Park Hill Wrestling hopes loss is a turning point

Every season has a turning point or a series of turning points, where the result changes the course individuals and the team had been on previously. Sometimes it can be brought on by an internal conflict within the team that brings them together and other times it could be caused directly by what happens in the process of competition. It’s too early to tell, but after beating Lee’s Summit and St. Joe Central earlier in the week, the Park Hill wrestling team has come to what they hope is a turning point after a one point loss to Northland rival Staley in the second round of a tri-dual featuring St. Joe Benton last Thursday night.

After Russ Coleman started the Trojans off at 130 with a victory against Jeremy Goss, Park Hill would go on to loss six of the next seven matches falling further and further behind. The exception was Preston Crouse’s pin of David Montoya in 1:11 at the 145 level. The Trojans’ fortunes turned though, starting at the 215and heavyweight divisions with Travis Marcum and Nolan Smith who fought out match wins 4-1 and 4-0, respectively. John Erneste took care of business at 103 with a pin in 1:59 followed by Michael Olsen’s technical fall against Chris Allen at 112. With one match remaining, the Trojans wouldn’t want anyone other than defending state champion Bricker Dixon on the mat at 125 against Trevor Engle. A contentious match followed with blood being drawn from Staley’s Engle which caused a stop in competition. Ultimately, Dixon outlasted Engle 9-4, but left Park Hill on the short end of a 31-30 victory for Staley.

“We were looking forward to tonight’s dual. We knew Staley was tough,” coach Bill Erneste said. “One of the neat things about wrestling is that it’s the fairest sport in the world. Usually the hungry dog gets fed. They (Staley) knew tonight would make them better so congratulations to them.”

For Staley the victory was a sign of a strengthening program. For Park Hill, it serves as a source of motivation.

“We thought we were going to win, maybe some of our guys were complacent. The good thing about it is, we’ve got a lot of season left,” Erneste said. “Maybe this slap in our face will let us know we need to work harder.”

Still early in the season, the loss could also be a reminder of how big of a target Park Hill wrestling has on its back from building a consistently strong program year in, year out. But Erneste made clear, that last year isn’t this year, and those accomplishments won’t win them anything this season.

“We have the state trophy in the closet. The reason we have it in the closet is so that they can see it when they weigh in and know that it was last year, not this year,” Erneste said.

While seniors Crouse and Dixon along with Cody Goodwin are helping provide leadership in this early part of the season, Erneste says right now the team is going through a growing period and the younger wrestlers getting tougher including Michael Olsen, whose key technical fall setup Dixon’s final match, and John Erneste, who pinned a tough opponent in the sixth ranked Jonathon Melton.

“That’s big, but you can’t always count on the freshman,” Erneste said. “Have to have some other guys to get in there and help us.”

Park Hill will travel to Jefferson City this weekend to compete in the Capital City Classic. As the season begins its steep descent onto the district tournament, the Trojans hope to be able to combine their decorated seniors with their eager young underclassmen to form a group capable of scoring enough points as a team to once again compete against the state’s best at districts and state in February.

Winter Weekly Recap: Jan. 3-8

Park Hill Boys Basketball
The Park Hill boys added two victories to their total last week to improve to 9-3. The two Suburban Middle Six victories against North Kansas City and St. Joe Central make the Trojans 3-0 as they head into an important three week stretch featuring a heavy conference schedule and the Basehor Linwood Tournament. En route to an 85-73 victory early in the week against North Kansas City, the two teams went into the fourth quarter tied at 66 before earning the final margin in a 19-7 final period for the Trojans. Chris Nsenki scored 31 along with Anthony Walter's 17, De'Aris Flint's 13, and Connor Farmer's 10 points. Park Hill was firing on all cyclinders Friday night against St. Joe Central as Coach David Garrison said it was one of the best performances his team has turned out all year as they defeated the Indians 77-60. The Trojans got out to a 36-22 halftime score before eventually extending it to as much as 22 in the third. Nsenki led in scoring again with 21 points along with Walter's 19 and Flint's 18. Park Hill benefitted from a tough defense that defended the paint fairly aggressively.

"It was really two things, our perimeter defense did real well at keeping the ball out of the paint, but then when it did get to the point we were working our tail off defending it," Garrison said.

With the loss of senior Brady Kreitzer for the season, Garrison says there are two players that he'll look to fill the void with Connor Farmer and Tre Durham.

"Between those two guys, just depending on the kind of matchups looks like, they'll be the guys that need to step in and play," Garrison said. "He's (Farmer) gonna sit on the block for us, he's going to rebound and score at the basket while Tre's a ball handle and will play the point for us, which takes pressure off Anthony (Walters), so he can score for us more."

With anywhere from 7-9 players that could start for the Trojans, depth has not been a problem. Garrison tries to use his players in situations that allow them to be most effective.

"It's a chess match, sometimes we try combinations that don't work, but other times its great. One thing we know with the people we have here, they're going to battle and not take any plays off," he said.

Park Hill Girls Basketball
After a 40-12 win over Liberty North earlier in the week, the Lady Trojans hoped to gain their first conference win against Truman last Friday night. A 23-11 halftime deficit put the Trojans behind in the first half, but they closed the margin in the third to narrow the lead to just 32-25. After playing a man defense in the first half, the second half was when Truman threw a zone at Park Hill. Although reacting to the defense and running their sets fairly under control, they weren't able to penetrate the basket enough to score as much as they would have liked.

"We didn't have the confidence to step up and make a shot," coach Aaron Neeser said. "We gave up the same number of buckets, they just got to the line more."

An intense fourth quarter cut the lead to as close as four, but the Patriots pulled away for a 42-30 victory. The Trojans are now 5-5 with a game against Lee's Summit West Thursday evening.

"I think what I'm most satisfied about is that they really care about each other. Usually when you have a new coach, you have a transition period where you struggle a little bit, but they're really buying into what we're doing. I like how hard we compete, we just have to get better at the little things," Neeser said.

Park Hill South Girls Basketball
The Lady Panthers improved to 4-6 on the season with a win on Thursday night against Belton 56-44. South outscored Belton in three of the four quarters before widening the margin with an 18-10 final quarter. They'll travel to Fort Osage on Friday night.

Park Hill South Boys Basketball
The Park Hill South Panthers hit a rough patch this week with two tough opponents in the likes of Liberty and Raytown who both dealt them close losses. The Wednesday night effort at Liberty left the Panthers with a 65-60 defeat. Traveling to Raytown on Friday evening, the Panthers found themselves with a 10-point fourth quarter deficit, but battled back before falling 66-63. Christian Hildebrandt led in scoring with 20 points along with Adam Schemenauer's 19. South is now 8-5 with a home game against Belton to conclude the week on Friday night.

Park Hill and Park Hill South Swim/Dive
Park Hill South ran away with their own invitational this past weekend at the Park Hill Aquatic Center as they racked up 298 points in the 15 team field of competition. Park Hill finished fifth with 105 points.

Top performers for the Panthers were first place finishes from the 200 yard medley relay team of Lyndsay Ryan, Rachael Norfleet, Mary Cate Reinert, and Mariah Bryant, Bryant in the 50 yard free, Hannah Bortnick in the one meter dive, the 200 yard free relay team of Shannon Brouk, Olivia McLain, Miranda Henderson, and Bryant. South will attend the Center Invitational over the weekend.

Top performances from Park Hill came from Brynn Guardado with first place in the 200 yard free and third in the 100 yard free, and Eleanor Parrott with third in the one meter dive. Park Hill has a meet at Raytown Wednesday evening and another next week at St. Joe Central.