Trojans, Panthers ready for districts, state

Going into the district tournament this weekend followed by the state tournament the following weekend is always Park Hill wrestling coach Bill Erneste’s favorite time of the year. Not only is it when championships are won and lost, but it’s also when you see the progress made since last season, usually compared to how the team and individuals finished this time last year.

“This is the time of year I love, it’s the most exciting time to find out if all your hard work pays off,” Erneste said. “Some of these guys started working last March to prepare so they can do better than they did last year.”

Park Hill placed first in districts last year before going on to place third at state. This was after rebounding from a couple rough duals earlier in their schedule. Erneste sees similarities between last season and this season and feels good about having the right team in place for success.

“I would say last year’s team and this year’s team definitely have parallels,” Erneste said. “As long as we have the whole team put together exactly the way we want them, I’m going to be very pleased. That’s my only job this week, to get the horses to the show. Once we get there, it’s just time to perform.”

It’s rare for Erneste, when talking about his lineup, to single out any one wrestler. A common theme with this year’s team is a hunger for a title, evident in almost every wrestler’s story. Starting at the lower weights, Erneste describes freshman KeShawn Hayes’s several youth titles and desire to win one now at the varsity level, his son John wanting to compete for a title this year after a third place finish last year at state, and freshman Hunter Roberts who has had a lot of one point decisions this year, winning them all. Similar stories resonate up and down the Trojan roster, whether it be an underclassmen looking to establish themselves or a senior looking for their last chance to go out on top.

“The best way to describe our feelings going into districts and state is we have a careful confidence,” Erneste said. “We’re not going in there expecting people to bow down, but we’re going to be prepared. We’re not going to overlook anyone.”

Park Hill has won five state titles under Erneste’s watch and he says there is no one way to win a championship. Sometimes a highly talented team can help, but it starts with one basic formula.

“We’ve won five titles and all of them have been different. Sometimes you just win it with your guns,” Erneste said. “When we changed to the four class format, it started to come down to placing eight guys at state and putting four of them in the finals. That’s kind of how we’re looking at it this year.”

First and more importantly, is districts at Ray-Pec this weekend, where the Trojans hope to place and qualify as many wrestlers as possible to earn them a trip to the state tournament next weekend in Columbia. With everything on the line, the competition should be top notch.

“Anytime it’s a district tournament where if you win you’re moving on and if you lose you’re done, so there are going to be some good matches,” Erneste said.

Park Hill South Wrestling
Returning five state qualifiers from last year’s conference championship and district runner-up team, Park Hill South wrestling isn’t going into the district tournament this year as quite the underdog they were this time last year.

Captains Brett Rounkles, Nick Gillespie, and Chase Gray are looking to lead a Panthers team into districts this weekend with a chance to match and possibly beat their performance from last year. Joining them will be the remaining two qualifiers Alex Fortuna and Jimmy Carpenter.

As Park Hill South coach Dan Dunkin said at the beginning of the season, this is the time of year they focus on the most. While last year’s success was newfound, this year’s success, which they’ve shown in multiple capacities throughout the year, is geared towards the state tournament and advancing as many Panthers out of districts as possible.

Park Hill upsets Lee's Summit West for conference title, but DQ creates tie

Going into last weekend’s Suburban Conference Red Division girls swim meet, the Park Hill Trojans had a steep task in front of them. Upsetting Lee’s Summit West who has never lost a conference meet since the school’s opening in 2004 and placing higher than their rankings in individual events would take a special performance across the board.

“It’s been four years since we won our last title,” Park Hill coach Karl Haley said. “Going into the meet, LSW had never lost a conference meet. We really wanted to end that streak.”

Things fell into place throughout the day with stellar finishes from swimmers in all events. Trojans swimmers took first in seven events including the 200 free and medley relays, Madison Heydinger in the 50 and 200 free, Brynn Guardado in the 500 freestyle and 200 IM, and Abigail Hill in the 100 breast stroke. Going into the final event, the 400 free relay, Park Hill was up an impressive 40 team points going into one of their stronger events. But a technicality would slightly alter what at the time was the Trojans’ for the taking.

“We got disqualified because of the ‘jewelry rule’. Girls have hair ties all the time and as long as it’s under their cap its usually fine, but one girl left it on her wrist,” Haley explained. “It’s fairly rare, they usually give them the benefit of the doubt and if the official sees it they’ll tell them to take it off. It was one of those things where she was the last one on the relay and no one was paying attention until it was too late.”

So while Park Hill finished first in the relay which would have given them an 80 point advantage at the end of the meet, their first place points were awarded to Lee’s Summit West, the second place finisher. This gave the Titans 40 points, bringing them even with the Trojans at 544 team points apiece. Good enough for a tie and making both teams rare co-conference champions.

“It’s too bad it was one of those things that ended up making a difference in the ending. I think the rule is mostly geared towards contact sports,” Haley said. “It’s one of those things you never hear about (co-champs). You see ties in events, but usually never overall as champions.”

Nonetheless, while Park Hill did not end Lee’s Summit West’s streak, they can now claim a conference title in girls swimming, something they would not have done if they lived up to the seeds they were set in to start the meet.

“Going into the meet, if we were to finish in the place we were seeded, we wouldn’t have won,” Haley said. “It was definitely the best meet of the year. Everyone had their best times of the year and did outstanding things.”

Brynn Guardado and Madison Heydinger will be the only Trojans competing in individual events at the state meet next weekend, but while Haley says they led the team this year and were the ‘go-to’ girls, it was a supporting cast that made the title possible who were just short of qualifying for state. They included Lynn Huynh who finished second in the 200 freestyle, Lindsey Horstmann who finished second in the 100 freestyle and third in the 50 freestyle, and Jasmine Jones who finished second in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke. A complete team effort.

“It’s hard to point out one event,” Haley said. “I can look to every event and point out one or multiple swimmers who proved so much and made a huge difference in the point swing for us."

Winter Roundup: Jan. 30 - Feb. 6

Park Hill South Girls Basketball
…after a disappointing loss to Park Hill in the first round of the North Kansas City tournament last week, Coach Jenny Orlowski described it as the worst game the team played all year. With that game in mind, the rest of the week the Lady Panthers stormed through their remaining two games by gaining convincing victories against Platte County and St. Pius X. Jessica Lee who has been a significant source of scoring of late for South scored 20 points in a 67-37 win over Platte County. Madeline Homoly one-upped that performance with a 23 point outing against St. Piux X the next night leading South to a 71-56 victory.

Park Hill South is now 14-7 and plays away games at Kearney and Fort Osage before concluding the regular season at home on February 16th against Raytown.

Park Hill Girls Basketball
…split their final two games of the NKC tournament. After a 43-32 win over Blue Spring South in which Dominique Broadus scored an impressive 20 points, the Lady Trojans squared off against the host school Hornets with a chance for the tournament title. Falling behind early, Park Hill wasn’t able to narrow the margin in the second half as North Kansas City came away with a 46-28 victory. Kyleesha Weston led the Trojans in scoring with eight points.

Park Hill improves to 12-9 on the season and plays a pair of road games against St. Joe Central and Lee’s Summit West before they conclude the season against Ruskin at home next Friday.

Park Hill South Boys Basketball
…with a close 66-62 conference victory over Fort Osage early last week, the Park Hill South boys enjoyed a deserving break for the rest of the week after winning five of their last six games. Now 15-6 on the season, the Panthers host Raytown South at home Friday, for a possible share of the conference title, and Belton next week before ending the regular season at Winnetonka on February 17th.

Park Hill Boys Basketball
…continued what has been an up and down season last week as they split their two scheduled games. Battling back from an early deficit, the Trojans came back in the second quarter to build a four point leading going into halftime. They would gradually build that to six and take away a 58-52 victory. Marcus Cross led in scoring 14 points while Keaton Anchors added 10 points. Plagued by turnovers, Park Hill was never quite able to pull even with North Kansas City last Friday as they fell 64-57.

Park Hill is now 6-12 on the season. They travel to Lee’s Summit West Friday and Truman Tuesday before wrapping up the regular season at Grandview next Wednesday.

Park Hill South Girls Swimming
….continued rolling through their season with a first place finish last weekend in the Suburban Conference White Division swim meet. They racked up 637 team points, pulling away from Winnetonka, who finished a far second with 390 points. Earning the Panthers first place points in the competition were the 200 and 400 free relay teams which included swimmers Olivia McLain, Miranda Henderson, Shannon Brouk, Mariah Bryant, Olivia Rea, and Samantha Burford. Also getting first place finishes were McLain in the 200 individual medley, Helen Yeater in the 100 butterfly, Bryant in the 100 backstroke, and Shannon Brouk in the 500 freestyle. Backing those performances up with second place finishes were Taylor Brouk in the 200 freestyle, Shannon Brouk in the 200 individual medley, McLain in the 100 butterfly, Henderson in the 100 freestyle, Samantha Scott in the 100 backstroke and Norfleet in the 100 breaststroke. Mariah Ramirez (200 IM), Henderson (50 free), Christina McOsker (diving), Dani Lake (100 butterfly), and Norfleet (100 free).

Park Hill South will compete in the state swim meet next weekend in St. Peters, Missouri.