FALL PREVIEW: Park Hill Boys Cross Country

Despite losing their two top runners to graduation from a year ago, Park Hill boys cross country returns the rest of their varsity team in 2012 for what could be one of the more unified groups the Trojans have seen in recent years. Hoping to lead a team that finished in third place at conference and fourth place at sectionals last year are seniors Kainen Utt, Riley Fahrenholz, Nate Thomas, and Daniel Chen.

While the Trojans qualified as a team for sectionals last year, Utt returns as the only individual qualifier and has so far emerged as Park Hill’s number one runner. Head coach Jon Davis says Utt is ready to take on the role both in terms of performance and leadership.

“Cainen has been a sectional qualifier the last two years,” Davis said. “He’s really looking forward to this year and I think he’s got a good shot at getting pretty far as well. He does a good job of leading guys by doing the right things and acting the right way. He’ll be fine because he knows he’s the number one guy and has worked really hard to earn it.”

Davis says last year there was a drop-off between his top two runners and the rest of the team, but in 2012 he believes the team is a more cohesive group that can run together and still see success.

“As long as they’re running towards the front of the pack, and not the middle or back, running together is always positive,” Davis said. “We’ve got a number one in Kainen, but the two, three, and four guys won’t be as far back as they have in the past.”

Junior James Adams and sophomore Hanok Tekle return as seasoned varsity runners who were part of last year’s sectional qualifying team. Sophomores Noah and Carter Barajas along with Cade Kellem will compete for some of the final spots on varsity, representing just a portion of the underclassmen which make up a majority of the team overall.

“What I’ve noticed this year is we have a smaller number of runners, but we have more kids that really want to do this. They really want to run, so I like the group we have,” Davis said. “I think 21 of our 31 guys are freshmen or sophomores so the older guys who do things right will help them.”

Lee’s Summit West and St. Joe Central will be the teams to beat at the conference meet, but Park Hill thinks they can give them some tough competition. While the Trojans start their season at the Liberty Invitational, they believe they’ll have a good idea of their potential after Week Three when they return from Blue Springs and the Wildcat Invitational.