SPRING OUTLOOK: Park Hill Boys Tennis

With three consecutive district titles as evidence to backup Park Hill’s dominance as one of the metro areas top boys tennis programs over the years, until a couple weeks ago the 2012 season was looking like it would be the Trojans once again as local favorites. Even with Park Hill’s strong team approach, when junior Blake Barnard, a state qualifier last year, broke his arm and ending his season before it began, it changed the team’s perspective and two thoughts came to Coach Tim Kalis’s mind.

“It’s going to have an impact on our team and our guys, but most importantly my heart aches for him and I know he’s going to come back next season stronger and more appreciative of his talents to lead our team,” Kalis said.

With Barnard’s injury and loss of three varsity starters to graduation, Park Hill brings back two members of last year’s state qualifying team, seniors Michael Jones and Max Schoettger. Jones, who was the Trojans’ top singles player last season and just a few points shy of qualifying for state as an individual, is someone a young squad will lean on early for leadership.

“He’s such a hard worker, he’s pushed himself to be successful,” Kalis said. “It’s nice to have that kind of solid leader up there.”

 Chris To, Austin Keberlein, and Josh Nwanguzo return and hope to fill in varsity spots as upperclassmen, but Park Hill will also be a young team this year which has shifted the Trojans’ focus from confident title defender to more of an underdog-type mentality.

“I think we’re definitely the underdog this season. That’s our mentality and motto,” Kalis said.

“We lack experience and are young. It leaves all of these guys a great opportunity and its going to be exciting to see who steps up and who is hungry to play.”

Some of those new faces are showing promise with several who are no strangers to the game of tennis having come out of local youth tennis programs. Kalis is putting forward a sense of urgency for these young players as the top 5-8 spots are wide open for the taking. Some of those contenders Louis Reinmiller, Noah Higgins-Dunn, Andrew Carter, Sean Moise, Tom Klender, and Jett Mullendore.

“I think you’re going to see some younger guys step up into that mix,” Kalis said. “The kids have to realize they have to put in everything they’ve got.”

Park Hill will be participating in the Blue Valley Northwest tournament for the first time, a tournament which fields some of the best teams in the metro including Pembroke Hill, Rockhurst, Park Hill South, and Lee’s Summit West, teams the Trojans will also see during the regular season as some point or another.

SPRING OUTLOOK: Park Hill South Boys Track

The Park Hill South boys track team returns just a handful of athletes from last year’s third place conference team, but with the nine letter winners they do return and more than 70 underclassmen coming out for this year’s team, the Panthers could be poised to be a surprise.

Senior Dedric Johnson is the only state qualifier returning from last year after he served as the anchor on the 4x400 relay team that finished sixth at state. Joining him will be Cody Kildow in the shot put and discus, Max Rodgers in the pole vault, Keith Loveless in the hurdles, Alex Augspurg in the high jump and sprints, and Abdi Sarbessa in the distance events.

Craig Scott and Marcus Harris will contribute in the sprinting events, but will also be joined by Nick Griffith in the triple and long jumps this year. Their speed and strength could allow them to compete with some of the metro’s top jumpers. Coach Clay Lenhert says the three provide each other with healthy and beneficial competition.

“The practice group of Harris, Scott and Griffith will be interesting in the long jump.  Often when you have 3 guys of this caliber the competition in practice each day turns into really nice performances at meets,” Lenhert said.

While at first glance the Panthers appear most strong in their field events, Lenhert sees a lot of promise in his younger runners as well. While the Panthers will lean on their returning letter winners, it won’t be enough if they want to compete at a high level as a team.

“Many athletes from the junior varsity and freshmen teams last year are expected to step up to the Varsity level and make an impact,” Lenhert said. “We have some young distance runners whom could perform well.  Last year's varsity sprinters have all departed but we have some younger guys whom will work diligently to keep the relays in the battle.”

With Park Hill South’s conference competition featuring some of the best in the metro, the Panthers know track isn’t a sport where they can affect how the other team performs, just themselves.

“Character development is what is in our realm of control and this is will be the key to our success this season and beyond,” Lenhert said. “We can’t control anything or anyone in the conference, we simply develop character, work hard and let the chips fall where they may.”

Park Hill South starts the season with a dual meet against Park Hill March 27^th.

SPRING OUTLOOK: Park Hill Girls Track

Despite the loss of several of their top athletes towards the beginning of the 2011 season, the Park Hill girls track team was able to salvage what was shaping up to be an underperforming year with several unexpected sectional qualifications at last year’s district meet. Building off some of those late season successes, the Lady Trojans hope to come back strong in 2012.

“It seemed to be one thing after another (last year). We thought it was going to be a great season and (even with the absences) still ended up qualifying five events for sectionals,” Coach Tari Garner said. “I would’ve never guessed it, based on how things started out. It was shaping up to be one of our toughest seasons, but actually turned up being pretty good.”

Building on strong finishes at the freshmen and junior varsity levels, Park Hill has a good portion of their sectional qualifiers returning this year. At first glance, the Trojans’ top strength coming into the season appears to be their field events, but their runners are young and aim on building off early.

Stephanie Atkinson in the pole vault, Dominique Broadus in the shot put, and Bailey Cation in the high jump lead the way in their respective events with jumpers Taylor Houx, Eleanor Parrot, Riley Stoulil and thrower Stephanie Lane adding depth in those events.

A number of young runners return including members of the sectional qualifying 4x100, 4x200, and 4x800 relay teams. Maddie and Brook Bischof, Ryann Fahrenholz, Chelsey Lewis, Katie Ebbrecht, Jo Grauberger , Daisha Battles, Onjhana Davis, and Marche Belcher all hope to improve on solid freshman and sophomore years. Belcher will also compete in the 300 hurdles. Kim Rau, Park Hill’s top cross country runner, and Carly Moyer will contribute in a variety of running events.

While the Trojans finished fourth in conference and seventh in districts as a team in 2011, the season which seemed to be headed towards disaster created some valuable experience for many of the core members of this year’s squad, leaving plenty of optimism about the 2012 season ahead.

Park Hill starts the season off with a dual track meet against Park Hill South on March 27^th.

SPRING OUTLOOK: Park Hill South Boys Tennis

Park Hill South proved their boy’s tennis program continued on the up and up last year. Starting where they left off the year before, the Panthers won all their dual matches on except one on their way to repeating as a conference champions, won the team district title, and advanced past sectionals into the state quarterfinals before falling to Rockhurst. The Panthers’ top doubles team of Griffin Smith and Zack Royle advanced as a pair to state, placing in the top five, which was the highest finish in the programs history.

With last year in the rear view mirror and Smith now playing at Truman State, Royle returns for his junior year to now serve as the Panthers top player and take over as a captain leading what Coach Ian Cunliff describes as a young team with high potential.

“This is a rebuilding year with a young team that will have the opportunity to gain valuable experience,” Cunliff said. “We look forward to learning as much as possible over the next few months and are excited about our chances.”

While Royle will likely play both singles and doubles, his partner or the other pairs have not completely been decided yet. Joining him on the varsity level will be Jim Geary, Josh Robaska, Brandon Courtney, Josh Boehm, and Garrison Ballam.

Despite new and old faces alike competing for the Panthers in 2012, their goals remain relatively unchanged including another trip to the playoffs and to beat rival Park Hill, which has traditionally come hand in hand.

“Our goals are to qualify for postseason play, beat Park Hill, qualify two players for state individual play, and to learn as much as possible,” Cunliff said.

Park Hill South starts the season off with two home matches against Park Hill and Fort Osage next week.

SPRING OUTLOOK: Park Hill Baseball

Last year’s 12-13 Park Hill baseball team featured a lot of underclassmen in key roles, part due to injuries and part due to necessity. Coming in 2012, this means the Trojans come back with a strength that could come in handy in a sport as strategic as baseball: depth. It also means there are several positions up for grabs among more than enough capable players.

“We played a lot of underclassmen last year and they ended up getting a lot of playing time. It was good for our lower levels in promoting competition,” Coach Greg Reynolds said. “We’re exciting for the kids that will be fighting for jobs, it gives us a little flexibility.”

One of the players thrown into the fire as a sophomore last year was pitcher Logan Sloniker who racked up 50 strikeouts in 38 innings, posting a 4.80 earned run average. It was a tough position to be in for a young player, but using it as a foundation should pay dividends this season.

“Sloniker was thrown in as a sophomore,” Reynolds said. “He’s one of our best when it comes to conditioning and coming in for weights, but it takes a toll. This year we’re hoping to get a lot more help for him in several different ways.”

Returning for the Trojans and providing a solid group to build around are shortstop Zach Thompson, outfielder Zach Anderson, and outfielder/pitcher Dalton Motts, who, with Sloniker, will represent the heart of the lineup with a combined 74 hits and 39 runs batted in. Third baseman Jake Jones, catcher Ryan Winters, and second baseman Austin Lewis return as starters from last year’s team. Marcus Cross, Chris Heustis, Adam Fosdick, Paul Safford, Brent Collins, and Jose Reyes will also contribute.

Park Hill’s depth is probably most evident in the outfield where they have several players who can cover ground and when not starting serve as potential base running threats including John Balsamo, Cooper Gardner, and Seth Ell. This will be key since Anderson’s lone home run last season serves as the only evidence of power returning offensively for a Park Hill team that will rely on line drives and speed to their advantage.

“I think our outfield strength in terms of depth is better than it is anywhere else. We look at this team and think that defense is going to make the difference, so that’s how we’re deciding who wins a position. With that said, speed in the outfield is important. Some of our best teams have had that.”

Pitching is an area Park Hill feels confident in with four solid options to choose from. Cross, Sloniker, and Motts will see significant innings on the mound. Jake Jones, who is recovering from an arm injury, and Nick Jones will see relief opportunities throughout the season.

Park Hill starts the season off at the KC Metro Tournament before hosting Oak Park and St. Joe Central next week.

SPRING OUTLOOK: Park Hill Boys Track

Coach Mark Gourley is entering his 33^rd and final year as a teacher and track coach and he still says each season, each team is different.

“It’s different every year. You never really know what you have coming into a season, sometimes you might not even know until the end of the season,” Gourley said. “There’s always someone that comes from out of nowhere and you didn’t expect them to do as good. Then there’s always someone who falls off, from injuries or a number of reasons.”

For 2012 though, Gourley knows he has a few key pieces to build around from last year’s team, which seemed to fall just short of several first place placements down the stretch. The Trojans, as a team, finished second three consecutive weeks in a row starting with conference, and then districts, and finally sectionals before finishing towards the bottom of the field at the state meet. They plan on avoiding that stigma this year by picking up where they left off in several events.

The state qualifying 4x200 relay returns two in Jon Saucedo and Anthony Arens while the 4x800 relay team brings back three in Riley Fahrenholz, Cain Winebrenner, and Joey Walton. Walton, who had a standout cross country season, is someone the Trojans hope can see success in several different positions.

“We’re really excited about him after his cross country season. He can run on a lot of things,” Gourley said. “Cain (Winebrenner) is the same way; he has a lot of determination.”

In sprints, Dondrell Hardiman and Devon Belew will be strong competitors in the 300 hurdles and 400 yard dash. John Harris and Levonte Hickman bring added spring as well. Artis Norfleet will be a solid performer in the triple and long jumps. Overall, the Trojans have a fairly balanced team with reasons to be optimistic in 2012. In terms of getting the chance for a top finish at conference, it now comes down to adding depth.

“We’re well rounded, but not terribly deep at some spots. We can always work the relays out as long as we’re strong in other events. They’re always a surprise,” Gourley said. “In conference it’s about having three entries, being deeper always helps.”

Park Hill sees Lee’s Summit West as their likeliest competitor for the conference title. They will jump start the season against Park Hill South March 27^th in a dual track meet at Park Hill.

SPRING OUTLOOK: Park Hill South Baseball

Park Hill South’s 13-13 record last season is deceptive for a team that went 10-2 on their way to a conference title. Even in the tough conference the Panthers play in, Coach Josh Walker couldn’t quite pin down the success they had in league play.

“We just played well when it came to conference time,” Walker said. “A lot of the teams we beat in conference were probably better than teams we lost to out of the conference. Hopefully our force has changed to where we do that against every team this year.”

Minus their top two pitchers, the Panthers return a good core of last year’s team including first baseman Alex Howe (.348 average, 12 RBI), infielder Nick Ferraro, third baseman Ty Elley, centerfielder Eddie Sola, catcher Avery Booth (.381 average, 24 hits), outfielder Luke Ravenscraft, and pitcher Luke Colvault (14 strikeouts, 3.71 ERA). As they approach the regular season, Park Hill South feels most comfortable about their defense.

“Our strength right now is our defense,” Walker said. “I’m somewhat impressed with our hitting, but defense is our strength.”

Joining the team this year is a pair of transfer students in Joel Burkhart and Michael Somerville, both of which could make an immediate impact playing in the infield or pitching. Planned contributions are also expected from pitcher Jordan Fitch (1.62 ERA, 11 strikeouts), outfielder Bryce Thompson, and outfielder Cody Shopper.

Defending their conference title won’t be an easy task in 2012 though as Fort Osage and Winnetonka feature strong programs that will contend. For Winnetonka, there will be the added motivation for redemption for last year’s crown.

“We won conference on their field last year, so I know they’re going to want to get us back,” Walker said.

Overall, Walker is comfortable with this year’s squad as he looks toward the start of the season and the balance it has at first glance.

“We’re a good mix of old and young right now, they impress me with how much they’re playing as a team right now,” Walker said. “We’ve got some good senior leadership and young talent right now.”

With a tough tournament trip scheduled to Bartlesville, Oklahoma for the opening week of the season, Park Hill South hopes to get off to a good start. One which they hope leads to some good momentum going forward.

“Getting off to a decent start,” Walker said. “If we do that, we can really get some stuff done.”

SPRING OUTLOOK: Park Hill South Boys Golf

The Park Hill South boys golf team brings back another strong group in 2012 to defend their Suburban Conference, White Division title. State qualifiers senior Nick Schleisman and junior Matt Barry return after strong district and sectional performances, hoping to improve on their state outings from a year ago. Their state appearance, which did not see the results they would have liked, was something to build on for 2012.

“I hope both learned that the State Tournament is great to qualify for, but they need to remember what happened last season prior to the State Tournament that actually got them there,” Coach Larry Torgerson said. “I am sure it was a great learning experience and I believe that experience will motivate them to get to the State Tournament and do well both days.

Sectional qualifiers Nick Sobba and Austin Dorrell also return after just missing out on earning a state appearance. Austin Berry will add to the mix and contribute as a newcomer to the varsity level this year.

All of those strong individual performances boded very well for the Panthers overall as a team last year as they placed second in districts and fourth in sectionals, just short of clinching a team state appearance. For Park Hill South, it looks like 2012 is shaping up to be another successful year as they are again favorites to repeat as conference champions and have improved in the offseason with practice and tournament success.

Even though they come into the season with high expectations, Torgerson knows golf has a huge mental aspect to it and continued progress throughout the course of the year is what will determine their success.

“If we improve day by day there is no limit to what we might accomplish,” Torgerson said.

The Panthers start the season against some top competition in March including matches against Liberty and Lee’s Summit West along with the Lee’s Summit North Invite.

SPRING OUTLOOK: Park Hill Boys Golf

Park Hill boys golf doesn’t return a lot of varsity golfers from last year, but coach Zach Dorrell sees that as a potentially good thing in terms of player development and parity among the top five.

Colby Buehler who saw success on the varsity level last year comes back as the Trojans only golfer which significant experience. Buehler was a sectional qualifier last season, but placed towards the bottom of the field in that sectional round tied for 44^th, which prevented him from advancing to the state tournament.

“He played pretty well all year for us,” Dorrell said. “He should be consistently in the low 40’s on nine holes. Right now, during the preseason, he’s probably our number”

Senior Dax Mullendore will join Buehler this year on the varsity level as he spent most of last season at the junior varsity level. Underclassmen Logan Lashbrook and Grant Brown are also looking to secure a top five spot on the varsity team in 2012. In the opening weeks of the preseason, Dorrell sees a lot of potential for young guys to get opportunities.

“It’s wide open right now,” Dorrell said. “We could see a lot of guys moving between varsity and junior varsity competition just to see what they can do.”

While many teams may see a large difference in the skill set between their number one and number fix golfers, Park Hill will host a team with a fairly well-rounded group this season, which is fairly rare at the high school level, but something the Trojans think can benefit them overall.

“We’re pretty even one through five, probably more this year than I’ve had in a long time,” Dorrell said. “The last couple year’s we’ve had one or two really good golfers, but now we’re more balanced which I think will allow us to score better as a team. This year I think we’ll have a better shot at being towards the top 1/3 of our competition.”

Park Hill will face some tough dual matches as they participate in a conference featuring the likes of Truman and Lee’s Summit West, two teams with traditionally strong golf programs. They host two consecutive matches on March 27^th and 28^th against North Kansas City then Pembroke Hill and Kearney.

SPRING OUTLOOK: Park Hill South Girls Track

In 2012, the Park Hill South girls track team will defend their conference title with a handful of returning varsity athletes who saw success last year. While the Panthers weren’t able to qualify anyone for the state meet, they return two athletes that came up just short of qualifying in Blake Reser and Audrey Rothers, who will be a core piece of the 2012 team in events like the long jump, triple jump, hurdles, and a mix of different relays.

Hannah Carlson in the hurdles, Taylor Termini in sprints, Tia Square in jumps, and pole vaulter Kelsey Sadler also return for the Panthers along with a handful of seniors who will fill in to play a role throughout the upcoming season. While Coach Andy Keefer has some key athletes returning, the unique thing about his teams from past years aren’t stellar performances from standout athletes, but ones which exceeded expectations and led to overall solid team results.

“The team stepped up really well (last year),” Keefer said. “We’re lucky to where we’re usually pretty deep and we get a lot of second, third, and fourth place finishes. We had a lot of people step up for us.”

A lot of those finishes created the motivation for improvement, which led many athletes to put in the time working in the offseason. Work they hope pays off in the form of a potential opportunity to compete in college.

“We had a lot more commitment in the offseason with people getting into it. We’ve got a couple girls looking to do this in college and move to the next level in it,” Keefer said.

While the Panthers hope to build on their success in the jumps and hurdles, there is plenty of potential throughout the events to propel Park Hill South to another competitive season.

“Our jumps are probably our strength right now. We’ve got some freshmen that look pretty quick so we’ll see how that progresses, but we won’t be able to tell until down the road,” Keefer said. “By the time we get to the Kearney meet, we’ll have a better idea of where people are going to be. We have a lot of other people potentially, but no one who has quite shown that yet.”

With the defense of their conference title on the line in the Suburban Conference, Raytown South appears to be the Panthers most clear challenger to the start the season. Park Hill South starts the season with a dual meet against Park Hill March 27^th.

SPRING OUTLOOK: Park Hill South Girls Soccer

With a 22-4-1 record last year, Park Hill South girls soccer was one of the top teams in the metro on their way to the best record in school history. This was pretty impressive given the number of talented teams they’ve had over the years. But as had happened the two previous years, the Panthers’ postseason was cut short once again by Liberty. Liberty went on to win the state championship last season, but the Lady Panthers, with a strong group of experienced seniors, hope 2012 is the year they break through for their own shot at the title.

“We’re hoping we can get over the hump and continue this year where we left off last year,” Coach Joe Toigo said. “Every year the goal is to get to state. We won’t downplay Liberty at all, Kearney will be good too, but we need to take it a game at a time.”

So far, out of the Panthers’ eight seniors Katy Riojas (21 goals, 13 assists in 2011), Haley Shelton (4 goals, 9 assists), and Katy Lindsey ( 6 goals, 10 assists) have decided they will continue their soccer careers past this spring in college next year. Abbey Johnson brings her 13 goals back from last season as well as seniors Hannah McMachen, Crystal Lenhert, Tedi Sanchez, and Emily Jimenez who will also be contributing.

Also returning are juniors Courtney Claassen and Emmy Hanlon who scored 30 and 18 goals respectively last year. Goalkeeper Jessica Lee along with Alysa Guzman, Ashton Anderson, Samantha Carpenter, and Sophie Moody also hope to add quality minutes for a Panthers squad which on the surface appears it will have plenty of experienced scorers returning. In a low scoring game like soccer, that can have its advantages.

“Soccer is one of those games where it’s really hard to score. If you can game plan and do things, a lesser team can easily beat a favorite, more than most other sports if the other team has a bad night finishing,” Toigo said. “That’s the bad part about soccer and the good part about soccer if you always have a chance.”

While Toigo knows he has talent to work with this season, he believes improving on last year comes down to converting scoring opportunities closer to the net.

“We want to be better in the final third of the game. We’re a good possession team, pretty good defensively, but we have to be more efficient when we get toward the last 30 yards of the field,” Toigo said. “When you get into closer games, those opportunities don’t come as easily, especially in the playoffs.”

Park Hill South hopes to be hitting their stride once they hit the Blue Springs South Tournament in mid-April which will lead them into the heart of their conference schedule and into district play.

SPRING OUTLOOK: Park Hill Girls Soccer

Coming off a .500 season in 2011, Park Hill girls soccer returns this year with many of the same faces that saw a majority of the minutes and scoring from last year. Coach Manny Catano sees that as an advantage and wants this year’s team to start where they left off last season.

“Our strength is our experience, as nearly our whole varsity squad played varsity last year and we have several returning starters,” Catano said.

The Trojans fell comfortable coming into the season with those who will control the tempo of the game through the middle of the field including Sydney Hultz, Shelby Blanchard, and Lyndi Plattner.

“Shelby will anchor our defensive backs,” Catano said. “Sydney and Lyndi will dictate play through the midfield by controlling distribution of the ball.”

While maintaining possession and controlling the ball appear to be strong points for Park Hill as they approach their season opener, the key will be turning those into scoring opportunities. That’s where their forwards come in and will play a pivotal role in putting points on the board for the Trojans.

“A key area of play for us will be scoring goals, getting production from Katie Hibbeler, Maggie Lanham, and Jordyn Galvin will be important,” Catano said.

Upperclassmen Maddie Hemphill, Ashley Sutlief, and Katlin Moran will contribute as well as a large group of sophomores including Regina Bolin, Abby Peoples, Claudia Fonseca, Emily Villarreal, Karra Kennedy, and Jamie Dawalt.

“We have a lot of sophomores that will be stepping up to play big roles on our squad this year,” Catano said.
Park Hill kicks off their season at the Lee’s Summit Tournament this week. They host Lee’s Summit West next week, a team they see as a top competitor for the conference title.