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.