PH Swim looks for conference repeat

There comes a point in every season, no matter what the results have been, where athletes get tired. They’ve been going through the same practice routine for months not including the months of preparation leading up to the season, but the end isn’t quite in sight. It has nothing to do with a lack of passion, drive, or physical ability. It has to do with mental fatigue and the urge to reach the point in the season where the rewards of their labor can pay off.

The Park Hill boys swim and dive team is at that point now, but they only need to look to last year’s conference swim meet to remember how it can all pay off. For over a decade Park Hill had trailed Park Hill South, who had won conference titles year after year. This changed last year when Park Hill beat their rival by a single point to win their own conference championship.

“Last year at the conference meet we found out how important each person on the team is,” head coach Karl Haley said. “If one person didn’t do what they did, then it wouldn’t have happened.”

Redistricting has separated the two schools into different conferences, but the measuring stick is still in place for the Trojans even though they were able to break through last season.

“The perpetual monkey is off our back, but we’ll still see them throughout the season,” Haley said. “They’re a good team and we know if we can compete with them, we’ll be a good team too.”

This year, Park Hill has Lee’s Summit West as an obstacle to a second straight conference title. The Trojans beat the Titans in their opening meet this season by just ten points. In building up to that point, one of their more competitive meets of the year takes place next weekend in the Kansas City Classic which brings together Columbia, Springfield, and Kansas City’s top teams.

“The biggest thing for us right now is everyone is real tired, but they just have to keep swimming fast,” Haley said. “It’s a mental sport, we do all this hardcore training to build up to the last two weeks of the year and a lot of kids want to see the pay off immediately.”

The Trojans return a number of lettermen and state qualifiers from last year. Diver Toby Parker has already qualified for the state meet after significantly improving from last year.

“You could really see he wanted to do better, so he put the effort in the off season, joined a club team,” Haley said. “He has a chance (to win), but will definitely score some points.”

Ben Svoboda, Chris Greger, Matt Johnson, Matt Wagner, Sam Blacksher, and Vince Tutorino have already qualified for events in the state meet in November.

The theme is much the same for other athletes looking to clinch a spot as a state qualifier, but the overall meter of success midway through the season is where they were last year at this time.

“As a coach you always expect more, but we’re past where we were a year ago so that’s what we’re looking for,” Haley said.