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.”