Spring Weekly Roundup: April 18-22

Park Hill Boys Tennis ...defeated Staley last Wednesday 7-2. The victory on Senior Day was followed by the recognition of seniors along with a small gathering of players and parents who celebrated with food, beverages, and stories. They'll travel to Columbia Rockbridge before playing in the Northland Tournament this weekend.

Park Hill South Boys Tennis
... continued their tear through their Suburban conference schedule by racking up three impressive victories last week. An 8-1 win against William Chrisman was followed by victories in consecutive days against Fort Osage (9-0) and Winnetonka (7-2). Griffin Smith and Zack Royle, the Panthers' top singles players, continue to serve as a steady source of leadership and match wins as they remain undefeated at 9-0 a piece. Smith and Royle topped Winnetonka in doubles as well 8-4. They'll play at the Northland Invitaional over the weekend.

Park Hill South Girls Track
... had a very successful day at the William Jewell Invite last Friday with a handful of top finishers. Samantha Roy in the 800 meter run, Audrey Rother in the 100 hurdles, and Hannah Carlson in the 300 hurdles all finished in first place. Blake Reser placed second in the triple jump and fourth in the long jump. Third place finishes were recorded by the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams. The Panthers dominated in the high jump with Jen Carlson, Rother, and Jessica Hayes finishing second, third, and fouth. Morgan Kissee placed fourth in the shotput.

Park Hill South Boys Track
James Bowlin in the 800 meter run, Christian Hildebrandt in the triple jump, Cody Kilgow in the discus, and the 4x400 relay team all achieved first place finishes at the William Jewell Invite last week. Hildebrandt finished second in the high jump while the 4x200 and 4x100 relay teams finished secdon. Sam Eickoff in the shotput and Keith Loveless in the 300 hurdles both finished third.

Park Hill Girls Track
...had some good showings in certain events at the William Jewell Invite last week. Leading the way was the 4x800 relay teams second place finish. Maddie Bischof finished third in the 800 meter run while Dominique Broadus placed fourth in the shot put. Other top finishes included Carly Moyer's fifth place finish in the 300 hurdles and Kim Rau's fifth place finish in the 3200 meter run.

Park Hill Boys Track
...Cain Winebrenner led the Trojans last week at the William Jewell Invite with his first place finish in the 1600 meter run. Devon Belew came in as a runner-up with second place in the 400 meter run. Nick Shepherd in the high ump and Nathan Koehler in the 800 meter run both finished third. Luke Bossert placed sixth in the pole vault.

Park Hill Baseball
...saw mixed results in the Northland Tournament last week. After being shutout in the opening round against Excelsior Springs, the Trojans went on to loss to Staley 8-4 before beating Smithville 5-4 in eight innings. Park Hill was unable to play out the remainder of their games due to weather. Nathan Shores and Zach Thompson continue to lead the team on offense with .381 and .315 batting averages, respectively. Shores has also been lights out on the pitching mound as he's only given up three runs all season with a .69 ERA in 20 1/3 innings pitched. The 9-8 Trojans will travel to Lee's Summit West and Ruskin this week.

Park Hill South Baseball
...went 1-2 in the Northland Tournament last week. After winning the opening game against Liberty North behind a strong pitching performance from John Christopher, the Panthers went on to loss games against Kearney 3-0 and Oak Park 6-4 with fairly strong performances from pitchers Luke Covault and Jordan Fitch. Coach Josh Walker’s team hopes to see an increased presence of run support as they head into the stretch run of the regular season. South is now 6-11 with games against Raytown South and Belton this week.

Park Hill Girls Soccer
...suffered a tough defeat at the hands of top-ranked Liberty 10-0, but rebounded with victories against St. Joe Central and Truman later in the week. Rayci Lee and Maggie Lanham led the Trojans to a win 2-1 against St. Joe Central while Shelby Blanchard scored the lone goal in their victory over Truman 1-0. Holly Maier recorded the shutout. The Trojans are now 9-8 on the year with there next game scheduled for May 3rd at Ruskin.

Park Hill South Girls Soccer
... split their first two games in Blue Springs South Tournament last week. After completing another shutout against Lee's Summit 2-0, the Panthers snapped an eight game win streak when they fell 1-0 to Notre Dame de Sion. South took on Blue Springs South in the final round in a game that eventually ended in a 0-0 tie. They're now 12-2-1 with a much anticipated meeting with Liberty at home on Friday followed by the next day with a game against Raytown.

Park Hill South Boys Golf
Park Hill South brought home a conference championship earlier this week when their 322 team score earned them the top spot in the Suburban White Division. All five varsity golfers were awarded all-conference designations. Junior Nick Schleisman placed first overall with his 78 followed closely by Matt Barry's third place finish with a 79, Austin Dorrell's sixth place at 82, and Cameron Probst's seventh place finish at 83. Freshman Nick Sobba rounded out the Panthers' performance with a score of 90 which was good enough for 13th place. South will compete in the district tournament today (Wednesday) at Paradise Pointe's Outlaw Course. There they hope to do well enough to advance to sectionals on May 4th.

"We hope to battle for the top two team spots so we can qualify the entire team for sectionals," Coach Larry Torgerson said.

Legislators let ego get in the way of practical solutions

With all the pundits, politicians, and activists that throw their two cents into the national conversation on a daily basis, there’s rarely a need for local columns to pass those same exhaustive opinions on as their own. But it seems, as too often happens in Washington, recent debates have focused so much on the ideological politics of winning and losing that instead of finding a solution and implementing it, our representatives have dug into the same stubborn policies they’ve put their head down and pushed for in the past. All to prove they are, and always have been, ‘right’, instead of facing them practically. It’s come to such a standstill that earlier this week Standard & Poor’s, a credit rating agency, issued a negative outlook addressing concerns the United States might not be able to address the ballooning deficit and national debt because of the political divisiveness preventing a solution to the most important aspects of our country’s finances.

Reducing the annual budget deficit and reforming the tax code have been topics bounced around like political beach balls for years, but using a little more common sense and a little less rhetoric would go a long way in improving our financial outlook. You may have heard the saying ‘it’s not a revenue problem, it’s a spending problem’ when substantial cuts in government spending are promoted. While government has many, many inefficiencies that need to be removed, spending is only part of our deficit problem. Think about a family or a business, whether they are facing difficult times or looking to grow. Would cutting spending get them completely out of their financial slump or take their business to the next level? No. Sure, it’ll give them some breathing room, but it wouldn’t significantly change their position. They look for other means of building revenue whether it is by taking on another job, gaining new clients, or developing new products in addition to trimming their budget. Government should do the same.

At this point, someone might say this is advocating for an income tax rate increase. It’s not. In fact, decreasing our deficit and national debt doesn’t have to be generated through tax rate increases at all. Job creation is the proven and most effective way to close the gap when combined with spending cuts. Adding more jobs doesn’t increase the burden on people already earning income, but increases the amount of employees who pay taxes at the current rate.

Tax reform is a timely issue with the 2010 filing deadline passing earlier this week. The over 70,000 page tax code is only growing and it’d be hard to find someone who thinks this is a positive. Many of those pages include tax credits, deductions, exemptions, and loopholes to itemize returns and the amount owed each year. Individuals and businesses can trim hundreds and thousands of dollars off their total tax amount through a variety of different incentives politicians, backed by special interests, have passed over the years. There are potential benefits for taxpayers of all economic classes if they have the knowledge or access to professional assistance to make sure they qualify and document it properly for the IRS. Each tax break lowers their effective income tax rate. While someone may be in the 33% bracket, after a handful of credits and deductions, their real rate might really turn out to be closer to 29% in the end. This disproportionally hurts the majority of filers who simply do their own taxes without itemizing their return. A good analogy can be looked at through the perspective of your favorite restaurant. Patrons who frequent the establishment for their highest-priced and best entrées would typically drive the business’s profits, but instead they often receive the best coupons, and could essentially pay less on their entrée than you might for your simple sandwich. You’re not aware of the discounts so you pay full price as listed on the menu. Because of the discounts others receive, the menu price is higher to make sure those discounts don’t put the businesses revenues at risk as a whole. This is a broad generalization, but the simple point remains the same: limiting tax breaks for the few could lower everyone’s margin tax rate over the long-term.

These are solutions that prevent an undesired adjustment upward in tax brackets and would allow each political party to accomplish their basic legislative and political goals. Republicans would be able to say they kept taxes at their current levels, Democrats would be able to say they reduced tax breaks favoring the wealthy, and Independents would have a slightly restored faith their government has the potential to meet the challenges this country faces. As is usually said when it seems when a solution or set of ideas seem so clear to follow, “Easier said than done”.

Staying Focused: South soccer team - often ahead by multiple goals - challenges itself to maintain high level of intensity

An unseasonably cold Friday night was accompanied by steady drizzle last week, but as the Park Hill South girls soccer team saw their final of eight goals on the night go through the net and the seconds wind down on another conference victory against William Chrisman, there were few complaints because the Panthers are off to their best start in school history. Their 11-1 record speak to their success, but so does the wide margin of their victories with seven of those wins by more than seven goals. Often overmatching their opponents, one challenge the Panthers continuously find themselves facing is the need to sharpen their skills and improve each game.

“Maintaining a high level even when we might not be playing the best team,” Katie Riojas said of their focus. “Right now we’re just working on working well together and using each other’s strengths.”

For a team with just three seniors, a talented group of sophomore and juniors would make it easy to think about the future, but coach Joe Toigo and his players emphasize this is their year. While Toigo believes his team’s greatest strength comes from being able to set up passes effectively and control the game, his players believe it also has to do with a familiarity built from last year’s team.

“I think we have good chemistry. Everyone just messes together well,” Riojas said.

“We had a lot of new players last year, so this year we’re more familiar with each other and all kind of know where each of us is going to go,” added senior Mackenzie Williams.

A former player himself, Toigo says he recognizes soccer is a players’ game and once it starts there are only a few things he can do as a coach to effect the game. With such a skilled team, he’s felt more comfortable letting the players decide what to try in terms of in-game adjustments.

“You can do some strategic things ahead of time off the field, but when the game starts sometimes you just have to get through it,” Toigo said. “Sometimes you make them more nervous by yelling and screaming at them.”

One thing helping the Panthers avoid the complacency that could come with having early season success is the inevitability of facing more competitive and more talented teams as the post-season approaches. South has pinpointed one team in particular as motivation to improve. Liberty, the top-ranked defending state champion, is scheduled to play South April 29th and if they can both repeat as district champions, it could be a preview of a state sectional game.

“We keep trying to get them focused on always improving, no matter how much we’re winning by. We have places we want to get that require us to get better,” Toigo said. “Some of these games become training. Tonight we played 10 players instead of 11 in the second half. 15 minutes into it they understood why we were doing it because we need to keep pushing ourselves. Against a really good team it may feel like we’re down a player so we need to get used to it.”

In addition to the leadership of Riojas and Williams, senior Alexis Mikulich has posted ten shutouts, but if things go according to plan she shouldn’t see the ball too often.

“Alexis is an accomplished goalie. She doesn’t see that much action because the rest of the team is really good at keeping the ball. If we hold it, then there shouldn’t be a lot of shots on the goal,” Toigo said.

Courtney Claassen, Emily Hanlon, and Abbey Johnson join Riojas as they led an offensive attack that’s racked up nearly 40 goals combined this season.

“Courtney is a very fast kid. You can’t guard just her because if you do someone else will take you a part whether it’s Katie Riojas or Abbey Johnson or someone else,” Toigo said. “Strikers are like home run hitters in baseball. They always want the ball. Strikers are trying to shot and score every time they get the ball.”

Just past the halfway point in the season, the Panthers will have their chance to accomplish some of their more immediate goals before they look to meet their post-season benchmarks.

“Definitely winning conference is a goal,” Riojas said.

“…and winning a tournament, we’ve got the Blue Springs South tournament coming up which will be more competitive than our conference schedule,” Williams said.

The Blue Springs South Tournament this week will feature some tough games for South. Combine that with a stretch of four games in five days next week led off with the much anticipated Liberty matchup followed by Raytown, Staley, and Winnetonka.

“Going into the playoffs, those games really push us to see how we’re doing,” Toigo said. “I’m trying to empower them. I want them to talk about us and what we need to do and how we can control what happens.”

Spring Weekly Roundup: April 11-15

Park Hill Boys Tennis
... led by Michael Jones win 10-4 in the top singles matchup they beat Lee's Summit North 7-2 to start off last week. Blake Barnard and Christian Reinmiller also won in their number one double competition 10-6. They next welcomed Ruskin and with a combination of all skill levels beat the Eagles 8-1. Later in the week, they traveled to Pembroke Hill where they fell 5-0 before inclement weather prevented the meet from being completed. They'll compete against Liberty North Wednesday and Blue Springs South Thursday.

Park Hill South Boys Tennis
...improved their overall dual season record to 5-1 last week with a two 9-0 wins against Belton and Fort Osage. Top singles players Zack Royle and Griffin Smith are undefeated at 6-0 on the year.

"They're non-stop, they are just going after the ball constantly," Coach Glynis Chambers said of her top two players."Griffin's got a solid left-hand which can be an obstacle for many players and Zach is a really strong hitter."

Solidifying their lineup, the Panthers have Jim Geary, Justin Dixon, Josh Lukens, and Abhi Gullapalli contributing at the varsity level with Chris McCarthy finding himself pushing those above him in competing for and sometimes stepping into that sixth spot on the roster.

"Our top six players are not only great tennis players, they take their academics seriously, and are overall awesome young men," Coach Glynis Chambers said.

Park Hill Boys Track
.. had another strong performance last week as they placed first overall as a team in the Winnetonka Invitational. A number of Trojans earned top finishes with first place medal winners including Cain Winebrenner in the 1600 meter dash, Nick Smith in the discus (161' 2"), Luke Bossert in the pole vault (12' 6"), Trace Norfleet in the long jump (22' 5.25") and triple jump (44' 9"), and the 4x800 relay team of Nathan Koehler, Joe Walton, Riley Farenholz, and Winebrenner. Runners-up with second place finishes included Anthony Arens in the 100 meter dash (10.88), Quenton Noble in the 200 meter dash (22.8), Nate Huffer in the 3200 meter run (10:48), Smith in the shot put, Nick Shepherd in the high jump, and the 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams. Burt Taylor in the 100 meter run, Joe Walton in the 800 meter run, Dondrell Hardiman in the 300 hurdles, and Artis Norfleet in the long jump all came in third with their respective performances. They'll compete this week at the Kansas Relays at KU before hosting the Park Hill Invitational next week.

Park Hill Girls Track
...saw some strong performances at the Winnetonka Invitational last week with two top finishes. Stephanie Atkinson continues to standout for the Trojans as she earned first place in the pole vault. Also finishing first was the 4x100 relay team of Thomas, Belcher, Moss and Battles. Marche Belcher in the 200 meter run and the 4x800 relay team of Lewis, Grauberger, Bischof, and Ebbrechet finished in second place while third place medal winners included Davon Thomas in the 200 meter run, Bailey Cation in the long and triple jumps, Belcher in the 300 hurdles, Chelsea Lewis in the 800 meter run, and the 4x200 relay team of Battles, Belcher, Moss, and Thomas.

Park Hill South Boys Track
...with a strong performance in the Winnetonka Invitational, the Panthers scored 101 team points which was good enough for third place. First place finishes included James Bowlin in the 800 meter run and Christian Hildebrandt in the high jump. Second place finishers included the 4x800 relay team of Bowlin, D.J. Johnson, Abdi Sarbessa, and Connor Allison, Johnson in the 400 meter run, and Dillon Ryel in the pole vault. Cody Kildow in the discus, the 4x100 relay team of Lucas Gardner, Jones, Josh Gordon, and Andrew Davis along with the 4x400 relay team of Bowlin, Gardner, Johnson, and Ryel all received third place finishes. They will compete next this Friday at the William Chrisman Invitational.

Park Hill South Girls Track
...placed second in the Winnetonka Invitational. The handful of first place finishes came from Tori Kerr in the discus, Blake Reser in the long jump and triple jump, and the 4x800 relay team of Jessica McCoy, Lizzy Jurries, Logan Tucker-Nelson, and Samantha Roy. Roy also placed first in the 800 meter run. Jen Carlson in the high jump, Tucker-Nelson in the 800 meter run, Hannah Carlson in the 300 hurdles, Lauren Goner in the triple jump and the 4x100 relay team of Chandler Termini, Allyse Edwards, Hannah Brown, and Reser all finished as runners-up in second place. They will compete next this Friday at the William Chrisman Invitational.

Park Hill Baseball
... entered this week with a four game winning streak after victories against Park Hill South (5-2) and North Kansas City (1-0). Nathan Shores (.381, 12 RBI's) and Zach Thompson (.326, 9 RBI's) continue to lead the Trojans on offense. But Shores's impressive 0.69 ERA in 20 1/3 innings and Logan Sloniker's 33 strikeouts seem to be what are making the difference for Park Hill which is now 8-6 on the year. They hope to continue their success in the opening round of the Northland Tournament this week against Excelsior Springs, Staley, and Smithville.

Park Hill South Baseball
... despite a solid win against William Chrisman 6-0 earlier last week, the Panthers continued to see a lack of run support for strong pitching performances as they dropped games against Park Hill (5-2) and Winnetonka (2-0). Park Hill South, now 5-9 overall, will hope to combine their good pitching outings with some offense this week as they play three games against Liberty North, Oak Park, and Kearney in the Northland Tournament this week.

"Our pitchers all threw well, but we did not back them up with anything," Coach Josh Walker said.

Park Hill Girls Soccer
...had a rough week at the Smithville Tournament last week. Losses to Smithville (2-0) and Staley (4-2) started out the week, but the Trojans were able to salvage the last game by pulling out victory against Harrisonville after the game went to penalty kicks after a 1-1 score during regulation. They're now with a remaining game against Truman this week followed by matchups with Liberty North and Lee's Summit West next week.

Park Hill/Park Hill South Boys Golf
Park Hill South pulled out a one stroke victory ahead of Liberty last week in a quad meet competition that also included Park Hill and St. Joe Central at the National II last week. Park Hill South's 336 total team score bested Liberty's 337. Park Hill followed with a score of 352 and St. Joe Central trailed with a stroke total of 377.

Park Hill soccer breaks out offensively

Judging by the scoreboard halfway through last week’s game against Ruskin, you wouldn’t guess at this stage of the season the Park Hill girls’ soccer team is having trouble scoring goals. The 6-0 score which was eventually doubled before halftime to an impressive 12-0 meant a second half was necessary according to the ‘mercy’ rules governing Missouri high school sports. The win came on the heels of a 7-0 victory against North Kansas City earlier in the week to improve their record to 3-4 on the year and serves as a hopeful boost going into the heart of their conference schedule.

“Our goal tonight was to just continue working on the same things we’ve been working on in practice. Good passing, being aggressive, and choosing our shots,” assistant coach Dustin Sollars said. “We’re still kind of shaky scoring goal, which is hard to believe after tonight.”

Hinting at leaning on strength of speed on the outside in preseason workouts, Park Hill is looking to wear teams out with their quickness and what they believe is the advantage of being in slightly better shape than the competition.

“I think we’re more fit than most of the teams we play,” Sollars said. “We just have to use that to our advantages, win the ball, possess a little more, and make the other teams chase us to make them tire out more quickly. We’re in really good shape, just need to work on the soccer specifics more.”

Led by captains Rayci Lee, Holly Maier, and Shelby Blanchard, the Trojans have seen an infusion of young talent from Maggie Lanham up front along with Lyndi Plattner and Katie Hibbeler at midfield. They’re adding depth to their quickness which allows them to rest players at key points in games in order to always have an attack threat.

“It’s coming along pretty well. We’ve got some pretty good outside midfielders and we’ve got several of them so we can rotate them and keep them fresh,” Sollars said.

Bringing that depth at the midfield position to the field for its optimal effect along with continuing to wear down opposing teams is something the Trojans will work to work on implementing as they head into the second half of their season.

“We have to be able to competitively match up against everyone else in our conference that we’ll be playing starting next week against Oak Park and Park Hill South a little later, sure up our defense a little bit, and capitalize on some opportunities in order to be where we want to be,” Sollars said.

Victory over South tops Trojans' week

The Park Hill boys tennis team had a solid string of victories against Oak Park, North Kansas City, and Park Hill South before hitting a patch of rough matches in the Pembroke Hill Invitational last weekend where they lost to Blue Valley Northwest (2-1), Pembroke Hill (3-0), and Blue Valley North (3-0). All three teams are considered some of the best in Kansas and Missouri.

"We've had some pretty decisive wins at the 5 and 6 spots, that's kind of what we've been seeing. We're making them do things they don't like to do always in terms of style, but we're stretching them and seeing them develop into stronger players," Coach Tim Kalis said.

Michael Jones, Blake Barnad, Christian Reinmiller, Drew Nickell, and Max Schoettger all won their individual matches in racking up a 7-2 victory over Oak Park to start off last week. Ian Pauley added to the mix the next day against North Kansas City with his 6-3, 6-2 victory along with the doubles pairs of Jones/Barnard and Schoettger/Nickell. The Trojans concluded their victory streak against Park Hill South in what could be considered a mild upset with a 6-3 win. After South's top players Griffin Smith and Zach Royal won their singles matches, the Trojans rattled off four straight singles victories from Reinmiller, Nickell, Schoettger, and Chris To capped it off with his first varsity victory. That setup the momentum for the doubles team to finalize the win heading into the weekend invitational.

"They're a solid team and they have their top couple kids back. They're extremely strong at the top," Kalis said of South. "It could have gone either way, possibly been a 6-3 swing the other way as well."

"They really feed off each other. Their leadership as captains (Nickell and Jones) has been excellent," Kalis said of the mix between classes his team has. "It's good for a freshmen (Barnard)to play with one of our captains (Jones) in doubles because it has allowed him to step up as well."

"So far we've exceeded where the expectations probably were at the beginning of the season, but the goals have never changed," Kalis said.

Spring Weekly Roundup: April 4 - 9

Park Hill South Girls Soccer
... cruised through another week with three victories to increase their impressive record to 9-1. All three games were blowouts with wins against Raytown South (10-0), Winnetonka (9-0), and Fort Osage (7-0). Katie Riojas and Emily Hanlon are leading the team in goals with 10 and 9, respectively. Abbey Johnson and Courtney Claassen follow with seven a piece. Claassen has also contributed 13 assists. Alexis Mikulich continues to dominate as the Panthers' goalkeeper as she has only allowed three goals all season and has recorded eight shutouts in nine games. The Panthers are currently 4-0 in the conference as they look to run the table undefeated. They'll host William Chrisman before playing in the Blue Springs South Invitational next week.

Park Hill South Girls Track
... had several athletes excel at the Kearney Classic last Friday afternoon. Leading the pack for the Panthers was Hannah Carlson's second place finish in the 300 meter hurdles. Also placing in that event was Audrey Rothers with her eighth place finish. Blake Reser finished third in the long jump with a distance of 15', 8.25". Reser also placed fifth in the triple jump. She was accompanied with several other fifth place finishers in the likes of the 4x800 and 4x100 meter relay teams, Audrey Rothers in the 110 hurdles, and Samantha Roy in the 800 meter dash. Their next competition with be in the Winnetonka Invitational at Staley this Thursday.

Park Hill South Boys Track
... Max Rodgers in the pole vault and Cody Kildow in the discus led the Panthers with third place finishes in the Kearney Classic last week. The 4x100 relay team placed third with a 44.86 time while James Bowlin placed fourth in the 1600 meter run coming in with a time of 4:31. South hopes to improve on some of their performances with higher finishes this week in the Winnetonka Invitational.

Park Hill Baseball
... went 2-1 last week with victories against Truman (5-1) and Ruskin (18-0) while their lone defeat came to Blue Springs (7-0). The Trojans are now 6-6 on the season. They'll play at North Kansas City in their only scheduled game this week before competing in the Northland Tournament next week.
 
Park Hill South Baseball
…. went 2-1 last week with all three games being decisive. The victories included Raytown South 10-0 and Belton 5-0. John Christopher pitched a complete game and only allowed three hits against Raytown South while gaining run support from Sam Laney and Kendrick White who went 2-3. Adam Schemenauer struck out 18 Belton batters while Blake Phillips went 3-3 with 4 RBI’s. The sole loss on the week came at the hands of Liberty by a score of 11-1. Kyle Willenbrink and Ty Elley both went 1-1 in their plate appearances. Coach Josh Walker said their defense didn’t help them any in their loss against Liberty, but sees improvement overall even though they occasionally see setbacks.

Trojan baseball looking for consistency

The Park Hill Trojans are experiencing the ups and downs of early spring baseball after going 2-2 over the last week to bring their overall record to 4-5 on the season. Most recently, they fell 5-1 to conference foe Lee's Summit West Monday afternoon after giving up three runs in the first inning from a combination of walks and throwing errors. While the loss put Park Hill one game behind the Titans in the conference race, the Trojans have seen some quality competition thus far in this early season and coach Greg Reynolds doesn't necessarily consider his team in a tough spot right now despite some inconsistencies and the recent absence of slugger Adam Vanderpool.

"They came together on Friday at St. Joe and we played a very good game, I was happy with how we responded," Reynolds said of the 5-1 victory. "I wasn't unhappy with the way we played tonight (against Lee's Summit West), we just didn't get any clutch hits. When you're without a kid who basically hit .400 as a junior last year, it causes a ripple effect through your whole program."

Reynolds says the baseball from other teams in the area he's seen so far this season has been fairly good.

"The high school baseball I've seen this year is good and the pitching is real well. Got a lot of guys that are throwing strikes and can work quickly," Reynolds said.

Which is what he's beginning to see glimpses of from his own pitching staff and hopes to roll that over to the entire rotation. The undisputable ace thus far has been senior Nathan Shores followed by sophomore Logan Sloniker who are sporting 1.05 and 3.70 ERA's entering this week. Jordan Burnidge rounds out the third spot in the rotation.

"He's (Shores) thrown strikes and his the top two pitches are good enough to keep us in any game. We play better defense when he's pitching because he's around the strike zone and has good rhythm," Reynolds said. "Logan makes other teams beat him with their bat, not through walks. Jordan has the stuff, when he has the control, he's as good as anybody."

Shores and Jake Jones make up the strength of the Trojans' offensive with a combined 21 hits and 15 RBI's accounted for entering this week.

"Jake was hitting the ball in some pretty clutch situations from the six-hole, so we moved him into the four hole to replace Vanderpool," Reynolds said.

Prior to the loss to Lee's Summit West Monday and victory against St. Joe Central last Friday, the Trojans beat Liberty North (5-3) and lost to Oak Park (2-5). They'll play Ruskin and Truman before preparing for four games in the Northland Tournament next week.

Spring Weekly Roundup: March 28 - April 4

Park Hill Boys Golf
... took 13th out of 22 teams last week in Lee's Summit North's Klint Andrew Tournament. Austin Dorward led the Trojans with an individual score of 82. The following day they fell to Kearney when their 167 team strokes were best with the Bulldogs' 157. Kearney was led by Ryan Zeck who shot an impressive 33. The Trojans' top golfer was Travis Perry with a 38. They'll play at St. Joe Central before hosting their annual Darren Floyd Memorial Tournament Thursday at Tiffany Greens Golf Course.

Park Hill South Boys Golf
... finished ninth out of 22 teams last week in Lee's Summit North's Klint Andrew Tournament. They followed it up the next day with a second place finish out of three teams in a match at Lee's Summit West. Matt Barry led the Panthers with a quality performance of 37 on the par 36 course.

Park Hill Girls Track
... didn't get the results they particularly wanted when they finished 13th out of 16 teams with their 17 team points at the Rusty Hodge Invitational at Blue Springs South last weekend. Most of those points came from quality performances from Stephanie Atkinson in the pole vault (3rd), Bailey Cation in the long jump (5th) and triple jump (8th), and Chelsea Lewis in the 1600 meter run (8th). They'll compete in the Jerry Crews Relays at Staley High School this Saturday.

"We had a small crew on Friday at the Rusty Hodge Invitational due to school conflicts/some injuries," coach Tari Garner said. "We didn't fare well overall as a team, so there is always room for improvement."

Park Hill South Boys Track
James Bowlin led the Panthers in the Blue Valley Spring Classic over the weekend as he earned the highest place for South out of all athletes when he got second in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:04. Dylan Rylen placed third in the pole vault while Keith Loveless placed seventh in both the 110 and 300 meter hurdles. Also having notable finishes were the 4x400 relay team of Bowlin, Lucas Gardner, Dedric Johnson, and Christian Hildebrandt with their time of 3:34. Gardner placed eighth in the triple jump while Alec Gates placed seventh in the long jump. They'll compete in the Kearney Invitational this weekend.

Park Hill South Girls Track
The Park Hill South Girls Track team saw some good results over the weekend as they excelled in several areas at the Blue Valley Spring Classic against some quality area teams including Lee's Summit North, Lee's Summith West, Leavenworth, Olathe North, Blue Valley Northwest, Blue Valley North, Belton, and Topeka West. Although not being able to clinch any first place finishes, they were able to secure two second place medals along with several third place finishes. Lauren Gonner distance of 16' 1" in the long jump and Lauren Gonner's triple jump accounted for the Panthers second place finishes. Third place medalists included Tori Kerr in the discus, Mallory Ross's shot put, and Hannah Carlsonn the 300 hurdles. Other top finishers included Logan Tucker-Nelson in the 800 meter run (4th), Blake Reser in the triple jumpe (4th), and the 4x100 meter relay team of Alyse Edwards, Jill McDaniel, Chandler Termini, and Reser (4th). The next event they'll compete in will be the Kearney Invitational this weekend.

Park Hill Boys Track
... finished fifth out of 16 teams at the Rusty Hodge Invitational. Top performances were turned in by those familiar with high finishes including first place medals for Trace Norfleet in the long jump and Nick Smith in the shot put. Smith placed fourth in the discus while Norfleet's little brother Artis finished behind Trace in sixth place in the long jump. Quenton Noble turned in a fifth place finish in the 200 meter dash while Dondrell Hardiman finished fifth in the 300 hurdles, Cain Winebrenner finished fifth in the 1600 meter run, and the Trojans' 4x200 meter relay team placed fifth with a time of 1:33. They will compete next in the Jerry Crews Relays at Staley next Friday.

Park Hill Girls Soccer
... earned their first victory of the season last week as Rayci Lee and Olivia Derry scored goals in Park Hill's 2-0 victory over Truman. Claudia Fonseca recorded the shutout. They'll host Ruskin Thursday before playing Oak Park and Lee's Summit next week.

Park Hill South Girls Soccer.. improved to 6-1 on the season last week as they suffered their first defeat of the season in a 2- loss to Shawnee Mission West. They bounced right back against West's in-district neighbor Shawnee Mission South though with a 2-0 victory. They capped the week off with a 3-0 victory against Topeka Hayden with two goals from Katie Riojas and another from Ginny Tucker. Alexis Mikulich completed her second shut out of the week and fifth of the season. They'll play at Winnetonka before hosting Fort Osage on Friday before turning their focus toward a pair of home game against Raytown South and William Chrisman next week.

Park Hill South Baseball
… went 1-2 last week when they started off with two losses to Staley (4-0) and Raytown (8-1). Against Staley, Luke Covault gave six strong innings, but the Panthers’ offensive only generate three hits. South had trouble offensive again against Raytown when they only produced four hits. The Panthers concluded the week on a good note with a 6-1 victory over Fort Osage. Kendrick White went 4-4 with a home run, double, and two singles that produced seven RBI’s. Adam Schemenauer notched the victory with his six innings and nine strikeouts. Friday we beat Fort Osage 1-6.  Kendrick White was 4-4 driving in seven runs with a home run, double and two singles.  Blake Phillips and John Christopher collected two hits a piece. Adam Schemenauer got the win pitching six innings and striking out nine.

Northland misses opportunity; PH candidates aligned in two camps

Yet another election date is before us on April 5th as school board, municipal, and Kansas City’s earning tax are on the ballot this coming Tuesday. But before broadly touching on those subjects, it’s important to note the significance of last Tuesday’s Kansas City mayor and council elections. Although the Northland missed its chance to elect the first mayor from north of the river, it also missed an opportunity to solidify itself as a stronger voting bloc in relation to its growing population. Only 20,000 of the 70,000 votes cast were from Northland voters, nearly 28% of the vote compared to the approximately 35% of Kansas City’s population living north of the river.

Voter turnout in the Northland is just one of the reasons Kansas City’s earnings tax will pass. Without a considerable turnout and vote margin in the Northland there is an unlikely chance the tax will be repealed. Voters who oppose the earnings tax are more likely to hold conservative positions on taxes and the Northland is generally considered more conservative leaning than other areas within in the city limits of Kansas City.

There are several issues on the ballot for the Park Hill School District. First is approval for the issuance of $49 million in bonds for the construction of a new elementary school, infrastructure projects, and security upgrades. District officials have gone to great lengths to explain the specifics of the bond in promoting its passage. The key selling point is it doesn’t require an increase in taxes because the district is able to pay for the bond payments under the current debt structure already in place. Funds made available through the bond issue would then be able to be used towards capital projects that without passage will need to be paid for through the general operating budget. Requiring these improvements to be paid out of the operating fund would leave the district more vulnerable to state funding cuts that have affected school districts in recent years with the most recent round of budget reductions totaling more than $2 million dollars. There is no organized opposition to the bond.

Also before Park Hill residents will be the task of electing four people to the Park Hill School Board, three for three-year terms and one to a fill a one-year unexpired term. While there are now 11 candidates for the four spots, two different slates of candidates seem to have formed. The first is made up of incumbent board members Fred Sanchez and Pauli Kendrick along with Boon Lee and Rick Turley. All are endorsed by the teachers of Park Hill’s chapter of the National Education Association. The second ticket consists of Timothy Thompson, Chris Seufert, and David Cox who seem to have joined their campaign efforts together. Also running is incumbent Janice Bolin, Michael Atchison, Josh Blackman, and Todd Burr.

The NEA slate for the most part resembles a politically diverse makeup of two Democrats, one Republican, and an Independent while the opposing ticket has is contrasting itself as strongly conservative. Unfortunately, the intentional nonpartisan nature of school board elections has been lost to some extent. This was reinforced earlier this week when the conservative slate announced an endorsement from the Club for Growth PAC, a group traditionally focused on electing like-minded members to Congress and whose education policy revolves around the issuance of school vouchers, essentially a free-market system of educational choice. When this happens, more of a politically charged debate takes place about finances, classroom experience, and the district’s future. Perspective, practical ideas, and electing quality board members take a backseat to ideology. Presenting candidates to voters in the form of a slate also leaves open the opportunity to elect less qualified board members instead of selecting an individual candidate on their own merit.

Park Hill’s board has had a mix of ideologies throughout the years, but has avoided the political battles we often see fought in other public arenas. While challengers to the current board should be welcomed, and even encouraged to ensure the best board member makeup as possible, be sure to note the number of state and national awards the district has been recognized with in regards to overall performance, financial management, student achievement, top administrators, and quality teachers in recent years before you’re led to believe arguments about needed changes and misplaced priorities.

Measuring stick: Park Hill, PH South skippers use season-opening tourney for evaluation

Seeing a season start off on a good note is something all coaches strive for, but after all the games are played at the end of the season it’s what you accomplish in those key conference and district games that count the most. Those sentiments were echoed last week from Park Hill and Park Hill South coaches Greg Reynolds and Josh Walker as neither team walked away from the KC Metro Leadoff Tournament satisfied with their first performances of the year.

“You can either go into this thinking you need to win all five games in order to get a good start to your season or you can approach it like spring training and get a better idea of what you have. We used more pitchers than we usually would,” Reynolds said. “I like it because you find out a lot about your team.”

Park Hill went 2-3 on the week with victories over Lee’s Summit North (13-6) and Ray-Pec (10-9). Other than Rockhurst, two of their three losses came in games where they carried a tie into the sixth inning, but gave up four runs each time to end the game. Those losses were at the hands of Staley (5-1) and Oak Park (13-9).

“I was pleased we were in every game except against Rockhurst,” Reynolds said. “With so many inexperienced guys on varsity, I think it woke some guys up.”

Reynolds says he was glad to see the ability to use the sacrifice bunt as well as they did, but would like to see improvement on their base running despite not having great speed. He expects Nathan Shores and Luke Burnidge to contribute on the pitching mound while three or four others attempt to player their way into the rotation. Park Hill also hopes a strong closer will emerge in the coming weeks that will be able to prevent those costly runs associated with fatigue in later innings.

Park Hill South didn’t see very much success either as they fell in four of their first five games last week in the lead off tournament. Their sole victory came with a 9-2 win over William Chrisman. The Panthers also saw two close games slip away in the late innings. In fact, they went to extra innings both times. The first was an eight-inning pitching duel against Blue Springs South 3-2 followed by an 11 inning game against Lee’s Summit West in which they eventually fell 10-6.

“We did not have a good week,” Walker said. “We made a lot of errors, but our pitching was pretty good. Nick Ferraro had the best week on the mound.”

While their defense was shaky, the first week did show signs of optimism in the Panthers’ hitting which was initially a concern. Scoring runs did not seem to present a problem for South as they averaged a strong seven runs a game over the course of their first five games.

With the season now well underway the 1-4 Panthers look to Staley, Fort Osage, and Raytown this week to establish more winning ways while the 2-3 Trojans Liberty, Oak Park, and St. Joe Central.