Spring Roundup: Mar. 29 - Apr. 2

Park Hill Baseball
The Trojans kicked off their season with two victories against Northland opponents Oak Park and North Kansas City last week. A 20-7 win on March 29th against Oak Park was led by catcher Austin Kepler’s 3-for-3 performance including a double and home run accounting for two runs and six RBI’s along with J.D. Weyer’s 4-for-4 outing with four runs scored and two RBI. Clay Smith gained the victory while Alex Otto closed out the game.

Park Hill added their offensive production on top of five scoreless innings from pitcher Marcus Cross against North Kansas City as they clinched a 9-2 victory on March 31st. Third Baseman Daniel Jessen was 2-for-3 with a double and triple as he scored two runs and drove in three more. Shortstop Chris Burr also added two hits, one of which was a double. Luke Burnidge pitched the final two innings, but an error committed in the 7th inning led to two unearned runs, spoiling the shut out. The Trojans, 2-0, will face Winnetonka and Park Hill South this week.

Park Hill Boys Golf
Travis Perry shot an 82 for the Trojans at Lee’s Summit and Lee’s Summit North’s Klint Andres Invitational last week at Fred Arbanas Golf Course. Park Hill finished with a team score of 347 placing them in the middle of the pack at 12th out of 21 teams. They’ll play a match at Liberty this week before hosting the Darren Floyd Memorial Tournament at Tiffany Greens on Thursday.

Park Hill Boys and Girls Track
A warm-up time trial and competition against Park Hill South on March 30th prepared both the Park Hill boys and girls track team for their first meet of the year on April 1st at Blue Springs South’s Rusty Hodge Invitational. On the boys side, the 4 x 800 team of James Leach, Fernando Garcia, Nathan Koehler, and Ricardo Garcia took first place with a time of 8:18.92. Nick Smith set a new school record in the shot put by posting a 55’ 2” throw. Smith also took fifth place in the discus while teammate Jack Pearl edged him out to take fourth. Burt Taylor took seventh in the finals of the 200 meter dash.

For the girls, Helena Hudson placed second in the 100 meter hurdles and fifth in the long jump. In sprints, Angie Reagan placed sixth and Anesia Jamerson placed seventh in the 100 meter dash while Kyleesha Weston was sixth in the 200 meter dash. Weston was also sixth in the discus throw. Jordan Cox placed sixth in the shot put.

Girls head coach Tari Garner expressed satisfaction with their early season performance and sees potential to build on going forward. “It was a good performance for early season, but lots of room for improvement. Our young athletes are strong and returning letter winners are performing well,” Garner said.

Both teams will host a home meet this week against Winnetonka, Staley, and North Kansas City before participating in the Jerry Crews Relays at Staley on Friday afternoon.

Park Hill Boys Tennis
Boys Tennis defeated St. Joe Central 9-0 last week. Led by seniors Sam Barth, Mike Merchant, and Brian Hillix, the Trojans jumped out to a 6-0 lead after all singles matches were played. They finished off the match with solid doubles play to complete the match.

“The guys played tough and worked through a little rust on their way to winning their first match of the season,” coach Ryan Kalis said.

They also went on to defeat William Chrisman in match play last Thursday improving their record to 2-0 on the year. This week they’ll face a heavy schedule featuring Winnetonka, Rockhurst, Liberty, and tournaments at St. Joe Central and Pembroke Hill.

Park Hill Wrestling
Senior Alan Waters has been named the All-Metro Wrestler of the Year. After going 47-0 and setting a Missouri state record of 42 falls in a season, he completed his career by clinching his fourth individual state championship in February. He was only the 18th wrestler in state history to accomplish four state titles in a career. Next fall, he’ll be attending and wrestling at the University of Missouri where he hopes to be an NCAA champion and future Olympian.