Park Hill ready for final 'practice' before state meet

Preparing for their final stretch of the season with districts this weekend followed by the state tournament February 14-16, Park Hill placed third at the Oak Grove Invitational last week with 157.5 team points. Sean Hosford, Ben Stafford, Colston DiBlasi, and Malik Colding brought home tournament titles while Hunter Roberts and August Sobbing brought home second place finishes. Anthony Enriquez finished third in the heavyweight division. The tune-up for the Trojans only featured a partial lineup as Coach Bill Erneste explained the importance of rest and health.

“We sat five kids out this weekend,” Erneste said. “If you even have a hang nail, I’m sitting you. I just want to make sure everyone is well-rested and we’re good to go (for districts). I want every kid as healthy as they can possibly be going into districts.”

While Park Hill ran away with the Class 4, District 4 title last year on their way to a second place finish at state, this year’s tournament will also include Blue Springs who was in a separate district last year. Both are ranked as the top two teams in the state. Erneste says it will be tough, but should set both schools up for success at the state tournament.

“Our district is incredible with the addition of Blue Springs. I love it, they love it,” Erneste said. “If we meet in the district finals that means we’d be on opposite sides of the state bracket. So we get to wrestle the rest of the state before we possibly wrestle them in the finals.”

Park Hill looks forward to and works towards this time of the year all season and approaches it as if it is just one more step towards their ultimate goal.

“The district tournament is our last practice before the state tournament,” Erneste said. “We treat everything like that leading up to state.”

Park Hill has been molding its lineup gradually throughout the season. For their top wrestlers, many of which have impressive experience at the state level, it all comes down to replicating what the Trojans have done all season. With that said, Park Hill knows there are no trophies for most-deserving, only for those that step up and earn.

“We’ve always been a work in progress and needed those ‘guns’ to step up. I can honestly say I couldn’t be more pleased with the year we’ve had,” Erneste said. “If you just got things because you deserved them, we’ve done a great job, but we also understand you don’t always get it, so you have to go out and take it.”

State ranked wrestlers for Park Hill who will be key parts to the Trojans performance at districts include Sean Hosford, KeShawn Hayes, John Erneste, Hunter Roberts, Canten Marriott, Russ Coleman, Colston DiBlasi, and Malik Colding. The Trojans will also be looking for contributions from Paxton DiBlasi, August Sobbing, and Anthony Enriquez.