devnysha Deere and Catherine Myers of the Lancers. On the third team are Belle Horsfall of Edwardsville, Sophia Paschal of Alton, Pennie Utnage, Ashley Wangelin and Sylvi Seagraves of West and both Catherine Gould and Jane Dayton of O’Fallon.
BOYS CROSS COUNTRY
Four members of the Edwardsville team — seniors Ryan Watts, Geo Patrylak and Ryan Luitjohan and freshman Hugh Davis — were named to the SWC first team, and are joined by O’Fallon’s Dylan Ybarra and Eli Greenstreet and Belleville East’s Byron Jones. On the second team, Edwardsville’s Jacob Grandone, Ben Perulfi and Jack Draper, along with Alton’s Dylan Forsythe were named to the team, and joining them are Noah O’Renic of Belleville West and both Zach Thomas and Blake Westrater. Two runners for the Redbirds — Christian Kotzamanis and Simon McClaine — and one runner for the Kahoks — Brock Cunningham — were named to the third team, and are joined by Kelton Schuermann, Ben Harris and Quin Gray of the Lancers and Ryan Garrett of the Panthers.
BOYS SOCCER
Three players for Collinsville — sophomore Adam Reiniger, Dane Compton and Landon Mahat — and two players for Edwardsville — seniors Jake Duboise and Ben Matthews — were named to the first team in boys soccer, and were joined on the team by O’Fallon’s Andre Robertson and Evan Weber, Colin Reeb and Caleb Bilzing of the Maroons and Anton Mosley of the Lancers.
On the second team, the Tigers put Ben Loftus, Wyatt Erber and Chris Agwedu on the team, while the Kahoks had Jimmy Crowder and Trey Peterson and the Redbirds put Noah Hardin on the team. Joining them are Tyler Lunning and Ian Schilling of the Panthers, Ethan Ellis of the Maroons and Gavin English of the Lancers.
Edwardsville’s Gavin Walls and Axton Anom, Collinsville’s Aiden Hensler, Alex Lorsbach and Jaylen Wade and Alton’s Connor Wieckhorst were placed on the third team and were joined by Jake Schildknecht, Chris Moore and Edgar Lopez of O’Fallon and Canyon Schmidt of Belleville West.
The Tigers’ Nathan Beck was named first team goalkeeper, with Ben Eckell of O’Fallon second team and both Belleville East’s Caleb Simpson and Collinsville’s Jackson Parrill both named third team.
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Edwardsville had three players — Gabby Saye, Emma Garner and Kaitlyn Conway — named to the first team, along with Collinsville’s Sydney Sommer, and they were joined by Valerie Finck of O’Fallon, Elise Gibson of Belleville West and Faith Williams of Belleville East. On the second team, Lexie Griffin and Sydney Harris of the Tigers were named to the team, as were Tamar Randall of East St. Louis and Addy Johnson of Collinsville, and also selected for the team were O’Fallon’s Rylie Vincent and Payton Hamm. On the third team, Edwardsville’s Ava Waltenberger and Maddie Vieth, Alton’s Reese Plont and East Side’s Mikayla Lee were selected for the team, joined by Alyssa Frederking of O’Fallon, Reece Gray and Elani Riley of Belleville East and Maliah Sparks and Tori King of Belleville West.
Not including football, Edwardsville has the lead in the conference’s All-Sports trophy race with 52 points, with O’Fallon a close second with 47 points, Belleville East third with 31 points, Belleville West is fourth with 29 points, Alton is fifth with 21 points, Collinsville currently sits in sixth with 20 points and East St. Louis is seventh with 10 points.
