Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Hunter Horn of St. Edmond blocks a shot against Madrid in a Class 1A state semifinal on Thursday in Des Moines. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

DES MOINES — Several times over the past few days, I was asked about the incredible bright future for the St. Edmond boys.

With four starters and all but one player from the roster expected to return from a team that reached the Class 1A state semifinals, there are plenty of reasons to be excited moving forward.

Quickly turning the page to 2025-26 season without fully appreciating what this current group accomplished would be a mistake, though.

There was a time when consistently winning 20 games, qualifying for state and making strong runs at a title were commonplace for the Gaels under head coach Adolph Kochendorfer. St. Edmond won it all in 2000 and reached the finals four years later, starting a run of four runner-up finishes over the next eight years.

From the 2006-07 season to 2013-14, the Gaels won at least 20 games five times and had a winning record each year. They followed that up with four straight winning seasons after going 10-12 in 2014-15.

Over the next four seasons, however, St. Edmond did not win more than eight games in a single campaign once from 2019-23.

Things started to change with the arrival of Hunter Horn to the program. Horn sparked the Gaels to a district championship appearance and a 12-12 campaign in his first season in a St. Edmond uniform last winter.

And while the 2023-24 squad didn’t generate many headlines on a state-wide level, they laid the groundwork for what was to come. Seniors Sam Mericle and JT Laufersweiler led by example, establishing the team-first mentality that always shined with previous successful Kochendorfer groups.

Underclassmen Horn, Jakob Koopman, Jack McElroy, Grant Galles and Andrew Clavey all witnessed it first-hand, taking that experience with them into this season. The addition of junior Carson Bargfrede and sophomore Ty Mericle gave the Gaels the kind of rotation that would generate the most wins in a season since the 2008-09 team that reached the semifinals as well.

So while the ’23-24 team put the first bricks into place, the ’24-25 squad built the wall back toward the top.

Horn, a standout who averaged nearly a double-double this winter, showed he has the ability to take games over during the fourth quarter of the semifinals vs. Madrid, nearly putting the Gaels on his back in trying to complete an improbable rally.

Bargfrede led St. Edmond in scoring at state with 33 points, knocking down six 3-pointers. McElroy showed his ability to run the offense with precision.

And it was very obvious that without a healthy Koopman, this was not the same team. The multi-sport standout suffered an injury in the substate final win over Bishop Garrigan.

Koopman did all he could to battle through it, sparking the Gaels with 18 points in a quarterfinal win over Woodbine. When he came down hard on the injured leg vs. Madrid, though, that ended his night having after just six minutes of action.

Even that moment provided an opportunity for Bargfrede and Mericle to gain valuable minutes in roles that will be there next year, when all thee talk about the future tries to come to fruition.

Nothing will be given to the Gaels in 2025-26; they will have to earn it, just like they did this year.

Almost in unison, both Horn and Bargfrede said after the loss on Thursday, “we’ll be back.”

Remembering the lone senior: Kochendorfer did not want to end our interview after the semifinals without talking about Clavey, the lone senior on the roster.

Clavey worked his way up from playing junior varsity to a regular in the rotation last season. He ended his career starting all 26 games, scoring a total of 236 points. He had 151 this year, finishing second on the team in made 3-pointers.

“We are going to miss Andrew,” Kochendorfer said. “He’s a kid that showed others what working hard and sticking it out — even when it gets tough — can lead to. He worked over these last four years and earned everything he got.

“I hope others see that and do exactly what Andrew did, because it will only make our team and program better in the future.”

Dana Becker is a sports and feature writer for The Messenger. Contact him via email at dbecker@messengernews.net, or on Twitter @DanaBecker