By Dean Backes
MaxPreps.com
After agreeing to take over the reigns of the Blue Springs girls basketball program recently, former Pembroke Hill girls basketball coach Mark Spigarelli recalled the sneak preview he got of his new team two years ago when he and the Raiders went head-to-head with the Wildcats and coach Tony Armstrong.
Now that Armstrong has decided to call it a career, Spigarelli will have the opportunity to work with all of the talent that he saw that day.
“We played them when (next year’s seniors) were freshman,” Spigarelli told the Independence Examiner. “And I thought, ‘They’re going to be something in a few years.’ This is just a great job with a great amount of talent this year, and there are some talented kids coming back.”
So much talent, in fact, that some experts believe the Wildcats are quite possibly the best team in the entire Kansas City metropolitan area. Spigarelli brings what looks like the right amount of skill and experience to whip up what could be a special season at Blue Springs.
The Wildcats return Class 5 All-State performer Drew Roberts, all-area standouts Bryonna Snow, Jocelyn Price, Cee Cee Burris and Jamesia Price to the fold in Spigarelli’s first season.
“We’ll do what the girls have been doing the past three years,” Spigarelli told the Examiner. “There’s too much talent there to try to do anything different. They know what to do once they get out on the court.”
Spigarelli has been head coach at Pembroke Hill since the 1994 season and he has put together a 343-84 career coaching record to go along with four state titles during that time span. The Raiders won Class 2 state titles in 1995 and 1999, and then took home Class 3 championship trophies in 2005 and 2006.
The new Wildcat coach also has 12 district titles to his name in just 15 years of running the Raider program.
After surviving competition from 30-some applicants, Spigarelli fills the void of a coach that went 24-0 over the last two years in the Suburban Big 7 League and 70-37 over the past four seasons. A year ago, the Wildcats finished the season with a 25-3 mark after falling to St. Joseph’s Academy (70-67) in the consolation game of the Class 5 girls state basketball tournament.
Armstrong is also a three-time winner of the Eddie Ryan Award, which is given annually to the top basketball coach in the Kansas City metro area, twice has won the Missouri State High School Activities Association’s Coach of the Year honors and was awarded a spot in the Missouri Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1999.
Vashon Could Lose Three State Basketball Titles
Ineligible residency and transfer violations during the Floyd Irons tenure have three of Vashon High School’s 11 state basketball championships hanging in the balance.
According to a story on the Daily Journal Online, a plea agreement to wire and mail fraud charges requires Irons to inform the Missouri State High School Activities Association of everything he knows about eligibility and recruiting violations at Vashon.
School representatives from the St. Louis Public School system informed the MSHSAA that Irons played at least five ineligible players as far back as 2002. That leaves state titles, won by the Wolverines, in jeopardy following the 2002, 2004 and 2006 basketball seasons.
MSHSAA officials questioned Irons on the use of at least 15 players from 1998-2007. The school could lose up to five state championships won by Irons coached teams during his 33-year tenure if all 15 are found to have been ineligible.
Vashon’s problems began when Irons was sentenced to 12 months in federal prison following an investigation into a real estate scheme Irons was linked with. Irons retired in 2006 after winning over 800 basketball games and 10 of the 11 state basketball titles Vashon has won over the years.
Girls Soccer: Inman Nets First Win for North County Girls Soccer
Erica Inman’s game-winning goal gave the North County girls soccer team its first win last weekend.
The sophomore put on the burners to create a breakaway and scored in the final minute of overtime to give the Raiders a 2-1 victory over Sullivan. With the win North County earned third place at the Farmington Invitational and pushed their season record to 1-2-1.
Sullivan took a 1-0 lead when Meghan Berti scored in the 17th minute on a redirection. North County evened the match late in the first half when Rilea Huff assisted Ashley Skaggs with a corner kick, and Skaggs scored with a quick shot from inside 10-yards.
Girls Track: McClure Sets New Lebanon 1,600-Meter Record
Krenda McClure dispatched of a Lebanon record that had been set in stone for 20 years.
The sophomore replaced the old 1,600-meter record of 5-minutes, 25.6-seconds with the new standard of 5:23.07 last week at the Girls Nite Out Meet at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Springfield.
McClure also teamed with Cierra Moore, Nora Kueny and Katie Dusenberg to win the 400-meter relay with a clocking of 4:10.3.
