South soccer surge short-circuited

Even the greatest seasons sometimes end with a loss. Those which don’t are the rarest and most special kind. The Park Hill South Panthers got close to a taste of what that might be like, but came up just short of their first state semifinal appearance in school history with a 4-0 loss to Lee’s Summit North in the state quarterfinals last Saturday. Nonetheless, the 2012 Panthers will add conference and district titles to the school’s trophy case well as a valid argument towards going down as the program’s best along with the 1999 and 2000 teams, also state quarterfinalists.

After coming from behind to beat a talented Kearney team in the sectional round several days prior 3-2, the Panthers weren’t worried when they fell behind in the first half 1-0. It was a first half featuring several strong defensive displays which produced very few shots on goal for either team.

Park Hill South came into the second half looking to be more aggressive after playing defense most of the first half, leading to more of an offensive approach. Lee’s Summit North exposed a brief defensive vulnerability to add on another goal early in the half, putting them up 2-0. Down two scores with their season on the line, South mounted their most offensively efficient possessions of the game, getting several quality shots on goal. Their last, a strong footed ball by leading scorer Courtney Claassen, found its way into the goal, but was negated when a handball penalty was called.

“They’re a tough team to score goals on and at that point, we’ve got to score three to win,” Park Hill South coach Joe Toigo said.

Having come away with no results in their most productive offensive possessions of the game, the penalty not only could have cut Lee’s Summit North’s lead in half, but seemed to take away the much needed momentum the Panthers would have needed to mount such a difficult comeback. Lee’s Summit North would tack on two additional goals in the latter half of the game, widening their margin to the final 4-0 score. While this year’s Panthers team may go down in the record book tied for the school’s best finish in school history, what won’t be obvious is the adversity the team had to deal with throughout the year.

“The biggest problem we had was a lot of injuries; we didn’t have the same group on the field very much,” Coach Joe Toigo said. “We only had two players who started every game. Our lineup was changing all the time with injuries, conflicts with other events, illness, etc.”

Senior captain Katie Riojas, one of the two players to start each game, says the team became a close group throughout the year and those obstacles forced them to do things which would ultimately benefit them.

“We’ve all been through so much together,” Riojas said. “Even during our conference games, we were trying to do different things and figuring out what works, so that when we got to these important games we were prepared.”

With three seniors going on to play college soccer and a handful of juniors getting serious looks, Toigo said their focus to become better players allowed him to have more of an impact on guiding the direction of the team.

“I don’t like to compare teams year to year that much, but this team was different. I tend to believe your best teams will usually have the most players going on to play in college,” Toigo said. “So no matter win or loss, they’re constantly working and improving, that’s how I judge my teams. I think a coach can have more of an impact with kids who are also focusing on playing college.”

Park Hill South ends the season with a 19-5-2 record on the year.

South soccer hits skid, before stretch run

If the Park Hill South Lady Panthers were going to hit a losing skid this season, their past couples games wouldn’t necessarily be a bad time to do so. In the middle of a five game stretch over eight days, the Panthers have lost the first two. The first was a close 1-0 loss to Liberty, which was rained out after one half of play. The second came Monday night in a 2-0 loss to Staley. Luckily for South, none of those games will have an effect on their district seeding and neither will the next three with play against Fort Osage still taking place as The Citizen goes to press Tuesday night and a match with Park Hill scheduled for Thursday.

Normally, this week would play a huge role in shaping the district tournament seeding, but with much of the Panther schedule arranged several years in advance, the games remained in place despite new districts being established in the meantime. With that in mind Coach Joe Toigo isn’t worried about his team’s recent string of losses.

“It’s a tight stretch. We thought these would be district games because they were two years ago when we scheduled them,” Coach Joe Toigo said. “More or less these are just scrimmage games. I think we’re ok. I’m not worried about anything right now.”

One opportunity Toigo is using during this stretch is to see what lineup he’ll be able to use once postseason play comes around. With the loss of senior Haley Shelton in last Friday’s loss to Liberty, seeing who can fit where comes with an even added importance. Learning now, even if it includes losing, will hopefully lead to wins at the end of the season.

“My kids have to overcome my approach right now, which is to play a lot of kids in pressure situations so we know who we can rely on when districts start. This is a good run for us to evaluate those players,” Toigo said.

Aside from a 9-0 win over Fort Osage last week, the Panthers have been out of sync offensively over recent weeks and will try to get back their offensive attack over their last three regular season games next week. The Panthers, now at 11-3-2, begin district play the week of May 14th.

Spring Roundup: Apr. 16-23

Park Hill Boys Golf
Beat Platte County in their final dual match of the season last week at Tiffany Greens with a 171-182 victory. Colby Buehler medaled with a score of 41.

Park Hill South Boys Golf
Bested Ray-Pec last week by a large margin with a 178-202 win. Matt Barry medaled in the match with a score of 39.

Park Hill Girls Soccer
…despite a 3-0 loss to Liberty to start the week, the Lady Trojans bounced back with two wins against St. Joe Central and Truman to improve their record to 7-9 on the year. Karra Kennedy, Regina Bolin, Lyndi Plattner, and Allison Maier contributed goals in their victory against St. Joe Central. Katie Hibbeler accounted for the lone goal in Park Hill’s 1-0 win over Truman.

Park Hill will participate in the Oak Park Tournament over the weekend.

Park Hill South Girls Soccer
While a tie is not a loss, it certainly isn’t a win as Park Hill South knows all too well from playing to two unsatisfying ties last week, the first a 1-1 tie against Lee’s Summit and the second a 2-2 tie against Notre Dame de Sion. The Panthers did manage to put out a 2-1 victory against Blue Springs South in their final game of the week improving their overall team record to 10-1-2 on the season. Crystal Lenhert and Courtney Claassen scored South’s two goals. Claassen continues to lead the team in goals with 16.

They play Liberty on Friday, hoping to end their losing streak to the Blue Jays, who ended their season last year in sectional play.

Park Hill Baseball
…improved to 10-3 on the year last week after going 2-1 in the Northland Tournament. They opened the week with a close 2-1 loss to Fort Osage. Logan Sloniker gave up two earned runs, but struck out eight batters in five innings. Park Hill bounced with a 9-5 win over Platte County in extra innings after Zach Anderson’s three run homer opened up the Trojans margin in the tenth inning. Park Hill went on to defeat Liberty North the next day 2-0. Dalton Moats pitched a complete game, striking out an impressive 15 batters and only allowing three hits.

Park Hill South Baseball
…got some much needed victories in the Northland Tournament last week after suffering two losses to Liberty North and Staley. They beat Platte County 12-2 and Kearney 4-0 after solid pitching performances from Ryan Cockriel, who struck out six against Platte County, and Corey Land, who struck out eight against Kearney. Coach Josh Walker says their offense has come along and added to their quality pitching of late.

“We a finally taking good at bats and getting great starting pitching,” Walker said.

Park Hill Tennis
…improved their team dual record to 11-2 last week with two additional wins against Staley and Liberty after previously beating Park Hill South earlier in the week. The 6-3 victory over Liberty marked a fitting way to commemorate Senior Night for three seniors who won their final home watches.

The Trojans will participate in the Suburban Northland Tournament and Brandon McPherson Doubles Classic over the next two weeks before defending their district title at Staley the second week of May. Varsity starters’ records for Park Hill are as follows: Michael Jones (10-5 in singles, 10-3 in doubles), Max Schoettger (11-5, 10-3), Chris To (8-5, 9-4), Louis Reinmiller (7-6, 9-7), Noah Higgins-Dunn (7-6, 8-9), and Trevin Howerton (9-2, 10-4).

Spring Roundup: Apr. 9-14

Park Hill South Girls Soccer
…took control of their conference last week with three conference victories. Anna Courtney scored two goals in South’s 4-1 victory over Raytown South with Crystal Lenhert and Katie Lindsey also putting in goals for the Panthers. In a 4-2 win over Raytown, Shay Jackson, Alysa Guzman, Courtney Claassen, and Abbey Johnson contributed goals. To end the week, Jessica Lee secured her seventh shutout of the year as Park Hill South defeated William Chrisman 3-0. They will be competing in the Blue Springs South Tournament all this week before returning to home to play against Fort Osage next week.
Courtney Claassen leads team in goals (1st in points), Shay Jackson in assists (2nd in points). The Panthers are now 8-1 overall, 6-0 in conference on the year.

Park Hill South Girls Track
…took first place at Northwest Missouri State University out of 11 teams early last week in the Bearcat Invite, edging out Chillicothe by 17 points out of nearly 1000 earned. Leading them were first place finishers Audrey Rothers in the 110 hurdles and Blake Reser in the triple jump. Reser also brought home second in the long jump. Contributing additional team points with their third and fourth place finishes were Tori Kerr in the discus (3rd), De De O’Toole in the 3200 meter race (3rd), Rothers in the high jump (4th), Morgan Keesee in the shot put (4th) and discus (4th), and the 4x800 relay team of Erin Stump, Lizzy Jurries, O’Toole, and Madeline Homoly (4th).
Park Hill South took eighth out of nine teams at the Winnetonka Invitational later in the week. Jessica Hayes placed second in the high jump while fourth place finishes were secured by Kyndal Mills in the triple jump and Jessica Hayes in the 300 hurdles.
They host the Park Hill South Invitational this Friday.

Park Hill South Boys Track
…finished fourth out of 11 teams at Northwest Missouri State University’s Bearcat Invitational to start last week. The 4x100 relay team of Bryan Robinson, Craig Scott, Marcus Harris, and Nick Griffith clocked in a first place time. With second place finishes were Jalen Ross in the 300 hurdles, Max Rodgers in the pole vault, and the 4x800 relay team of Mitch McDonald, Mason Homoly, Lendon Calhoun, and Abdi Sarbessa. Cody Kildow took third in the discus.

The Panthers didn’t finish the week they way they were hoping to at the Winnetonka Invitational last week as they finished last out of nine teams with just 19 points.

Park Hill Baseball
…increased their winning streak to four to end the week last week with two wins. The first came against North Kansas City when the Trojans rallied from a 6-2 deficit to score five runs in the final inning to win 7-6. Zach Anderson contributed two RBI’s while Zach Thompson and Dalton Moats scored two runs apiece. Moats struck out nine in his outing against Smithville on the way to a 7-1 victory over Smithville on Friday. Moats, combined with Nick Jones and Cooper Gardner to hold Smithville to only three hits the entire game. Austin Lewis, John Balsamo, and Moats had two hits apiece while Jacob Vanvacter contributed two RBI’s.
Park Hill is now 8-2 coming into the Northland Tournament this week.

Park Hill Girls Soccer
…split their two games at the Smithville Tournament last weekend. Despite allowing a goal in their own net, Park Hill was able to defeat Harrisonville in penalty kicks 4-3 after the game was tied 1-1 after regulation. The Trojans fell to Staley 2-1 in the next game. Abby Peoples scored Park Hill’s only goal.

Park Hill/Park Hill South Golf
Park Hill South came away with a match victory after a strong outing against Liberty, St. Joe Central, and Park Hill last week at The National. Austin Dorrell medaled for the Panthers with a score of 74. Park Hill South’s top score of 313 bested Liberty at 334, St. Joseph Central at 388, and Park Hill at 389.

Park Hill Boys Track
…placed fifth out of 13 teams at the Blue Springs Invitational last weekend with 61 team points. Leading the way with their first place finish in the 4x800 meter run was the team of Riley Fahrenholz, Kyle Pudenz, Joe Walton, and Nate Huffer. Deven Belew in 400 and Cain Winebrenner in the 1600 took home second place finishes. Steven Clopine in the high jump and Dondrell Hardiman in the 300 meter hurdles placed third.

Park Hill will participate in the Park Hill South Invitational this Friday.

Park Hill Girls Track
…took ninth place out of 11 teams with 26 points last weekend at the Blue Springs Invitational. Taylor Cofield took fourth in the pole vault and fifth in the triple jump to lead the Trojans in points. Also getting fifth place finishes were Kim Rau in the 3200 run and the 4x800 relay team of Rau, Joanna Grauberger, Chelsay Lewis, and Brooke Bischof.

Park Hill will participate in the Park Hill South Invitational this Friday.

Hidden strength: Deep bench has helped PH South soccer team deal with injuries

Injuries are often a four-letter word to most coaches that can change the momentum of a promising season. But for Park Hill South, who came into the season with a strong and talented group of returning seniors, the handful of injuries they’ve suffered in the early season has allowed them to discover the extent to which their depth lies. That depth is something Coach Joe Toigo and his Panthers will undoubtedly be able to use towards their advantage as they head into the heart of their conference schedule.

“We’re a little beat up right now with a few injuries. Other kids are stepping up though, and getting some playing time,” Toigo said. “Our depth is helping us out. Our younger kids are getting more minutes than we thought and they’re getting better.

One example of this comes by way of senior Haley Shelton, a star defender for the Panthers, who suffered an injury earlier in the season before coming back to the lineup last week. In her absence, Toigo noticed the development of a strong playing chemistry between Ashton Anderson and Alysa Guzman in the back field. Not wanting to disturb that balance, Toigo asked Shelton to play up front as an attacker, something she had not done previously in her high school career. The results have been positive.

“We’ve always had her (Shelton) in the back to help us out, but we didn’t want to mess with the chemistry those other two had developed, so we asked Haley to be an attacker,” Toigo said. “Turns out she is a player that can attack, but we’d never asked her to. Ashton and Alysa have nailed down the center back positions. Now we’re using more of Haley’s talents in other places.”

Attacking is exactly what the Panthers have been doing most of the season as they’ve put together a 5-1 start outscoring opponents 34-9 including two shutouts last week against Raytown South (2-0) and Winnetonka (10-0). Their lone loss came in the opening week of the season to Olathe East 8-4.

“Scored four goals and lost, that doesn’t happen very much. We’ve given up eight goals all season, those were it,” Toigo said.

While the Panthers did finally give up another goal to Fort Osage to end last week, it wasn’t enough to overcome Park Hill South as they rolled 4-1. Courtney Claassen (10), Abbey Johnson (4), Katie Riojas (5), and Shay Jackson (5) have led the offense in goals this year against teams mostly focused on overloading their defense in hopes of keeping the Panthers at bay.

“Most teams we play will probably keep six to seven players back and they don’t come up, they stay back.” Toigo said. “We’ll see that most of the season.”

The Panthers were playing undefeated Raytown as The Citizen went to print Tuesday night, but a win would put Park Hill South ahead in the conference and give them momentum moving forward.

“If we take care of business this week, we’re in the driver’s seat for conference,” Toigo said.

They play at William Chrisman Friday night.

SPRING OUTLOOK: Park Hill South Girls Soccer

With a 22-4-1 record last year, Park Hill South girls soccer was one of the top teams in the metro on their way to the best record in school history. This was pretty impressive given the number of talented teams they’ve had over the years. But as had happened the two previous years, the Panthers’ postseason was cut short once again by Liberty. Liberty went on to win the state championship last season, but the Lady Panthers, with a strong group of experienced seniors, hope 2012 is the year they break through for their own shot at the title.

“We’re hoping we can get over the hump and continue this year where we left off last year,” Coach Joe Toigo said. “Every year the goal is to get to state. We won’t downplay Liberty at all, Kearney will be good too, but we need to take it a game at a time.”

So far, out of the Panthers’ eight seniors Katy Riojas (21 goals, 13 assists in 2011), Haley Shelton (4 goals, 9 assists), and Katy Lindsey ( 6 goals, 10 assists) have decided they will continue their soccer careers past this spring in college next year. Abbey Johnson brings her 13 goals back from last season as well as seniors Hannah McMachen, Crystal Lenhert, Tedi Sanchez, and Emily Jimenez who will also be contributing.

Also returning are juniors Courtney Claassen and Emmy Hanlon who scored 30 and 18 goals respectively last year. Goalkeeper Jessica Lee along with Alysa Guzman, Ashton Anderson, Samantha Carpenter, and Sophie Moody also hope to add quality minutes for a Panthers squad which on the surface appears it will have plenty of experienced scorers returning. In a low scoring game like soccer, that can have its advantages.

“Soccer is one of those games where it’s really hard to score. If you can game plan and do things, a lesser team can easily beat a favorite, more than most other sports if the other team has a bad night finishing,” Toigo said. “That’s the bad part about soccer and the good part about soccer if you always have a chance.”

While Toigo knows he has talent to work with this season, he believes improving on last year comes down to converting scoring opportunities closer to the net.

“We want to be better in the final third of the game. We’re a good possession team, pretty good defensively, but we have to be more efficient when we get toward the last 30 yards of the field,” Toigo said. “When you get into closer games, those opportunities don’t come as easily, especially in the playoffs.”

Park Hill South hopes to be hitting their stride once they hit the Blue Springs South Tournament in mid-April which will lead them into the heart of their conference schedule and into district play.

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 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.

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.

Spring Weekly Roundup: Mar. 21-26

Park Hill South Boys Golf
Started their season out in prime form as they took first place in the Truman/William Chrisman Invitational at Drumm Farm to kick off the season. Their 313 team score bested second place Liberty by four strokes. Senior Cameron Probst tied for first place individually while three other Panthers brought home medals. South also took first out of four teams including Oak Park, Ray-Pec, and North Kansas City in their first quad meet of the season. Sophomore Austin Dorrell placed first individually.

Park Hill Boys Golf
Took ninth at the Truman/William Chrisman Invitational with a score of team score of 362. Colby Buehler led the team with an 84. It was Buehler once again later in the week leading the Trojans as his 42 earned him a medal and put Park Hill ahead of Platte County and Mid-Buchanan with a team score of 187. They host Kearney this week at home.

Park Hill Girls Soccer
Did not get off to the start they would have liked as they went 0-3 in the first week of competition at the Lee's Summit Tournament. Sydney Hultz and Katie Hibbeler scored goals in a 4-2 loss to Ray-Pec in the opener while the Trojans were unable to score in their tournament finale against Lee's Summit North falling 5-0. They play at Lee's Summit West Thursday.

Park Hill South Girls Soccer
... had an impressive opening week as they went 4-0. The Panthers were not shy against Belton in their opener as they blasted the Pirates with a 10-0 victory. Two goals a piece were registered for Courtney Claassen, Katy Riojas, Ashton Anderson, and Abbey Johnson. Katy Lindsey and Alyssa Guzman added a pair for good measure as Alexis Mikulich recorded the shutout. South went on to beat Oak Park 2-1 before they traveled to Springfield for the weekend where they defeated Ozark 7-0. A 2-0 defeat of Springfield Kickapoo capped a success week as Guzman and Haley Shelton goals padded another shutout by Mikulich, her third of the week. They'll play in the Olathe Northwest Invitational this week.

Park Hill Boys Tennis
In what coach Tim Kalis described as one of his team's initial tests, the Park Hill boys tennis team passed it in convincing fashion with an 8-1 team victory. Although top singles player Mike Jones fell 10-3 in his first competition of 2011, him and Blake Barnard later came back to win 10-8 in the top doubles competition to led Park Hill to their first victory of the year. They play Park Hill South and Lee's Summit West this week.

Park Hill South Boys Tennis
Park Hill South also defeated Liberty this week with a 6-3 team victory to start off the season. Senior Griffin Smith won his top singles match 10-4 and teamed up with Zack Royle in doubles to defeat the top Liberty pair 10-5. The Panthers followed it up with a close 5-4 victory later in the week to improve to 2-0 on the year. They'll faceoff against Park Hill and Fort Osage next week along with compete in the Cameron Invitational.

Park Hill South girls soccer looks like a contender

Two losses to Truman, one of which was in the middle of a four game losing streak last year, made the difference between what was a second place conference finish for the Park Hill South girls soccer team and a conference title last year. Not only do the Panthers have their sights set on winning that conference title in 2011, but they’re also keeping an eye on Northland rival Liberty as they hope to have the opportunity to avenge a season ending loss in the district championship last year with a late season matchup and possibly again in the state playoffs. No, the Panthers are not looking too far ahead, but with eight all-conference selections returning from a 15-7 season last year, it’s easy to see how they have established high goals this season.

“We have a lot of talent returning,” Coach Joe Toigo said.

First teamers Haley Shelton, Katie Riojas, and Emmy Hanlon put three pillars to build around on each third of the field. Riojas and Hanlon accounted for over a third of the Panthers scoring last season with 29 goals. Second teamers Katy Lindsey, Courtney Claasen, and goalkeeper Alexis Mikulich surround them and combined for another 10 goals last season. Lindsey led the team with 15 assists in 2010 while Mikulich recorded six shutouts. Honorable mentions Allie Roy and Mackenzie Williams also return for the Panthers.

With such a strong core group returning, Toigo believes his team will compete with some of the top teams in the metro this season. Knowing your team has talent is one thing; taking advantage of it is another. Their coach emphasized improving in games throughout the season, even against lesser opponents, in order to be ready when it’s time to play for higher stakes.

“The adjustment that has to be made is how you play when you are not controlling the majority of the play, and territory,” Toigo said. “Most of our season we are not in the situation of defending for the majority of the game.”

Due to re-districting, Park Hill South will not face Liberty in district play, but they are scheduled to face-off in the last regular season game April 29th and if things work to their advantage a sectional state playoff game. The two Northland teams are familiar with each other as the players have been competing with and against each other since childhood. While the Panthers have some talented players likely to extend their careers into college, Toigo says Liberty has players who have already been offered roster spots at Division I programs. Differing from what they will likely see during most of the regular season, the Panthers could be more on the defensive in a handful of games against opponents like Liberty and they believe how they play then is what will define their season.

“If they score on us, we've got to be able to turn it around real quick and strike back,” Toigo said of answering opposing team goals.

The Panthers kick-off their season with a pair of games against Springfield area teams Kickapoo and Ozak followed by a challenging appearance in the Olathe Northwest Invitational the last week of March.