Fall sports notebook: SM East wins KA-MO soccer title; Aquinas runners excel

Oliver Bihuniak had a cold, but that didn’t stop him from leading the Shawnee Mission East boys soccer team to its second straight KA-MO Classic tournament championship on Saturday.

Bihuniak totaled three goals and two assists through the tournament’s three matches, despite battling illness.

“For the whole tournament, Oliver just played fantastic for us in the center midfield,” SM East coach Jamie Kelly said. “He was a strong force for us in the middle of the field, and did a great job of controlling the play.”

SM East defeated Lee’s Summit North, 3-1, in the championship match. The Lancers had 9-0 and 1-0 victories on their way to the title game. In the final against Lee’s Summit North, the first goals came from seniors Clayton Phillips and Grayson Rapp, before Bihuniak scored SM East’s final goal.

Saints excel in elite cross-country meet

When the St. Thomas Aquinas boys cross country team gets to the postseason, coach Justin Wrigley wants them to feel like it’s a nice, relaxing change of pace.

After an impressive victory in the Forest Park Cross Country Festival last weekend in St. Louis, Aquinas is on the right track. The Saints finished in first place as a team at the event, which included more than 200 schools across three divisions.

“A lot of teams like to kind of ease into the season, but we don’t need them to ease into it,” Wrigley said. “We want to get to the postseason and feel like things are toned down. After this win, the guys are pretty confident.”

Senior Alex Gill was the top finisher for Aquinas. He finished fourth overall with a time of 16:36.4. Senior Will Cole (16:54.8) was eighth and junior Andrew Lebourveau (17:33.8) finished 19th.

This story was originally published September 13, 2016 at 6:09 PM with the headline "Fall sports notebook: SM East wins KA-MO soccer title; Aquinas runners excel."