Stories behind the stories make it all worthwhile

The month of May brings a conclusion to another school year, another year of sports, and a final round of senior nights for well-wishers to show their appreciation for graduating seniors. Graduates will receive words of wisdom from all kinds of different sources about the future that lay ahead. But with so many different and unique take-a-ways available for the graduates to reflect on, it’s easy to overlook what those of us around them might have gained at the same time. In my case, it’s not one of a proud parent, family member, or friend, but that of casual spectator, much like those that attend the local sporting events we bring you coverage of each week.

Sometimes it comes as a surprise to people that a business school graduate and real estate manager by day can be caught moonlighting as a sports reporter and columnist for the local newspaper in the evenings and on weekends. I even find myself having trouble sometimes explaining how it came to be, but the blessing in disguise that presented itself as an opportunity to expand The Citizen’s community and sports coverage two years ago has been something truly rewarding.

One thing I’ve learned is there’s never enough time in the day or ink available to print that would allow for every story worth mentioning to be covered. Part of that can simply be attributed to the difficulty in describing things which can only truly be appreciated when witnessing them in person. It can apply to stories on local government, business, charity and social events, and yes, even high school sports. There are some extraordinary stories out there to be told whether it be the career-high game that came on the heels of a personal off-the-field setback or the coaches behind the athletes who promote them first and foremost despite the interesting personal journey they’ve traveled themselves. In fact, covering the preps scene has allowed me to witness first-hand more than the touchdown runs, buzzer-beaters, and game winning scores, but some of the intangible things that contribute to the quality of the schools in our community and make up a small representation of Platte County as a whole; one being the development of young people through athletics.

While keeping up on your favorite college or professional team usually doesn’t take anymore than a regular browse through the newspaper, glance at the television, or turn of the radio dial on your drive to work, grasping some of the better story lines in high school sports takes a little more. Not because of the game itself, but because of the human side to the games and athletes that stats don’t do justice to in most cases compared to other levels of competition. The constant media coverage, fancy highlight reels, and publicity stunts may be missing, but the potential of the athletes and the pureness in the way they play makes up for it. Whether it’s a junior second-stringer progressing into a senior captain or a player failing to grab a rebound before coming down the floor the next time determined to block an opposing player out, it’s about kids growing up, being coached towards improvement, and reaching to achieve their goals no matter what it may be.

They’re learning all the lessons that we’ve heard time and time again in memorable quotes and sports analogies. The difference is kids take them to heart and allow themselves to be inspired. Even though many of the same famous sayings still apply as we get older, it seems we’re less likely to use them as motivation. Perhaps that’s why some take an interest in preps sports. While we watch the young live out those inspirations, it can also serve as a reminder in our own driven lives to continue reaching for our own milestones. They might not be the same goals and likely pale in comparison to what seems are the increasingly complex lives we now live, but the same optimism and energy most evident in high school athletics can always be a welcomed and positive addition whatever age you are.

Spring Weekly Roundup: May 17-21

Park Hill and Park Hill South Golf
Park Hill South's Matthew Barry finished with a 171 in two rounds at the Missouri Class 2 State Golf Tournament last week. A second round 90 set him back several places after his first round of 81 put him in the middle of the pack coming into the second day. Park Hill's Travey Perry got off to a slow start as he started off the tournament with a 97, but concluded the tournament with a solid 85 to finish with a two round total of 182, good enough for 95th. Nicholas Schleisman was not far behind with his 190.

Park Hill South Girls Soccer
...it was the matchup they had been waiting for all season. Not making it to Tuesday night's sectional matchup with Liberty wasn't an option and last week the Panthers took care of business in the last step towards reaching this week's head to head dual between the Northland's two most powerful soccer programs. Their throttling of William Chrisman in the district semifinal by a score of 11-1 led to a title game meeting with Truman. In Panther-line fashion, South took home the district title with a convincing 5-0 victory after three consecutive trips to the title game and coming up short.

With a 3-1 loss to Liberty in their sectional round matchup Tuesday night, the Park Hill South Panthers ended one of their highest performing seasons in school history. Down 2-1 mid-way through the second half, South came close to tying it up when a handful of near-range Panther shots on goal were knocked away or secured by the Liberty goalie. Moments later, one of the state’s most dynamic players, Shea Groom, took the ball the other way and eventually sent a perfectly placed kick past the finger tips of South goalie Alexis Mikulich for what would be a momentum changing goal in the game. The Panthers never recovered from the two goal deficit. South ended the year with a 22-4-1 record. Despite a recording setting season, the Panthers only graduate three seniors and return a majority of an athletic and talented roster to what will surely be another competitor next year.

Park Hill and Park Hill South Boys Tennis
After two stellar seasons, it seemed at times that the Park Hill and Park Hill South boys tennis teams were on parallel paths leading to their sectional round matchup last weekend at Minor Park in south Kansas City. Racking up dual victory after dual victory both schools stormed through the regular season with one of the only Park Hill South losses coming at the hands of their counterparts to the north, Park Hill. Last Saturday, after winning the district title the previous week, the Panthers were able to vindicate their early season loss with a 5-3 victory which propelled them to a quarterfinal appearance against Rockhurst. Falling behind early, Griffin Smith came back to defeat Park Hill's Michael Jones 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 to propel the Panthers towards the next round. Despite quickly falling 5-0 to end their final four dreams against Rockhurst, South's goal of raising the profile of its program to match and, in this year's case, exceed the one previously established by Park Hill was achieved.

Although both teams' collective seasons are over, both Park Hill and Park Hill South's top doubles pairs qualified for the state tournament to played this weekend. South's Griffin Smith and Zack Royle defeated St. Joe Central's pair of Kyle Shade and Patrick Cargill by a 6-1, 6-0 score. Also advancing to the state tournament is Park Hill's doubles pair of Austin Caldwell and Blake Barnard who with a score of 6-3, 6-2 defeated North Kansas City's Alija Omerovic and Gregory Tluscik.

Park Hill Boys Track
In what is surely becoming old for the Park Hill boys track team, they once again finished a solid second as a team last weekend in the state sectional track meet at Staley High School with their 58 team points. The Trojans advanced five events to the state track meet this weekend. Dondrell Hardiman continued his move up the ranks with his third place finish in the 300 hurdles. The 4x200 and 4x800 relay teams will compete next weekend with their third and fourth place respective placements. Nick Smith will also be making the trip to Jefferson City his fourth place finishes in the discus and shot put. Their total number of event qualifiers could have been nearly double that amount if some fifth place finishes had found themselves finishing just one place higher, therefore crossing into the top four qualifying threshold. The 4x100 relay team, Quenton Noble in the 200 meter dash, and Devon Belew in the 400 meter dash all came one place short of extending their season. Also coming up short of a state appearance in the long jump and triple jump was Trace Norfleet, one time long jump state champion, who had been looking to return to top form all season after being sidelined due to injury his junior season.

Park Hill South Boys Track
Park Hill South wasn't able to qualify as many athletes as they would have liked, but the one athlete they do have going will be coming into the state meet with some strong performances behind him. Senior James Bowlin took first in the 800 meter run once in the sectional meet just as he did in the district and much of this season. Bowlin is a previous state qualifier and is hoping to come back strong this weekend after a below-average preformance in last year's preliminary trials. The Panthers finished with 17 points as a team coming in 15th place. The 4x400 relay team came up short of qualififying for state with a sixth place finish along with Christian Hildebrandt in the triple jump with his seventh place finish.

Park Hill and Park Hill South Girls Track
With Park Hill and Park Hill South's 15th and 13th place finishes at sectionals, there weren't many events where the Trojans and Panthers finished towards the top half of their events. Park Hill was just short of qualifying two events for the state meet with the fifth place finish of Stephanie Atkinson in the pole vault and the 4x800 relay team of Brooke Bischof, Maddie Bischof, Katie Ebbrecht, and Joanna Grauberger. The Panthers were able to squeeze one athlete into the state meet this weekend when sophomore Audrey Rothers's 5'1" jump in the high jump qualified her a trip to Jefferson City to compete as the Panthers' sole girls representative.

Top-four finishes add up for Park Hill South track teams

Track and field is not a sport known for its contact, but the Park Hill South girls could be described as scrappers nonetheless. Their second consecutive conference title two weeks ago and fourth place finish in districts this past weekend were evidence of this by showing how a full-out effort in every event can provide results for the collective team.

“Basically, it was because we had a lot of great kids who did their best and got a lot of second, third, and fourth place finishes which adds up in terms of team points. I think we only won first place in about four events,” Coach Andy Keefer said of his team’s conference performance.

And so it was much the same this past weekend at the district track meet at Park Hill District Stadium where the Panthers weren’t able to grab the top spot in any event, but grabbed enough top four place finishes to qualify a handful of athletes in events to advance to the sectional meet next weekend at Staley. The top finisher, Audrey Rothers in the 100 meter hurdles, finished second. Rothers, who also placed third in the high jump, finished one place above Jen Carlson’s fourth place finish. The 4x800 relay team of Lizzy Jurries, Samantha Roy, Logan Tucker-Nelson, and Jessica McCoy finished third along with Blake Reser’s third place finish in the triple jump. Freshman Samantha Roy who has already set the school record in the 800 meter dash and the 4x100 relay team of Hannah Brown, Allyse Edwards, Jillian McDaniels, and Reser finished in fourth place to wrap up the last of the Panthers’ sectional qualifiers.

While coming into the district meet Park Hill South was projected to finished seventh or eighth, their fourth place finish was a pleasant surprise for Keefer, but also coincides with what they expect their goal to be when they start the season each year.

“A little better than expected, but that’s what you hope for this time of year,” Keefer said.

There were also a few event finishes barely falling on the wrong side of sectional qualifying as Logan Tucker-Nelson in the 400 meter dash, Tori Kerr in the discus, Kelsey Sadler in the pole vault, Reser in the long jump, and Gonner in the triple jump all finishes just short with fifth place finishes. Going into sectionals, Keefer expects many of his athletes to be on the brink of qualifying for the next round, state, once again.

“We’re hoping it will be a great weekend, most of them will be seeded fifth, sixth, or seventh, and we’ll just have to see what happens,” Keefer said.

On the boys’ side of the track, James Bowlin has been burning up the tread this season and did so again last weekend with his first place finish in the 800 meter dash. While he was a sectional and state qualifier last year, Bowlin’s coach feels he’s ready to break loose and vindicate a poor showing in last year’s state preliminary race.

“He’s ready to bust one here pretty soon,” Coach Clay Lenhert said. “He’s got a chance in the 800. He’s been there before and has been running at the 1:57-1:58 mark, but is ready to bring it down to 1:55 or so.”

While as a team, the boys placed fifth with 59 points, they see a wide disparity between some very talented and experienced seniors who have qualified in the past and some very promising sophomores.

“Track is so different for so many kids. You know when you return some sectional qualifiers, they’re some pretty good guys. They’re going to progress differently than others,” Lenhert said. “We’ve got a lot of sophomores that have progressed like crazy, but don’t quite have the mental side those previous sectional qualifiers have and they’re not quite ready yet.”

Another previous sectional participant, Christian Hildebrandt, qualified again with his second place finish in the triple jump along with the 4x400 team he’s a participant in with Bowlin, Lucas Gardner, and Dedric Johnson while the 4x200 team of Andrew Davis, Gardner, Josh Gordon, and Hildebrandt placed third. Sam Eickhoff also qualified in the shot put by placing third. The 4x800 relay team and Dillon Ryel in the pole vault just missed the sectional threshold with their fifth place finishes.

Despite uphill climb, Trojans win third consecutive district title

Losing several of their top players to graduation from a quarterfinal round appearance in the Missouri state tennis playoffs last year, the Park Hill boys tennis team knew that in order to return again this year it was going to be a lot more difficult and require even more work. Led off by Michael Jones’s win (6-3, 6-0) in the top singles matchup last week, the Trojans made quick work of St. Joe Central in the Class 2, District 16 tournament title matchup with their 5-0 victory. The Trojans not only won their third district title in as many years, but also gave themselves another shot at advancing to another quarterfinals appearance this weekend as they square off against Park Hill South in the stat sectionals to be held at Minor Park in south Kansas City. The winner faces off against the Blue Springs South/Rockhurst.

“If you would have asked me at the beginning if we would have been in contention for the district title, I would have said it was going to be tough,” Coach Tim Kalis said. “But I’m extremely pleased with the way the guys have progressed throughout the season. It’s been a climb as we hit some lulls along the way, but they talked about it at the beginning of the season and marked it on their calendars as their goal.”

Compared to having a host of heavy hitters at the top of their lineup as they have in years past, the Trojans focused on depth and the intangibles heavier this season along with some good old fashioned athletic training.

“The biggest thing we’ve done differently than years past is we’ve focused more so on conditioning and more running. Knowing we don’t necessarily have the biggest hitters has led us to focus on grinding teams down more,” Kalis said.

While all of the Trojans’ varsity will be playing in the team portion of the sectional round, the newly formed doubles par of Austin Caldwell and Blake Barnard also qualified for the sectional round as individuals with their 6-3, 6-2 victory over Liberty’s doubles pair. Caldwell, a senior, and Barnard, a freshman, were only recently paired together, but have quickly become familiar with each other’s tendencies.

“We just started playing together a couple weeks ago and that was really just in practice, but we’ve gotten to know each other’s playing styles real quick,” Caldwell said.

“The down the line shot with my forehand is my favorite,” Barnard said of his strength.

“The dippers, dipping in the low ones, but we’re both really good at the net,” Caldwell added.

Although having just recently been put together as a pair, Caldwell’s experience as a key member on former successful Trojan teams brings a familiarity with big matches has made for a good combo when mixed with the young Barnard’s talent.

“Those two specifically asked to play with each other and try it out. Austin has kind of been a staple on our teams of the past so that has really helped with his experience. Blake has a little more firepower in terms of the ground strokes in his game, so they’ve complimented each other very well,” Kalis said.

When asked what will make the difference for the two going into this week’s matchup against Alija Omerovic and Greg Tluscik of North Kansas City, Caldwell's response was almost a directive to Barnhard.

“You have to treat it like any other match, there’s more pressure, but you can’t be nervous about it,” he said. “Getting to the net is huge which we’ve both been doing a really good job at; that’s how you win it.”

Spring Weekly Roundup: May 9-16

Park Hill Boys Track

...had another quality performance last weekend at the district track meet, but the outcome was the same for the third week in a row as they placed second overall with 126 team points. Liberty, with their 144 team points, bested the Trojans like they did two weeks ago in the Park Hill Invitational. Nonetheless, Park Hill qualified an impressive 15 out of 18 events for the sectional meet this weekend at Staley. Leading them with first place finishes were Trace Norfleet in the long jump, Nick Smith in the discus and shot put, the 4x200 relay team of Burt Taylor, John Saucedo, Anthony Arens, and Quenton Noble. Also taking first was Cain Winebrenner whose burst from what was then third place towards the front of the pack on the fourth lap of the 1600 gave him a first place finish. Luke Bossert's pole vault and the 4x800 relay team of Nathan Koehler, Joseph Walton, Winebrenner, and Riley Farenholtz took away second place finishes. A host of third place finishes came from Quenton Noble in the 100 and 200 meter dashes, Devon Belew in the 400 meter dash, Dondrell Hardiman in the 300 hurdles, and the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams. Norfleet's triple jump and Walton's 800 meter dash performances were good enough for fourth place. Burt Taylor's fifth place finish in the 100 meter dash was less than a tenth of a second away from advancing to sectionals.

Park Hill Girls Track
...advanced several athletes to the sectional track meet next week in their district performance this past weekend at Park Hill District Stadium. Stephanie Atkinson continues what has been a consistently high performing season with her second place finish in the pole vaulet. The 4x800 relay team of Brooke Bischof, Maddie Bischof, Katie Ebbrecht, and Joanna Grauberger placed second while the 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams of Daisha Battles, Marche Belcher, Onjhana Davis, and Nikki Moss placed third and fourth respectively. Marche Belcher finished third in the 300 hurdles along with Dominique Broadus's fourth place finish in the shot put. Park Hill finished eighth in the 12 team field with 51 team points.

Park Hill South Boys Tennis
Griffin Smith and Zack Royle placed first in the Class 2, District 15 doubles tournament and competed in the individual round of sectionals earlier this week at North Kansas City. The Panthers will compete against Park Hill in the team portion of the tournament over the weekend.

Park Hill Soccer Girls Soccer

Park Hill fell in their first round district game against Oak Park to bring a close to their season. They close their year with a 13-11 season and a second place finish in the conference to Lee's Summit West. Although the Trojans had a significant senior presence on the squad, only three saw significant playing time. Coach Manny Catano has a young, but talented team returning next year with more experience to take what had previously been a sub .500 team to the next step.

Park Hill Baseball

An exciting 3-2 victory over Liberty North in the first round of the Class 4, District 16 tournament over the weekend led Park Hill to a matchup with top seeded Liberty on Monday. Looking to defend their district title, the Trojans faced a steep task in defeating a talented and home field advantaged Blue Jays. Park Hill was given hope in their quest to pull the upset in the top of the first when their first two batters were walked before Logan Sloniker drove home Dalton Moats to give them a 1-0 lead. Their lead was short-lived though, as the good fortune Sloniker found with the bat was not equally returned on the pitching mound with Liberty racking up seven runs in the bottom of the first on the heels of Dylan Stevens's double which drove in three runs. Zach Thompson batted in two runs for the Trojans in the top of the second before adding another to narrow the margin to a 7-4 lead for the Blue Jays. That was as close as Park Hill would get though, because a pair of triples in the bottom of the fourth were the beginning of a four run inning for Liberty. They pulled even further away before closing the game with a final score of 13-4. Park Hill ends the season with a 13-13 record.

All the tools: Park Hill South pitcher Adam Schemenauer is a 6'7" lefty with a bright future

Park Hill South senior left-handed pitcher Adam Schemenauer towers over most of the batters he faces in any given game. At 6’7” tall, his height was a key component of the Panthers’ basketball program and their deep runs into the state playoffs in recent years, but it’s on the pitching mound where he feels most comfortable and has done more than enough to prove to opposing hitters and, more importantly, college and professional scouts, that it’s where he was meant to be. With a scholarship and roster spot reserved for him at the University of Louisville in the fall, the end of Park Hill South’s season will only be the beginning of what will be a summer full of baseball and new experiences as part of a promising future.

“He’s one of the biggest competitors we’ve got and wants to win more than anyone else. He says and does all the right things,” Coach Josh Walker said. “His focus is on Park Hill South Baseball and when that’s done his focus will be on Louisville unless he gets drafted.”

Yes, another potential path for Schemenauer is the Major League Baseball draft which is scheduled in early June. The unique part of baseball’s draft compared to other professional sports is that players can be selected and then decide whether they would like to sign a contract with a professional team or go to school and play college ball instead. It’s a choice many talented high school players are faced with right out of graduation each summer.

“He’s had a lot of interest. I think he’ll get picked. It might be later on, but that’s ok with him because he has a great place to go in Louisville,” Walker said. “He’s in a win-win situation.”

Even without the draft, which Schemenauer says he’s not worried about right now, after receiving his diploma this weekend and playing out the remainder of the high school season, he’ll will jump right into competitive play with a team from Lawrence, Kansas in June before moving to Louisville to take a couple summer courses in July and workout with the school’s strength coach before starting classes and playing ball in the fall.

Although he enjoys his role as a starting pitcher because he has the chance to be in the entire game, he’s not sure where his role will be in the long-term.

“I’ve closed before and it’s harder than it looks, but I’m going to leave that up to the college coaches,” Schemenauer said. “I’m sure they’ll test me everywhere just to see what works best.”

With much on the horizon, Schemenauer still has his focus on the current Panthers’ season, which has seen them crawl back from well below .500 to a 12-11 record, clinching their first conference title since 1999 last week on the heels of a six game winning streak capped off with a 11-3 thumping of Winnetonka, who they were formerly tied with atop the conference leader board. Working his way back from an early season shoulder injury, Schemenauer says he’s seen not only himself improve as the season has gone on, but also sees his team as dangerous entering the district tournament this weekend.

“We’ve had our ups and downs, we’re rolling at the right time and you want to be playing your best at the end of the year,” Schemenauer said. “The way we’re playing right now I think our team can be a dangerous team to play even though our record might not show it.”

Walker says South has been aided not only by Schemenauer’s strong performances, but by those of Bryce Turner and John Christopher who have also been throwing the ball well and has been backed up by good defense. The key for the Panthers moving forward is offensive production which has come and gone throughout the season.

“We’re doing whatever it takes to win. If I don’t see anything the first time or two through the lineup, we’re going to have to force some situations and run a little more. It’s a chance we have to take because we have to get runs. Hitting wise a bunch of different people are stepping up. It’s a different guy each day,” Walker said.

As for the Panthers’ district tournament outlook, Walker says the field is a toss-up and you could ‘throw all the teams in a hat’ to pick a winner. The clear top seed is Truman which has already secured the tournament’s only bye.

Spring Weekly Update: May 2-6

Park Hill Boys Track
…it came down to Lee’s Summit West and Park Hill in the Suburban Red Conference track meet last week as both separated themselves from the rest of the field, but it was the Titans who bested the Trojans by a slim nine point margin. Park Hill’s 147 team points fell just short to West’s 156, but their second place finish saw success in many of the events which demonstrates just how talented both teams were compared to the rest of the conference. The Trojans placed first in seven events including Trace Norfleet in the long jump, Dondrell Hardiman in the 300 hurdles, Joseph Walton in the 800 meter run, and Devon Belew in the 400 meter run. Park Hill saw especially good results in their relay events where they won three of the four races including the 4x100, 4x200, and 4x800, while placing second in the 4x400. Norfleet placed second in the triple jump along with Nick Smith in the shot put and Quenton Noble in the 200 meter run. Park Hill will host the district meet this weekend.

Park Hill Girls Track
…didn’t see the results they would have liked at the conference meet last week as they finished fifth with 56 points. Although the young team struggled, there were a few bright spots including Stephanie Atkinson’s second place finish in the pole vault and Dominique Broadus’s third place finish in the shot put. The Trojans also saw success in the 4x100 and 4x800 relay events which placed second. Notable fourth place finishes included Marche Belcher in the 100 meter dash, Bailey Cation in the triple jump, and the 4x400 relay.

Park Hill South Girls Track
…brought home a conference title last week with their first place finish. The Panthers took first in six events including the 4x800 relay, Audrey Rothers in the 110 hurdles, Samantha Roy in the 1600 meter run, Logan Tucker-Nelson in the 800 meter run, Tori Kerr in the discus, and Jen Carlson in the high jump. Other top three finishes included the 4x200 relay, Tucker-Nelson in the 400 meter run, Carlton and Rothers in the 300 hurdles, Roy in the 800 meter run (2nd), Lizzy Jurries in the 3200 meter run, Kerr in the shot put, Blake Reser in the long jump, Reser and Lauren Gonner in the triple jump, and Rothers in the high jump (3rd). They’ll try to add a district title to their resume this weekend at the district meet hosted by Park Hill.

Park Hill South Boys Golf
…placed fourth in sectionals last week with a team score of 328. While not placing in the top two ended the team season, there were two individual Panthers who will continue on to the state golf tournament next week. Tying for fourth overall was Matthew Berry who shot a six over 78. Also qualifying for state was Nicholas Schleisman whose 82 gave him a +10 on the day and tied him for nineteenth. The state tournament is scheduled for May 16 and 17. Austin Dorrell, Cameron Probst, and Nicholas Sobba all tied for 26th with their scores of 84.

Park Hill Boys Golf
…came in seventh out of seven teams in their sectional appearance last week with a team score of 363. Leading the Trojans and also qualifying for state was Travis Perry who shot a 78 and tied for fourth overall. Austin Dorward finished with a score of 94 followed by Colby Buehler’s 95, and Collin Pummill and Mason Tarpley’s 96’s.

Park Hill Girls Soccer
…went 2-1 last week with wins against North Kansas City 7-0 and Ruskin 16-0 before losing later in the week to Park Hill South 6-1. They play at Winnetonka before hosting St. Joe Central this week and going into district play next week.

Park Hill South Girls Soccer
…continued to roll last week as they racked up three wins against Staley 2-0, Winnetonka 9-0, and Park Hill 6-1. They’ll wrap the regular season up at Raytown before beginning district play next week as the top seed. They’ll play the winner of the William Chrisman/North Kansas City game at home on May 18. South has compiled an impressive 99 goals so far this season with 19 coming from Courtney Claassen and 16 a piece coming from Emily Hanlon and Katie Riojas. Alexi Mikulich has 11 shutouts on the year. The Panthers are now 17-3-1 on the season.

Park Hill South Boys Tennis
…wrapped up their regular season last week with two more dual victories against Oak Park 8-1 and Belton 8-1. They then participated in the Brandon McPherson Memorial Classic Wednesday at the Plaza Tennis Center. As a team, the Panthers finished third as did doubles pair Griffin Smith and Zack Royle. Securing the top seed in the district tournament, South played the winner of the Fort Osage/William Chrisman match-up. A win could set up a dual for the district title and a team sectional berth against North Kansas City or Winnetonka. Individual district titles will be played out on Saturday at North Kansas City.

Park Hill Boys Tennis
…finished their regular season dual schedule with a win against St. Joe Central last week by a score of 5-4. They finished the week by hosting the Brandon McPherson Tournament where they placed second behind first place finisher Rockhurst. The Trojans are 10-3 overall going into districts where they will hold the top seed. They played Tuesday against the winner of the Staley/Oak Park match. A potential championship match is scheduled for Thursday with the individual matches taking place at Park Hill on Saturday.

Park Hill Baseball
…went 2-1 last week wins against Truman 10-5 and North Kansas City 2-0 with a loss to Kearney 6-5 sandwiched in between. Park Hill comes into the week with an 11-11 record and could wrap up a second place conference finish if they improve on their 6-2 league record with wins against St. Joe Central and Ruskin this week to finish the regular season. The Trojans received the fourth seed in the district tournament and will play Liberty North to start district play Saturday morning.

Park Hill track filled with multi-sport athletes

Park Hill’s boys track team has picked up where they finished last year and come back even stronger than before. The Trojans won their conference in 2010 before placing second in districts and advancing to sectionals. Their sixth place finish in sectionals sent several athletes to the state meet, but acted as somewhat of a glass ceiling for the team based on their expectations coming in. This year they hope to increase the amount of events they qualify for on the heels of some seniors who know a little about winning and have an even larger desire to go out in top form.

Senior Trace Norfleet lit opposing defenses up for the Trojans football team the last two seasons as a running back, but it was two years when he took home the state championship in the long-jump before being unable to defend his title last year due to injury. Senior Burt Taylor is also familiar with the gridiron along with the role he and his class played in a resurgence of the Park Hill basketball program. Quinton Noble was a leading figure on the Trojan soccer team as they went deep into the state playoffs the previous two years, runs not seen since the early 1990’s. These are just a few of the profiles you’ll find at Trojan track and field events this spring.

What may be considered success to the average athlete, has actually turned out heartbreaking at times when compared to the athletes’ own expectations. Both the football and soccer teams saw earlier than they would have like exits from this year’s playoff after teams they had beat in the regular season were able to come back around and best them when it counted most. You can only imagine what kind of motivation last year’s fifth place finish in sectionals for the 4x100 relay team now consisting of Taylor, Norfleet, Anthony Arens, and Noble, which left them short of qualifying for the state meet, has provided them with as they head into the consequential weeks of conference, districts, and sectional track meets ahead of them.

“I know they were a little disappointed in missing out on state last year,” assistant coach John Millholland said. “They’re a little more hungry this year and working a lot harder. I think we’re going to be able to break through.”

While there’s the emotional sources of motivation, participating in different sports throughout the year is something many track coaches see as a positive physically.

“Year-round training is key,” Millholland said. “They take it real seriously and that’s what it takes. It’s the same in football or basketball; you’ve got to have someone who’s willing to work.”

They’ll also be showing a threat in the 4x200 event as well when Dondrell Hardiman replaces Norfleet in the lineup. This was shown last week in the Park Hill Invitational when the 4x200 placed first with a time of 1:30, which was one of many finishes leading to a narrow first place finish for Park Hill as a team. A number of high placing events included Noble’s second place finishes in the 100 and 200 meter dashes, Joseph Walton and Nathan Koehler’s first and second place finishes in the 800 meter dash, Hardiman’s first place finish in the 300 hurdles, Luke Bossert’s first place finish in the pole vault, and Nick Shepherd’s third place finish in the high jump. Not to mention the presence of shot-putter Nick Smith, who was absent from last week’s invite, but already holds the school record in the event.

Not only are the Trojans showing speed in the short distance events, but sophomore Cain Winebrenner is dominating the 1600 meter run where he finished seven seconds ahead of his closest competition, along with contributing to the 4x800 relay team of Joseph Walton, Riley Farenholz, and Nathan Koehler. Although just a sophomore, Winebrenner hasn’t exactly snuck up on anyone this year after bursting onto the track scene last year.

“He knows he’s going to be a guy that is targeted to run real well. A kid with that much talent and the kind of work ethic he has; he knew he was going to be a front-runner,” assistant coach Jason Parr said. “I think if we put the pieces together, Cain has a chance to place in the top five at the state meet.”

Parr says Winebrenner is currently running the times he finished the season at last year and is hoping for even more improvement in the season’s final weeks and that his determination has a lot to do with his drive to improve.

“Cain knows when he needs to make moves,” Parr said. “There’ll be times where I tell him to back off a bit, but he says I’m going to go out there and win it.”

In the midst of hosting the invitational last week, head coach Mark Gourley voiced satisfaction with the brief moments he had to discuss his team, but indicating that there are faster teams out there right now, he knows his athletes’ best performances must be ahead of them in order to win it when it counts.

Spring Weekly Roundup: April 25-29

Park Hill Girls Track
...saw pieces of success as they hosted the Park Hill Invitational last week. Their 32 points left them in the middle of the seven team pack as they walked away with fourth place. Led by the first place 4x800 finish from Brooke Bischof, Maddie Bischof, Joanna Grauberger, and Chelsay Lewis, the Trojans saw top three finishes from Stephanie Atkinson in the pole vault (2nd), Dominique Broadus in the shotpu (3rd), Bailey Cation in the triple jump (3rd), and the 4x200 relay team of Marche Belcher, Onjhana Davis, Kelsey Ruoff, and Davon Thomas. Park Hill also saw strong results from Belcher in the 100 meter dash (4th) and 4x100 relay of Daisha Battles, Davis, Thomas, and Nikki Moss.

Upperclassmen Cation and Atkinson continue to be the most consistent athletes, but the Trojans are a young team with a lot of room to grow. A freshman conference title aside, the enthusaism from the youngest athletes is an encouraging sign going into the conference meet this week.

The young kids are doing extremely well. We've got kids that are scoring across the board, we're just really young. They're real excited about their success so far. We'll have kids that haven't had that kind of experience before (conference), but it will be good for them in the long-run," Coach Tari Garner said.

Park Hill South Girls Soccer
...a 4-1 victory over Fort Osage led to a match-up with top-ranked Liberty on Friday night. The much anticipated game for the Panthers left them on the wrong side of a 2-0 victory for the Blue Jays. Knowing the game would not be high scoring, coach Joe Toigo wasn't completely upset with the result, but knew there was need for improvement.

"They're a good team. I thought we played well. To play them, you can't outscore them. Defending has been our strength all year, but we should have scored on these guys tonight," Toigo said.

One thing holding the Panthers back from being able to overcome some of the best teams in the area like Liberty is what Toigo believes is a disparity between the speed at which good teams play and lesser opponents play. He believes it makes all the difference when it comes to districts and playoffs.

"One thing that hurts us is we're not pushed consistently by our conference. We don't normally have to play at the speed we need to be able to against teams like this. It's very difficult, speed of play-wise, when we're beating teams 8-0," Toigo said.

Park Hill South defeated Raytown South 5-2 Saturday to improve their record coming into this week to 14-3-1. The Panthers will face Park Hill Thursday night in what will be their fifth game in seven days.

Park Hill Baseball
...lost a pair of close games early last week when they fell 5-4 to Lee's Summit West and then 8-7 in eight innings to Liberty. The Trojans are now a shade under .500 at 9-10 on the season.

Park Hill Boys Tennis
...after a thorough 9-0 victory over Liberty North earlier in the week, the Trojans' long trip to Columbia Rockbridge ended in a 9-0 drumming while playing with a partial varsity squad. But over the weekend, Park Hill came back in a big way by taking first place in the Suburban Northland Tournament over the weekend with their 22 team points. Michael Jones's defeat of top-ranked Paul Nurse of Kearney in a match that went to a tie-breaker propelled him to the Flight A singles championship match appearance against Jake Olhausen. Olhausen went on to win the title 10-3. Park Hill also made it to the Flight A doubles championship where Christian Reinmiller and Blake Barnard fell to Park Hill South's Griffin Smith and Zack Royle 10-0. Those title match appearances put Park Hill well on their way to the tournament team title, but it was in the Flight B doubles bracket that sealed the top spot as Drew Nickell and Max Schoettger took that division title in a 10-7 victory over their North Kansas City counterparts. They'll next host the Brandon McPherson Memorial Tournament on the Plaza throughout the day Thursday.

Park Hill South Boys Tennis
...continued their roll through conference play with their second win against William Chrisman in as many weeks. Griffin Smith defeated Chrisman's Anthony Laughlin 10-2 in the top singles match while Smith and Zack Royle teamed up in doubles to beat Laughlin and Cody Page 10-0. The Panthers are now 9-1 in dual matches this season. Smith and Royle, who appear to have set their eyes on the tournament's doubles bracket compared to individually in singles, swept through the Northland Tournament last week when they defeated Park Hill's Christian Reimiller and Blake Barnard in the championship round by a score of 10-0. Most of South's 11 team points came from their success in the doubles bracket. They'll next compete in the Brandon McPherson Memorial Tournament on Thursday.

Park Hill South Boys Golf
...followed up their conference title on Monday with another quality performance in the district tournament Wednesday last week. With a team score of 331, the Panthers came in with a second place finish to Liberty's 319. Four of South's golfers finished or tied for top ten finishes including Matthew Barry's +9 (T-4th), Cameron Probst's +10 (6th), Austin Dorrell's +12 (T-10th), and Nicholas Sobba who also shot +12 (T-10th). All four will be able to compete as individuals in the sectional tournament this week. As a top two team finisher, South also qualified as a team to move onto sectionals which will allow them to compete for the chance to move forward to state as well. The Panthers' fifth player will be Nicholas Schleisman who didn't qualify as an individual, but will participate on the team slate and have his score count as part of the team's total.

Park Hill Boys Golf
...with their team score of 363, the Trojans finished sixth in the Class 4, District 4 tournament last week in Liberty. Despite the less than desired team finish which ended their team season, all five individuals qualified for opportunities to advance to the state meet next week if they are able to advance out of the sectional tournament this week. Austin Dorward was the highest finisher for Park Hill with his score of +13 (15th). Travis Perry's +19 (20th), Mason Tarpley's +20 (T-22nd), Colby Buehler's +23 (T-24th), and Collin Pummill's +23 (T-24th) rounded out the Trojans' district performance.

Park Hill South Baseball
…improved their record to 8-11 with two victories last week. In a much-anticipated display of offensive power the Panthers defeated Raytown South 17-11. Avery Booth’s 2-4 day included a homerun along with two hits a piece from Eddie Sola and Alex Howe. John Christopher went five innings striking out seven and allowing just two runs. They wrapped the week up with a win against Belton on Friday 5-2. Bryce Turner went 6 2/3 innings where he struckout nine and allowed two runs. Jordan Fitch came in to polish off the victory with a save. Kyle Willenbrink, Blake Phillips, Sola, and Christopher had two hits each.

Park Hill South Track
… weren’t in action last week boys head coach Clay Lenhert said his team is preparing for the post-season and went into some of the details about how they’ll approach those meets. He’s seen some steady improvement throughout the year and expects the best is still yet to come. For this week’s conference meet, Lenhert said the main focus is on team points and trying to hang a conference title banner, but when districts and sectionals roll around the emphasis changes slightly.

“For Districts we will put more consideration into each individual and the relays as it is a qualifying meet for the Sectional. We don’t necessarily do this at Conference as we are trying to score points,” Lenhert said.