Athletes of the Week: April 27, 2023

A junior who was a first team All-Metro cross country selection in the fall, Baker ran to a pair of dominant victories during the Ladue Brusca-Strohbach Invitational. Baker captured the 800 meters in a time of 2 minutes, 16.54 seconds, and won the 1600 title with a performance of 5:10.70. Both victories were by more than five seconds and her times both rank among the state’s best. Earlier this season, Baker won the 800 and 1500 at the Northwest Invitational and she won the 3200 at Clayton’s Greyhound Invitational in 10:54.05. Baker finished third last season at the Class 5 state meet in the 800. In cross country, she finished fifth in the Class 5 state meet in November.

A sophomore outfielder and leadoff hitter, Bradford helped the Jaguars win five of six games last week and claim the championship of the Fort Zumwalt North Tournament. Bradford was 8 of 18 with two home runs, two doubles, eight runs scored, four RBI, four stolen bases and five walks. In a 10-6 victory over Fort Zumwalt East in the tournament title game, Bradford hit his fourth homer of the season as part of a 2-for-3 performance. Bradford also homered in a 7-6 victory against Priory in the tournament semifinals. He also ranks among area leaders with 30 runs scored this season.

A junior utility player who is tied for the area scoring lead, Bryant helped lead the Colts to four victories in five games last week as they hit the 20-win plateau for the season. In the five games, Bryant scored 27 goals and had 11 assists and helped Central hold its opponents to 11 goals in its four victories. He set a single-game season high for points with 20 on nine goals and two assists in last week’s 15-4 victory against Lafayette. The Colts’ lone loss last week was to 2022 Illinois state champion New Trier. A third team all-district player as a sophomore, Bryant has 229 points for the season on 90 goals and an area-leading 49 assists.

A 6-foot-6 senior middle blocker who has signed with McKendree University, Conway was named the most valuable player of the Lutheran St. Charles Cougar Invitational after helping lead the Lancers to the championship. The Lancers went 4-1-1 last week and started it off with a 25-23, 27-25 victory against SLUH, the first in program history. Conway had five kills and six block assists in that match. During the tournament, Conway had 22 kills in four matches, including eight in a 25-22, 23-25, 15-11 win over Whitfield in the final. Conway was a first team all-Southwestern Conference selection as a junior.

A senior midfielder and forward with only three seasons to her credit because the 2020 season was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, Mathenia broke the Maroons’ single-season and career goal scoring records that were set from 2015-18 by her older sister, Taylor. Carolyne previously broke West’s career points total set by Sydnee Carroll from 2012-15. Signed with the University of Illinois Springfield, Carolyne scored 10 goals last week to help the Maroons win four of five games. That lifted her season goals total to 24, breaking the previous mark of 23; and career total to 64, topping Taylor’s 60. Carolyne’s program record of points is 157 with seven regular-season games to play.

A junior midfielder, Swope is the area’s leading scorer and helped the Knights win their first eight games. Swope’s area-leading 92 points have come on an area-leading 69 goals and 23 assists. That included five goals and one assist last week in an 18-7 victory against Parkway Central to go along with six draw controls and seven ground balls. Swope’s average of 13.2 draw controls leads the area and she was the area leader last season on the way to second team All-Metro honors. Verbally committed to play lacrosse at Grand Valley State, Swope also plays basketball for the Knights.

A junior five-sport athlete, Sykes swept the shot put and discus titles at the Edwardsville Girls Invitational. In discus, Sykes set a personal best of 39.52 meters (129 feet, 8 inches) on her second attempt of the competition and it held up for the victory. Sykes stayed unbeaten in shot put with a mark of 11.82 meters (38 feet, 9.5 inches), which came on her fifth of six attempts. As a sophomore, Sykes won a Class 3A sectional championship in shot put with a personal best throw of 12.54 meters and went on to finish seventh at the state meet. Sykes also swims and plays softball, volleyball and basketball for the Warriors. She was among the area’s top rebounders in basketball with 10.35 a game.

Compiled by Chris Gove based off stats reported to STLhighschoolsports.com. Please send nominations to cgove@stltoday.com by noon each Monday.