Time To Shine: Park Hill, PH South send 19 to state

For a second straight year, the only word to describe how the Park Hill and Park Hill South wrestling programs performed at the Class 4, District 4 tournament remains the same: domination. Park Hill, with 246 team points, ran away with first place while Park Hill South, with 164.5 team points, secured a safe second place finish ahead of Lee’s Summit West. The two teams will send an impressive collection of 19 wrestlers to the state tournament this weekend in Columbia with 11 coming from Park Hill and eight from Park Hill South. For both teams, it represents an improvement from their 2011 results as both are represented by two more qualifiers than last year, giving each a better chance at the ultimate goal, a state championship.

For Park Hill, the 11 wrestlers they’ll have wrestling at state puts them in a strong position for the Class 4 title come Saturday night. If a handful of returning qualifiers get the redemption they seek after second and third place finishes last year, Park Hill may even be the favorite. As has been the case most of the season, the Trojans were led strong and early by their lighter weight classes. Starting with freshman KeShawn Hayes at 106, Park Hill started the title round by winning first place medals in the first seven championship matches. Hayes, John Erneste (113), Hunter Roberts (120), Colston DiBlasi (126), Russ Coleman (132), Derrick Rens (138), and Connor Shene (145) were Park Hill’s individual district title winners and will receive high seeds in the state bracket.

“We’re pretty happy with the way things turned out,” Park Hill coach Bill Erneste said. “You always want to advance all 14 of your guys, but for the 11 we qualified, they’re not satisfied yet. I always tell my guys to enjoy it because this is what they’ve been working towards.”

Several of Park Hill’s qualifiers battled back or upset higher seeded opponents to earn their ticket to state. Malik Colding (160) and Nolan Smith (285) had strong showings with third place finishes in their division while Nick Harper (152) and Nolan Anderson (170) qualified for state with fourth place finishes.

“I’d say we wrestled smart, not necessarily well,” Erneste said. “If we can combine those two this weekend, we’ll be in good shape.”

Park Hill has been in the figurative shadow of a strong Blue Springs team most of the season which before last weekend was the leading contender for the state title as the top ranked team in the state, but an upset or two in their district tournament last weekend left Blue Springs with eight wrestlers qualifying to advance, giving a possible advantage to Park Hill’s 11 going into the tournament’s opening rounds. Erneste still sees his team as one that has something to prove.

“I’d say they’re still the favorite (Blue Springs), they’ve got some strong guns that are probably going to do real well,” Erneste said.

For Park Hill South, the conference championship that came with such jubilation last year was repeated, but just a means to an end this season as the Panthers continue to be right on schedule for where they set their goal at the beginning of the season: a focus on the state tournament and returning home with state medals.

Captains Chase Gray (182) and Nick Gillespie (195) won district titles for Park Hill South.  Coach Dan Dunkin gave credit to both, saying both seem to always find a way to win no matter who the opponent may be.

“Chase has broken the career winning record for wins at Park Hill South in just three years. He’s a junior, so he has another year to completely blow it out of the water. He keeps finding ways to beat good kids. He’s not flashy, but doesn’t make any mistakes,” Dunkin said. “Nick can do a lot of different things, with bigger guys I think it’s hard to adjust to him.”

South had a handful of runners-up including George Barth (126), Jimmy Carpenter (132), Justin Haughenberry (145), and Adam Weatherly (152). Kenric Cook (170) took third while Alex Fortuna (113) qualified for state with a fourth place finish.

Park Hill South will see an improved state field position compared to last year where most of the wrestlers were athletes who squeaked in with state qualifications. This year, as demonstrated by their strong district finishes, the Panthers will see a more advantageous bracket with two one-seeds and four two-seeds.

“We’re going to get seeded a lot better. If we get down there, get some good spots, then anything can happen. There are a lot of good wrestlers out there,” Dunkin said. “A lot of our guys were there last year. The expectations are different and we can feel it.”