Park Hill tennis duo causing rackets

A little friendly competition never hurt anyone, right? For Sam Barth and Mike Merchant, Park Hill’s top tennis pair, this rings especially true. After completing an undefeated conference season last year, the two Trojans met each other in the singles final of the district tournament with Barth edging out teammate Merchant 6-2, 6-0 for first place. Nevertheless, having both in the title match helped Park Hill claim the district title and both went on to qualify for the state tournament.

Head coach Ryan Kalis is impressed with the amount of work his top six players, all seniors, have put in during the offseason saying that both Barth and Merchant have raised the level of their game. Also the top doubles combo for the Trojans right now, it has yet to be determined whether they will attempt to meet again as individual opponents in the district final or try to make their run through the state playoffs in doubles since they can only pursue one route.

While Barth and Merchant are constantly competing against each other, whether in match play or working to improve themselves in practice, they’re also friends off the court.

“They’re all pretty good friends which is pretty cool with the amount of seniors on the team,” assistant coach Rustin Reys said. “I think the experience of playing together for four years has been really helpful.”

After dominating their first two matches of the season against St. Joe Central and William Chrisman, Merchant, Barth, and Brian Hillix, who also adds to form a talented mix, will compete in a busy schedule of five matches this week. While it’s easy to potentially play down to poor competition, the Trojans have a challenging schedule and will focus on smart shot selections.

“The tough thing is to keep guys focused on the end of the season,” Reys said. “Where do we need to be? How can we play aggressive, but under control? Against good opponents, you don’t get away with the things you might otherwise.”

While the district tournament is still over a month away, it will take time to decide which direction the Trojans should take. Several factors come into play in figuring out the best approach for Barth and Merchant. Reys said they’ll look closely at what kind of wins they have and how the chemistry is, not only between the two, but also among a mix of other possible player pairings they will use. The top priority is a team district title and qualifying the team for the state tournament, which will heavily guide the decision. In the end, it will be interesting to see whether we’ll see them in May as a dynamic duo in doubles or as competing individuals in singles.

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.