St. James Academy wins Class 4A All-Sports Award

St. James Academy is the Class 4A All-Sports Award winner for the 2011-12 school year. This is the second all-sports title for St. James in as many years.

Keeping up with the title streak, the Thunder won its fourth-straight volleyball championship in the fall to get the school year started on the right foot.

It did this by defeating McPherson, a school that finished in second place with 36.5 points to St. James’ 42. After St. James, the next three schools were separated by just one point. McPherson finished second with 36.5 points, Andale took third place with 36 and Topeka Hayden finished with 35.5 points. Buhler rounded out the top five with 32.5 points.

“Generally speaking, our school has been blessed by great coaches and supportive families,” said athletic director Mark Huppe. “Our participation level in athletics and activities is really high. Over 90 percent of our kids participate in a sport or activity.”

The more students participating in a sport, the higher the possibility of quality athletes in the program.

Volleyball wasn’t the only fall sport where St. James found success. Its boys’ soccer team and girls’ tennis team both took second place in the state in the fall of 2011.

The Thunder soccer team fell to Kansas City Christian in the state championship 2-0. St. James finished 12-9 on the year.

Wichita Collegiate dominated the girls’ tennis state tournament with 56 points, but St. James wrapped up second with 35.5, 13 ahead of third-place McPherson.

Huppe attributes the high level of success to the faculty at the school.

“Many kids get involved to be a part of a program,” he said. “They’re inspired by the teachers in the building that might make them want to go out for sports. It starts with the relationship in the classroom.”

From those relationships and high number of participants, success breeds success, he said.

St. James finished third at the boys’ state swim championships and that was all the Thunder could muster for the winter season, but the school bounced back for a strong spring season.

Its girls’ soccer team took third at the state tournament, behind perennial powers Trinity Academy and Topeka Hayden. The Thunder lost in the semifinals to Trinity Academy, but picked itself up, brushed the dirt away and took down Tonganoxie 8-0 for third place.

Then in baseball, to say the Thunder dominated the 4A state tournament would be an understatement. St. James outscored opponents 36-2 in its three games in Salina, including a state championship game where the Thunder run-ruled top-seeded Concordia 17-0 for the title.

How we scored it: We awarded points to the top eight team finishers at the state championships in every sport. Eight points went to the champion, seven to the runner-up, six to the third-place team and so on, down to one point for eighth place.

In the event of ties, we split the points. In sports that did not have contests to decide all places, such as football, we split third-place points among the semifinal losers and split the points for fifth through eighth places among the quarterfinal losers.

Place    School    Points

1 St. James Academy    42
2 McPherson               36.5
3 Andale                     36
4 Topeka Hayden        35.5
5 Buhler                      32.5
6 Baldwin                    31.5
7 Wichita Collegiate    30.5
8 Ottawa                     27
9 Paola                       26
10 Pratt                        21
11 Rose Hill                  20
12 Holton                     18
13 Wamego                17.5
T-14 DeSoto                  16.5
T-14 Tonganoxie            16.5
16 Basehor-Linwood      14
T-17 Colby                      12
T-17Wichita Trinity          12
19 Bonner Springs        11
T-20 Maize South            10
T-20 Kansas City Piper    10
T-22 Hesston                  9
T-22 Concordia                9
T-24 Jefferson West        8.5
T-24 Mulvane                 8.5
T-26 Louisburg                8
T-26 Independence         8
T-26 Spring Hill               8
T-26 Hugoton                 8
T-26 Labette County        8
T-31 Cheney                 7.5
T-31 Chanute                7.5
T-31 Coffeyville             7.5
T-31 Pittsburg               7.5
T-35 Parsons                 7
T-35 Eudora                  7
T-37 Abilene                6.5
T-37 Girard                  6.5
39 Fort Scott              6
40 Ulysses                3.5
T-41 Kansas City Sumner    3
T-41 Augusta                 3
T-43 Wellington            2.5
T-43 Nickerson             2.5
T-43 Circle                   2.5
46 Iola                      2
47 Garnett                 1