South swimmers cruise to 12th straight title, look to state

After adding their 12^th consecutive conference championship to Park Hill South’s trophy case, the girls swim team will travel to St. Peters this weekend to compete in the Missouri state swim meet. They’ll be taking one of their largest group of individual qualifiers in school history with eight individuals along with three more swimmers who will participate in relays. While winning that many conference titles could bring a sense of complacency, Coach Tim Busenhart says this year’s title was no shoe-in.

“This year, I think it was one of our closest ones in a while. We moved up in conference and were competing closely with Park Hill,” Busenhart said. “Each year I tell the kids there are new swimmers coming in; you never know what you’re going to have. You just focus on swimming well that last week.”

So just what is the secret to Park Hill South’s swimming dominance since the beginning of the new millennium? Busenhart says it starts with their neighborhood programs and snowballs with each successful season.

“Some of the advantage we have is neighborhood teams and exposure. I get to know the kids before they are freshmen and introduce myself,” Busenhart said. “Like any program that wins, there is the mentality that ‘this is what we do’ and I think it also pushes kids to swim year round because they feel they have to be at a certain level. We have 16 varsity swimmers and only three are not year round swimmers.”

The Panthers will be led by their three senior captains in Samantha Scott, Abbie Moyes, and Olivia Rea, but the bulk of the team will be made up of underclassmen which have left a majority of the team’s preparation for state on staying focused.

“Hopefully they’ll be very focused. That’s one thing we’re concentrating on. With such a young team, you kind of wonder how they’ll react on such a large stage and competition,” Busenhart said. “The experience to go as freshmen and sophomores will be really valuable when they become juniors and seniors.”

While Park Hill South has traditionally been strong in freestyle events, this year they are more spread out across all events, giving them more balance. Other swimmers who will be competing this weekend at state include Tori Beeler, Anna Riekhof, Olivia McLain, Helen Yeater, Mariah Ramirez, Maggie Hickey, Kelsey Danielsen, and Maryn Burns.

Asked if there was anyone individual who led the spirit and energy of the team, Busenhart summed up this year’s team by saying it stands out from many of his previous teams.

“No particular individual. Everyone has had energy and everyone is cheering each other on,” Busenhart said. “This is probably one of the best group of kids I’ve had in terms of supporting each other and making it a team atmosphere in a sport that is very much an individual thing. Getting that whole team together is sometimes a struggle, but this year it has been a great experience.”

Park Hill, Park Hill South top PH Invite results

Park Hill and Park Hill South both finished in the top four of the Park Hill Swim Invitational last weekend. Park Hill South finished in second place with 265 points behind Notre Dame de Sion while Park Hill took fourth place with 181 points, just four points behind third place finisher St. Theresa’s. It sets the stage for what could be a close conference swim meet between the two rivals at the beginning of February.

Park Hill South coach Tim Busenhart says his team has performed better than expected so far in the first part of the season with the help of two talented freshman. Anna Riekhof, who took first in the 100 yard breast stroke at the invitational, currently has the best time in the state. Tori Buehler, who did not participate in last weekend’s competition, is recording times that put her as one of the top three statewide in the backstroke and individual medley.

“The girls swam pretty well this weekend. Most of them moved up or stayed where they were before. It’s going a lot better than I thought it might. We graduated 11 seniors last year, but the freshmen have really stepped up,” Busenhart said. “Right now we have the top medley relay and breast stroke in the state. There are three other girls who are in the top five in their individual events as well.”

Also racking up points for Park Hill South last weekend was a first place finish in the 200 yard medley relay from Samantha Scott, Helen Yeater, Riekhof, and Olivia McLean. Yeater clocked in second in the 100 yard butterfly. The Panthers will next look to the Raytown Invitational next weekend, which they have won 10 years in a row, and hope to bring home an 11^th this year.

Across the pool, Park Hill is encouraged by their fourth place finish and starting to get their feet back underneath them after winter break. Coach Karl Haley says they did not have any divers competing this weekend, but it could have made a difference since the Trojans fell short of third place by only four points. Top finishers for Park Hill included Lauren Shaw who took first in the 100 yard freestyle and second in the 100 yard backstroke along with the second place finish from the 200 yard free relay team of Madison Heydinger, Olivia Woods, Rebecca Shaw, and Lauren.

Things are looking up though as they head down the season stretch.

“We’ve got all of our relays already qualified for state, which is a nice accomplishment this early in the season,” Haley said.

Senior Lauren Shaw has helped anchor some of those relays. Shaw transferred this year from Warrensburg where she was a state finalist in several events last season. Having already qualified for state in the 100 and 300 backstroke, Shaw’s ability has landed her an opportunity to continue swimming after high school.

“She’s an important part of our relays and has qualified individually in the 100 and 300 backstroke so far,” Haley said. “She’s an upper echelon swimmer that has signed with Bringham Young University (BYU) as a division one swimmer next year.

Heydinger has also qualified for state again, as part of several relays with her teammates and in the 500 freestyle. Haley says there have been big contributions from Hill, Rebecca Shaw, and Woods.

With only a few meets left in the season, Park Hill will compete in the KC Classic next weekend, which will serve as a pre-cursor to the conference meet. Haley says compared to the Park Hill Invitational, the conference meet will feature fewer teams and could provide for a close finish.

“There were 20 some odd teams vying for points, but at conference there are only six teams, so the points won’t be so spread out,” Haley said. “If we can get some divers to meet the format at the varsity level, it could be make things a lot closer than they have been in a while.”

Winter Preview: Park Hill South Girls Swimming

After losing 11 seniors from last year’s conference title team that took 18^th at state, Park Hill South will look to build around a few key swimmers returning this year to lead the Panthers in a new conference featuring the likes of Lee’s Summit West and Park Hill. Coach Tim Busenhart says there is a lot of potential with this year’s team and if they stick with their motto, there’s no telling what can happen.

“This year we kind of have a motto of: train, compete, have fun,” Busenhart said.

An honorable mention all-state swimmer last season, sophomore Helen Yeater will join fellow state qualifiers Olivia McLain, Samantha Scott, and Abbie Noyes as the Panthers most experienced and decorated swimmers. Scott and Noyes are part of a small senior class of six which also includes Dani Lake, Samantha Chambers, Olivia Rea, and Rachel Riddell. While the core of the Panthers lineup will be freshmen and sophomores, Coach Tim Busenhart says his seniors have done a good job of building team unity in the early weeks of practice.

“They’re all really good at getting the girls to do things together and have a lot of fun with it,” Busenhart said. “The team has really gelled well together with so many of the girls knowing each other through neighborhood swimming.”

Two of the young swimmers who will contribute immediately for Park Hill South are freshmen Tori Beeler and Anna Riekhof, who Busenhart says are already close to swimming state qualifying times. Busenhart said the medley relay appears it will be an early strong point for the Panthers. As far as filling in the rest of the roster spots, they are working on finding out where each swimmer’s strengths can contribute best.

“We’re trying to figure out where our depth is right now and where everyone fits in,” Busenhart said. “With so many open spots, a lot of our younger swimmers are swimming hard because they know they can get one of them.”

Park Hill South has traditionally been a strong conference contender, sometimes running away with it by a couple hundred points, but with Park Hill and Lee’s Summit West in the mix this year, the battle is expected to be much closer. Combined with a lineup of high competition invitationals, Busenhart believes this will benefit the team.

“We like to swim against competition; we have a lot of tough invites. You become a better swimmer when you’re going for first, second, and third against another team compared to against your own teammates.”

The Panthers start the season off with a dual against Park Hill on December 4^th before competing in the Blue Springs Relays on December 7^th.

PHS swimmers chasing 10th straight conference title

Relying on strong relay teams on their way to a tenth place finish at the state swim meet last season, the Park Hill South girls swim team looks to this year with many of the same swimmers returning, having only lost two seniors to graduation.

Returning are three strong seniors with Miranda Henderson, Rachael Norfleet, and Mariah Bryant along with sophomores Shannon Brouk and Olivia McLain, the five of which will form the main components of what is shaping up to be another strong group of relay competitors. Adding to the mix will be freshman Helen Yeader, a strong swimmer in the breast stroke and butterfly.

Coach Steve Busenhart hopes some of the improvements his swimmers make in individual events will propel them to a higher finish at state, where before they had finished just outside the top eight which rewards teams with higher point totals. Last year’s meet saw Rachael Norfleet finish ninth and Olivia McLain finish 14th in the 100 meter breast stroke along with Mariah Bryant’s 16th place finish in the 50 yard freestyle. Stronger performances in those events will likely have the added benefit of stronger relays, something Busenhart says is a result of flexibility and depth.

“We have a very strong team because we have depth that is consistent so we can move swimmers around and that benefits us in other competitions,” Busenhart said.

The Panthers travel to St. Louis to participate in the Flyer Invitational in December, an event they placed first in last year, their first appearance in the event.

“Since that is a period where we are training the hardest, we probably won’t hit our main stride until the first part of the new year,” Busenhart said.

While a positive early season result will be welcoming, Park Hill South will only use it as an early test on their way towards another commonplace conference championship and opportunity for a top five finish at state.