Fall Roundup: Oct. 15-22

Park Hill Soccer 
…following their early week win over Park Hill South 1-0, the Trojans went to split the remaining two games they had last week. They fell behind a good Rockhurst team before mounting a comeback that fell just short in a 4-3 loss.

“In the second half we stepped up our line of defense and applied pressure to make things a bit more difficult for their playmakers,” Park Hill coach Josh Marchbank said. “A couple of great individual efforts on free kicks were the deciding factor.”

They ended the week with a 3-0 win over Liberty to improve their overall record to 15-6 coming into this week. In a preview of their first round of the district tournament next Tuesday, Park Hill played Oak Park Monday night. Park Hill beat the Northmen 1-0 earlier in the season.

Park Hill Volleyball

…concluded their regular season schedule with two wins last week with decisive victories over St. Joe Central (25-14, 25-13) and Ruskin (25-15, 25-8). Lindsey Grace continues to lead the Trojans in kills and blocks with 189 and 65 respectively, on the year while Kelsey Bearce leads the team in aces and assists.

Park Hill came into this week with a 17-11 record and  was matched up with St. Joe Central again Monday night in first round of districts where they advanced to play Staley Wednesday night.

Park Hill South Soccer

…beat Lee’s Summit West 1-0 early in the week to claim a share of the conference title before dropping a disappointing match to Kearney 1-0 to end the week. The Panthers (19-5) will wrap up their regular season this week with a game at Oak Park on Thursday. Securing the top seed in districts, Park Hill South will face winner of Staley/St. Joe Central in the semifinals on Tuesday at Staley.

Park Hill South Volleyball

…won both of their home games last week to end the regular season. The first came against Truman as the Panthers notched a 25-21, 25-14 victory in two games. Park Hill South would need to go down to the wire in their second game against Liberty to seal a 25-18, 28-26 victory.

The Panthers are the number one seed in the Class 4, District 15 tournament this week and will play Wednesday in the semifinals against the winner of the Winnetonka/William Chrisman match.

Park Hill South Boys Cross Country

placed fourth in the Class 4, District 8 race over the weekend. Tucker Melles led Park Hill South with a second place finish and first team all-conference selection. Other Panther runners who competed included Gus Whitman (16^th), Keyan Lunders (24^th), Tristan McCoy (36^th), Lendon Calhoun (37^th), Alex Thurston (38^th), and Jacob Bowlin (47^th).

"They all had a great race. Many ran as fast or faster than conference which was on a flat course," coach Brad Banning said. "Tucker Melles had a great race, just getting out kicked for first place. I think we are peaking at the right time heading into sectionals. I'm very proud of the team."

Park Hill Boys Cross Country

…finished fifth in the Class 4, District 8 race last weekend. Kainen Utt finished tenth as the Trojans’ top placement. He was followed by fellow teammates Nate Thomas (19^th), Hanok Tekle (26^th), Cain Winebrenner (33^rd), Noah Barajas (45^th), Carter Barajas (52^nd), and Brandon Rich (61^st).

 "I thought our team competed hard.  I was happy for Kainen, Nate, and Hanok who qualified individually for the sectional meet," coach Jon Davis said. "It was disappointing that we didn’t get our team through to the sectional meet."

Park Hill South Girls Cross Country

…placed sixth at the Class 4, District 8 race Saturday. Lizz Jurries and her 16^th place finish led the Panthers. Margaret McKeon (18^th), Erica Guzman (22^nd), Audrey Rothers (40^th), Madeline Homoly (54^th), and DeDe O’Toole (57^th) also competed for Park Hill South.

Park Hill Girls Cross Country

…took eighth place at the Class 4, District race last weekend. Kim Rau led the Trojans with a 21^st place finish. Following her were Mercedes Robinson (23^rd), Brooke Bischof (43^rd), Emma Gaiser (47^th), Gianna Tutorino (51^st), Madeline Mudd (59^th), and Libby Lund (64th).

"With all the injuries we battled this year I am extremely proud of the way the girls finished," coach Jason Parr said. "We have Kim Rau and Mercedes Robinson who will run at Sectionals next week.  I hope that both of these girls will make it out to State."

Park Hill South Girls Cross Country

...Madeline Homoly and Charlie McFarlane took tough and unfortunate falls in the Class 4, District 8 race last Saturday, which prevented them from advancing to sectionals this weekend. 

"These two falls obviously hurt our team score and I feel really terrible," Coach Pam Jurgensmeyer said.

The Panthers' sixth place finish was led by Lizzy Jurries and her 16^th place finish. Margaret McKeon (18^th), Erica Guzman (22^nd), Audrey Rothers (40^th), Homoly (54^th), and DeDe O’Toole (57^th) also competed for Park Hill South. McFarlane was not able to finish the race because of a turned ankle from her fall. Jurries, McKeon, and Rothers will advance to sectionals next week. Coach Pam Jurgensmeyer had only good things to say about her runners moving on. 

"We are really excited about Lizzy Jurries, Erica Guzman and freshman Margaret McKeon qualifying. Lizzy is running better than she has since her freshman year and we are really excited to see her next week. This is her 4th straight year at Sectionals. Sophomore, Erica has been running really strong all season. Margaret McKeon has been so fun to watch all season, and each week she is improving, making us so excited to see what will happen next. Margaret is very talented, hard working and positive and brings a really great energy to the team," Jurgensmeyer said.

Park Hill South Tennis

…facing a tough draw in the first round of the Missouri Class 2 state tennis tournament last week, Adele Royle fell 2-0 to Lindsey Whitehead of Ladue Horton Watkins.

Park Hill Tennis

…Brooke Barnard advanced to the quarterfinals of the state tennis tournament last week with a 2-1 win over Janet Auclair of Fort Zumwalt East. Barnard would loss 2-1 in the quarterfinal round to Bridget Jane Mayfield of Kirkwood.