LeBlond adds to athletic success with three titles in three-day span

May 22—In his years as both a student and administrator at Bishop LeBlond High School, athletic director Michael Evans said he's never seen a week quite like this one.

With three district titles in three different sports across a three day span, it's been a week of champions for the Eagles.

"It's just phenomenal," Evans said. "It's a phenomenal accomplishment by our kids and our coaches, and the hard work really paid off."

To start the week off, the LeBlond boys golf team took home the Class 2 team state title Tuesday in Farmington. The Eagles were 46 strokes clear of the second place team.

The team was led by Missouri Western signee Jeffrey Johnston. The senior finished tied for fourth individually, with a score of 10-over 154 between the two rounds.

"We've all worked hard at it all our lives," Johnston said. "We knew golf was the main focus for all of us, and we just worked hard at it, this year especially."

The win gives the LeBlond boys golf team their third-straight state title and fourth in the last five seasons.

"It's a dynasty," Evans said. "That's a big word to use, especially for high school athletics, but our teams aren't just winning the state title, they're completely dominating."

Following the golf state title, the LeBlond baseball team captured the Class 2 District 16 title Wednesday with a walkoff win over Maysville.

The win gave the Eagles their second-straight district championship, after taking home the title in 2019.

"Coach was talking the first day of practice that we can win our district," LeBlond sophomore Jake Korell said. "He's always said how our competition is gonna prepare us for this moment, and it did, and we just battled and won."

The Eagles were able to claim the district title despite a losing record in the regular season. Evans credits that to the tough MEC schedule preparing them to face smaller schools in the postseason.

"It's not necessarily because we don't have a good team, it's just we can't necessarily compete sometimes on that level," Evans said. "You take your lumps throughout the season, and then you get into district play, and we get a chance to play schools our size, and it's like, 'Ok, we are a pretty good team.'"

The baseball team will square off with East Buchanan in the Class 2 State Sectionals Monday in Gower.

Rounding out the week was the LeBlond girls soccer team, who claimed the Class 1 District 8 championship with a win over first-year program Mid-Buchanan.

The win was the Eagles first district title in girls soccer since 2011.

"It means everything to us," LeBlond senior Libby Weddle said. "We've been working for this since we were freshmen. We've gotten second place every year, so we've just been working really, really hard, and this was our biggest goal this season, so I'm just really proud of us."

Evans said snapping the girls soccer district title drought has been a long time coming.

"Knowing those girls, there's a lot of hard-nosed, tough, competitive girls on that team," Evans said. "I think they would've told you day one that they were going to win that championship, and sure enough, they did."

The girls soccer team will face St. Michael in the Class 1 State Quarterfinals Saturday, May 29.

With three more titles coming this week, the Eagles add to what has been a remarkably successful school year in athletics.

The accolades include six district titles (girls tennis, boys soccer, girls basketball, boys golf, baseball and girls soccer), two district runners-up (volleyball and boys basketball), two state final four finishes (boys soccer and girls tennis) and two state championships (boys golf and dance).

After what has been a difficult year, Evans said credit for all the success in athletics goes to the community.

"Our kids and our coaches put in a lot of time and a lot of energy to put up those championship banners," Evans said, "and to see it kind of come to fruition was really rewarding for everyone involved."

Jacob Lang can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on twitter: @NPNowLang.