South swimmers cruise to 12th straight title, look to state

After adding their 12^th consecutive conference championship to Park Hill South’s trophy case, the girls swim team will travel to St. Peters this weekend to compete in the Missouri state swim meet. They’ll be taking one of their largest group of individual qualifiers in school history with eight individuals along with three more swimmers who will participate in relays. While winning that many conference titles could bring a sense of complacency, Coach Tim Busenhart says this year’s title was no shoe-in.

“This year, I think it was one of our closest ones in a while. We moved up in conference and were competing closely with Park Hill,” Busenhart said. “Each year I tell the kids there are new swimmers coming in; you never know what you’re going to have. You just focus on swimming well that last week.”

So just what is the secret to Park Hill South’s swimming dominance since the beginning of the new millennium? Busenhart says it starts with their neighborhood programs and snowballs with each successful season.

“Some of the advantage we have is neighborhood teams and exposure. I get to know the kids before they are freshmen and introduce myself,” Busenhart said. “Like any program that wins, there is the mentality that ‘this is what we do’ and I think it also pushes kids to swim year round because they feel they have to be at a certain level. We have 16 varsity swimmers and only three are not year round swimmers.”

The Panthers will be led by their three senior captains in Samantha Scott, Abbie Moyes, and Olivia Rea, but the bulk of the team will be made up of underclassmen which have left a majority of the team’s preparation for state on staying focused.

“Hopefully they’ll be very focused. That’s one thing we’re concentrating on. With such a young team, you kind of wonder how they’ll react on such a large stage and competition,” Busenhart said. “The experience to go as freshmen and sophomores will be really valuable when they become juniors and seniors.”

While Park Hill South has traditionally been strong in freestyle events, this year they are more spread out across all events, giving them more balance. Other swimmers who will be competing this weekend at state include Tori Beeler, Anna Riekhof, Olivia McLain, Helen Yeater, Mariah Ramirez, Maggie Hickey, Kelsey Danielsen, and Maryn Burns.

Asked if there was anyone individual who led the spirit and energy of the team, Busenhart summed up this year’s team by saying it stands out from many of his previous teams.

“No particular individual. Everyone has had energy and everyone is cheering each other on,” Busenhart said. “This is probably one of the best group of kids I’ve had in terms of supporting each other and making it a team atmosphere in a sport that is very much an individual thing. Getting that whole team together is sometimes a struggle, but this year it has been a great experience.”

Park Hill South girls continue on winning path

Park Hill South girls basketball has blazed trails through the competition so far this season with an impressive 18-3 record. With few blemishes on their record, the Panthers came into last week’s matchup with undefeated Truman tied for a share of the conference leader board. It was a chance to gain what would likely ensure a share of the conference title, pending a second matchup February 21^st in the last regularly scheduled game of the season.

Over-sized by the Patriots, Park Hill South game planned to try to use their guard play and quickness to pick the pace of the game up. It worked well through one half of play with the Panthers taking a six point lead into the second quarter and a single point lead going into halftime, but Truman would bounce back in full force in the second half. It was enough to propel them to a 57-44 win over Park Hill South. Madeline Homoly led the Panthers in scoring with 14 points.

“They’re lineup is huge and we’ll look forward to the 21^st for the rematch,” Park Hill South coach Jenny Orlowski, “We learned a lot and we’ll see what happens.”

Hoping for a regain their winning ways, the Panthers bounced back with tenacity against Park Hill as they jumped on the Trojans early with a strong defensive effort which helped them build a 12-4 lead after the first quarter.

“We knew we needed to have a good defensive night and we did for the most part,” Orlowski said.

They would build a 42-23 lead going into the final quarter before expanding their advantage to a 56-28 final score. Homoly and Anna Courtney lead in scoring with 11 points apiece. Samantha Roy added 10 points of her own. Orlowski was glad they regained their winning way and was hoping her Panthers could bounce back at a time of the year where momentum is everything.

“Just regaining momentum and enthusiasm,” Orlowski said. “When you get to this point in the season it’s hard to regain that sometimes.”

While the Lady Panthers see success on the court, they’re also seeing success in the classroom. All five starters for Park Hill South last week, which include Homoly, Courtney, Roy, Courtney Claassen, and Jessica Lee have a cumulative grade point average of 4.0

“They’re pretty smart players most of the time and that translates over to the court,” Orlowski said. “They have great basketball IQ.”

Park Hill South (18-3) hosts St. Joe Central on Thursday night before facing Ruskin and Truman to close out their regular season next week. Park Hill falls to 3-17 and finishes their schedule out against Lee’s Summit West and St. Joe Central on February 21^st.

PHS boys hold off another Park Hill battle

Last time the Park Hill and Park Hill South boys basketball teams met, it was Park Hill South which jumped out to an early lead and held off a frantic Park Hill comeback for a 51-47 Panther win. The roles would be similarly flipped last Thursday in the rematch as Park Hill (3-17) jumped out to a 18-13 lead over Park Hill South after Landry Shamet hit a three-pointer at buzzer to end the first quarter. Shamet would end the game with 20 points.

“The thing that makes Landry special is, first, he loves basketball and then he wants to win really bad,” Park Hill coach David Garrison said. “For him to step up in this game, It’s sign of good things to come from him.”

In front of a full crowd at Park Hill, the home team would maintain their lead, going into halftime with a 30-27 advantage. That’s when the Panthers would come alive though as Hudson Welty hit a three-pointer early in the third quarter to give Park Hill South their first lead. It would be a sign of things to come as Welty would end up scoring a game high 23 points and lead the Panthers to a 45-35 lead going into the fourth quarter.

“We had to get him the ball, he hit some threes. If we wanted an advantage in the paint, we had to do that. It was a great atmosphere,” Park Hill South coach Rick Zych said. “We were outplayed in the first half, but we really came out with some intensity in the second half. We really played well in the third quarter.”

Park Hill felt they made some bad decisions and lost their focus in the third quarter.

“We got out of sync in the third quarter, didn’t get off very good shots,” Garrison said. “If you give some teams easy buckets, it makes it difficult.”

Park Hill South would weather a Trojan comeback attempt, but it would fall short as the Panthers took the two teams’ second matchup 57-54. While they won’t be seeing each other the rest of the regular season, the two could potential meet in the district tournament in two weeks. Garrison said if that were to be the case, they would look to last year for inspiration when the Trojans ended Park Hill South’s season after previously losing to them twice in the regular season.

“Last year we played twice and lost twice by similar advantages, but were able to get a win in the district tournament,” Garrison said. “We’ve got kids who have seen that happen.”

Park Hill South (15-6) beat Truman on the road in conference play earlier in the week 63-53 and is looking towards the possibility of a top seed in the district tournament. While in good position, they believe there are still improvements to be made.

“Hopefully, we’ll be the number one seed,” Zych said. “We have to work on rebounding and taking care of the ball. We’ve got a long way to go, but we’re making some strides.”

On the other side, Park Hill (3-17) hopes to keep their focus and remind themselves of the possibilities district play can bring. In order for that to happen, it will take some more stability and consistency.

“We have stretchs were our decision making isn’t very good and have moments where we just breakdown and someone forgets their responsibility,” Garrison said. “We have two options for this season. When it doesn’t work out, we can make the choice to either pack it in or choose to build on it and carry it into districts.”