Spring Roundup: May 17 - May 22

Park Hill Girls Soccer
The Park Hill Girls Soccer season came to an end last week against Park Hill South in the semi-finals of the District 16 tournament. Sydney Hultz was the lone goal for the Trojans, but it wasn’t enough as Alyssa Weatherly contributed three scores along with Katy Lindsey and Katy Riojas’ one goal apiece. A down note for the Trojans was they lost leading goal scorer Emma Gossett mid-way through the second half with a severe knee injury. They end the season with a 9-11-1 record.

Park Hill Tennis
After sweeping through districts, the Park Hill Boys Tennis team started again this past weekend where they left off with a convincing victory against Lee’s Summit West in the state sectionals. Sam Barth (6-4, 6-2), Mike Merchant (6-1, 6-0), Michael Jones (6-0, 6-0), and Austin Caldwell (6-0, 6-1) won consecutive singles matches to beat the Titans 5-0. The same afternoon in the quarterfinals, Park Hill had quite an obstacle to overcome in defending state champ Rockhurst. Favored again this year, Rockhurst was too much for the Trojans as the Hawklets won five of the six singles matches to win 5-1. Brian Hillix had their sole victory by a score of 6-2, 6-4.

“I’m proud of them for their efforts. They’re conference and district champions, so it’s been a great season and they left it all on the court today,” Coach Ryan Kalis said.

Although the team season is now over, Sam Barth in singles along with the duo of Mike Merchant and Brian Hillix in doubles will continue on to the state tournament as individual entries based on their top finishes in the districts two weeks ago.

“If the draw looks alright and we’re playing well we could go far. They’ve been there before so they’re not nervous and it’s a big deal compared to being there for the first time. I know they’re excited about this week,” Kalis said.

Park Hill Boys Track
Jack Pearl in the discus and James Leach in 800 meter dash were the top performers at the Class 4 sectional this past weekend as they both took second in their respective events. Nick Smith placed third in the shot put while Adrien Esaw placed fourth in the 300 hurdles. The 4x800 relay team also placed fourth. All qualified for the state track meet next weekend by placing fourth or higher. The 4x100 relay barely missed qualifying after their fifth place finish. Park Hill scored 55 team points and finished sixth out of 21 teams participating.

Park Hill Girls Track
The Park Hill Girls Track team didn’t quite get the performance they were looking for this past weekend at the state sectional meet. They came just short of advancing a couple athletes to the state meet. A difference of .06 seconds made the difference between Helena Hudson qualifying in the 100 meter hurdles, she fell on the wrong side of the difference by finishing in fifth place. The 4x100 relay team also came up short with their fifth place finish. Other notables include Stephanie Atkinson’s seventh place finish in the pole vault and Betty Grauberger’s eighth place finish in the triple jump. Park Hill finished with 11.5 team points.