Park Hill South track teams feature plenty of experience

The Park Hill South boys and girls track team have a lot to look forward to in 2011 as they both return a good amount of athletes from last season’s teams. While the boys hope to jump up a spot from their second place conference finish, the girls will be in a position to defend their conference title for the first time in quite awhile.

“We had a great end to the season last year, first time we’ve done that in several years,” coach Andy Keefer said. “We essentially return everyone except for one of our throwers, so we’ve got a good group coming back.”

The Panthers’ 4x800 and 4x200 relay teams were the only teams to advance into sectionals from the district meet last season so with a team that features a quality group of seniors there is a focus on increasing the number of qualifiers.

“We’re going to be solid overall. If we work hard throughout the year, good things will happen at the end of the season,” Keefer said. “We have a great group of kids, especially in regards to senior leadership.”

Some of those senior athletes to keep tabs on these spring will be jumpers Jen Carlson and Lauren Goner, sprinters Alice Edwards and Jill McDaniel, and thrower Mallory Ross.

Keefer sees the conference as more difficult this season particularly in regards to the addition of Raytown South, which he believes will be one of their top competitors for the conference title. No matter what the competition, he says there is always one constant for his teams.

“We focus really on individual goals, not only what happens on the track, but also in the classroom to be the best they can be,” Keefer said.

On the boys’ side, coach Clay Lenhert will be harnessing a host of state and sectional qualifiers from last year. James Bowlin and DJ Johnson return hoping to improve on their state qualifying performances along with Josh Gordon, Christina Hildebrandt, Josh Hunt, and Daniel Jones. While these athletes will standout, Lenhert hopes their relays will serve as a consistent place for team points throughout the season.

“We try to focus and encourage quality Relay performances,” Lenhert said.

Mirroring his coaching counterpart on the girls’ side, Lenhert focuses his efforts on getting his team’s best performance at the end of year while also motivating his athletes to set their own goals in the process.

“Another goal is to coach and train our athletes to peak as individuals and as a team at the appropriate time of the season,” Lenhert said. “A key to our success will be to focus on ourselves... We can only control our effort and attitude. Our performance will be a reflection of how we apply effort and attitude to what abilities we have been given.”