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.

Park Hill girls upset Park Hill South in NKC opener

The Park Hill Lady Trojans pulled off a mild upset of rival Park Hill South to kick off the North Kansas City tournament Monday afternoon by a score of 63-46. While Park Hill was aided by their leading scorer Kyleesha Weston, the difference maker could have been Bethany Sullinger's 24 points, 18 of which came from three-point range.

"We played really well, limited their offensive rebounds and made shots," Park Hill Coach Aaron Neeser said. "Beth shot the ball with a lot of confidence."

Park Hill South was led in scoring with ten points a piece from Anna Courtney and Morgan Keesee. Park Hill improves to 10-8 on the season while Park Hill South falls to 12-7.

Frantic finish on The Hill: Controversial technical foul call adds fuel to fire of Trojans-Panthers rivalry

A packed house was on hand last Friday at Park Hill South for not only the rivalry boys basketball game between the Panthers and Park Hill, but also the festivities that came with courtwarming weekend. Both schools’ fans came out in full and the game that played out between the two teams would not disappoint as the rising temperature in the gym matched the competition on the court.

Park Hill came into the game an underdog, but jumped out the gate to start the first quarter amassing a 9-2 lead at one point in the before Park Hill South narrowed the margin to a one point deficit at 17-16 going into halftime. While Park Hill came out clearly motivated, this was escalated by their quality start. Just one sign the games between these two teams rarely need inspirational speeches to get the players fired up.

 “This isn’t a game where I have to worry about them playing hard. There’s a lot of passion and enthusiasm that comes with this game,” Park Hill Coach David Garrison said.

The second half would see the same rugged and physical play as the first with Park Hill maintaining a slim lead throughout. Despite the early deficit and a third quarter Park Hill run which put the Trojans up by five going into the fourth quarter, Park Hill South was beginning to find a better rhythm and would provide the spectators with quite a finish.

“We finally found some chemistry and moved the ball when we needed it the most with that group we had out there to end the game,” Park Hill South Coach John Sedler said.

                                                                                          

When Park Hill South point guard Anthony Woods dribbled down the court with eight seconds remaining down 40-38, he took a similar shot in a similar situation that he had just two weeks ago against North Kansas City, one he made to win the game for the Panthers. Friday though, he was fouled behind the arch, giving Park Hill South’s leading scorer the opportunity at three free throws to potential tie and win the game. Woods would make his first two shots to tie the game at 40 a piece, before missing the third sending the game into overtime.

 “He’s improved his free throw shooting a lot. Anthony’s been getting more comfortable there,” Sedler said. “He finished 8 for 12 on the night.”

The first basket of overtime would account for Park Hill South’s first lead of the entire game and it wasn’t a lead they would give up. As the seconds ticked down, overtime seemed like it would end in similar fashion as regulation, but what was an intense rivalry game throughout ended on somewhat of a controversial note.

With six seconds remaining, Park Hill called timeout to inbound the ball under their own basketball down 48-45, but as Park Hill guard Zach Anderson walked off the court, he was called for a technical foul. Few people were aware of the call or what warranted it until play resumed with Park Hill South, not Park Hill, shooting two free throws and gaining possession. Park Hill South would make their free throws to seal the victory at 50-45. Neither coach saw nor could later confirm the reasoning behind the questionable call.

Park Hill South was led in scoring by Woods and his 22 points along with Robert Lane’s 17 points. The Panthers improved to 14-6 on the year after a win against Oak Park 40-37earlier last week. Park Hill was led by ten point performances by Anderson and Connor Farmer. The Trojans fall to 5-11 on the year, but believe the loss won’t prevent them from going into districts playing at their peak.

“This isn’t going to take the air out of us. Our record may not be where we want it to be, but we’re getting to where we want our goal to be which is to be playing our best at district time. Right now, we’re taking the steps to get there,” Garrison said.

Park Hill South has the rest of this week off while Park Hill hosts North Kansas City Friday.

Winter Round-up: Jan. 23-30

Park Hill Girls Basketball

…after a thrilling overtime conference victory against Ruskin earlier in the week 48-44, the Lady Trojans found themselves on the wrong end of an overtime result to end the week against North Kansas City 53-48. Kyleesha Weston had nearly half of Park Hill’s points in both games with standout performances of 24 points and 22 points, respectively.

Park Hill was 9-8 coming into Monday’s opening round North Kansas City Tournament game against Park Hill South.

Park Hill South Girls Basketball

Thinking a conference loss in January might have ended Park Hill South’s hopes of a league title this season, the Lady Panthers came storming back into the picture last week with two wins, one of which was an upset of conference leader Raytown. Down by more than twenty points going into the third quarter, South went on a 22-7 run in the fourth quarter to edge the Blue Jays 57-33. Jessica Lee was a big part of that comeback with ten of her team leading 20 points coming in the final quarter. She pulled in eight rebounds and show 12 of 16 from the free throw line. Madeline Homoly contributed ten points and six rebounds.

“It was truly an outstanding night for her,” Coach Jenny Orlowski said of Lee’s night.

Traveling to Raytown South later in the week, Park Hill South pulled out a close 39-37 win without point guard Samantha Roy. Not having their top leader had its drawbacks as the Panthers didn’t feel they ever quite reached their rhythm. Mackenzie Stout led with nine points. A win, nonetheless, South went into the North Kansas City tournament Monday facing Park Hill.

Park Hill South is now 12-6 with a 6-3 conference record, currently putting them in third place of the league as they head down the stretch run of their regular season record.

Park Hill South Wrestling

brought home a second place finish in the Liberty Invitational last weekend with a combined 292.5 team points. Park Hill South was second to Kearney, who dominated the tournament and took nine of the 14 first place medals. Coming home with individual tournament titles were Chase Gray at 182 and Nick Gillespie at 195 who both went 7-0 on the day. Kenrick Cook (170) and Jimmy Carpenter (132) fell in their title matches finishing as runners-up. Brett Rounkles (132) placed third while Ryan Proffitt (138) and Adam Weatherly (145) placed fourth in their weight classes. Park Hill South is off this week before they compete in a tri-dual against Winnetonka and Liberty Tuesday before preparing for the all-important district tournament at Ray-Pec next week.

They are now 11-3 in duals on the year with their final two conference meetings coming against Belton and Winnetonka.

 

Park Hill Wrestling

…dominated in their only competition last week as they defeated Ray-Pec and Liberty in convincing fashion. The Trojans beat Ray-Pec 69-3 and followed that up with a 71-6 win over Liberty.

County budget fiasco avoidable

We’re almost a month into 2012 and few people could have predicted the eventful headlines that would come out of the County administration building so far this year, especially regarding the budget which was finally passed after some initially continuous opposition. While you’ve been able to keep track of the overall discussion and finger pointing that’s taken place through our news coverage, there are a few sometimes subtle, but important themes that haven’t grabbed many peoples’ attention and consideration.

The County Commission has cited one main reason why this year’s budget has required them to make, in some cases, drastic cuts and they’re not afraid to tell you every chance they get. It’s what is referred to as the federal government’s unfunded mandate to upgrade emergency radio equipment. They point it out to as a way to lay the blame of the financial burden at the foot of the federal government, but leave out its purpose.

When the 9/11 Commission report was released in 2004, it cited first responders’ outdated equipment as something that could have saved lives if properly functioning. With this in mind, the federal government issued a requirement for local governments to update their emergency equipment to save lives in the future. The deadline to meet the requirement was set for 2013.

Here in Platte County it may apply in the event of a tornado, flood, or any other emergency where lives could be saved based on response times and effective communications. Giving local governments nearly nine years to implement it was to provide elected officials the time and flexibility to financially manage and budget the costs. It was never intended to be crammed in at the very end like a college student studying for a mid-term. This goes to one of the few fundamental roles county government serves which is to manage the county’s finances responsibly with long-term stability and strength in mind. By most indications, this was simply kicked down the road, no matter how burdensome of a requirement it may be.

While the cuts needing to be made now for the (lack of) budget planning previously are reality, there’s another approach that seems to be playing out. When it comes to budgeting and taxes, the County’s perceived strategy over recent years can go by many different names, one of which simply goes by ‘starve the beast’. With three Republicans on the commission, it’s no surprise their goal is to cut county expenses and lower taxes. That’s reasonable if well-planned, done responsibly, and for the right reasons. As taxpayers, expectations for county government are usually pretty basic. Quality roads, law enforcement protection, customer service, and financial management are the big ones. Usually as a manager, not a politician, you look to cut inefficiencies as much as possible without hurting the results or effectiveness. In a government setting, this would usually be done by lowering expenses to the point where service quality maximizes the benefit to people at the lowest cost, then a tax cut would be merited to reap the savings.

What Platte County has been doing over recent years though is the opposite. The Commission has continuously lowered general fund taxes, therefore causing and requiring the need to cut expenses in the next year’s budget, sometimes at the peril of service and quality as voiced by office holders themselves. Economic conditions aside, this can dramatize budget situations in some years. Their thought is if you ‘feed’ the government less tax revenue, then it can only get skinnier. The question is at what point do you start to sacrifice the muscle? It may have been inadvertent, but this is something Sheriff Richard Anderson and Prosecutor Eric Zahnd made admirable cases for and won in voicing their departments’ cases for less drastic cuts in the revised and approved budget. Proof some long-respected conservatives know the real effects of drawn down resources over time.

Last is Platte County’s favorite political football, the ½ cent parks tax. While Zahnd certainly renewed the debate a couple weeks ago on why the county has a dedicated tax for parks and recreation, but not for law enforcement, there remains the often ignored fact that the tax was approved by voters in 2009 for ten years and isn’t up for renewal for another seven. While the commission could decide to put a revision in front of the voters, it’s an extremely poor precedent to set in good government when you essentially overturn something voted on by the people. This is something the state legislature has continuously done by overturning previously approved statewide ballot measures to the frustration of many. In 2009, the Commission had Platte County choose between two poor options in the form of a ‘yes’ or ‘no vote, a tax to fund parks at a rate probably set too high or barely funding it at all. It should have been an easily mitigated issue before it even went on the ballot as many Platte Countians agree with some form of a parks tax, just not the one currently in place.

None of these topics serve as a basic source of excitement or interest to most, but they are some of the real issues involved in governing, which is very different than politicking. If county office holders had not objected to the Commission’s version of the budget, many of these topics may well have never come up in public discussion. If anything, they raised our awareness to the many good government opportunities our elected officials have on a regular basis we rarely hear of, and just as consequential, those that are passed up on.

Winter Round-up: Jan. 16-23

Park Hill Girls Basketball

….took third place in the Basehor-Linwood Tournament last week with two wins in three games. They kicked it off with a 44-32 win over Pembroke Hill after being led in scoring by Dominique Broadus’s 12 points. Falling behind early, they weren’t able to recover against the eventual title winner Holton as they fell 58-36. Kyleesha Weston led the Trojans with 17 points. Park Hill clinched third place with a 37-22 victory over St. Joe Benton. Weston led again with 15 points.

Park Hill next hosts North Kansas City on Thursday before participating in the North Kansas City Tournament next week.

Park Hill South Boys Basketball

…saw two close wins to begin last week at the North Kansas City tournament propelling them to a title game appearance against Truman before falling short in the championship game. In the opening round, Park Hill South edged Oak Park 38-37 by winning the fourth quarter by a 10-5 margin. Anthony Woods led the Panthers with 12 points. South followed that performance up by pulling another close win out in the closing moments as Anthony Woods hit a three pointer with seconds remaining to give them a 44-43 win over North Kansas City. Spencer Welty led in scoring with 15 points in addition to Woods’s 10 points. The magic would not last for the Panthers in the finale though. While the Panthers remained within striking distance for a majority of the game, Truman steadily pulled away with a 59-46 victory.

Park Hill South is now 12-6 and squares off against Park Hill at home Friday night.

Park Hill South Girls Basketball

The Panthers seem to be hitting their stride as they convincingly cruised through three victories last week on the way towards a first place finish in the Oak Park Tournament. Facing the host school in the opening round, the Lady Panthers beat Oak Park 53-26 behind 17 points from Madeline Homoly and nine points from Jessica Lee. In a redemption game from two weeks ago, the Panthers beat Fort Osage 51-48 with scoring leader Samantha Roy putting in 12 points along with Homoly’s nine. In the final round, Park Hill South blew out Ruskin 62-24 with evenly distributed scoring from all, particularly Homoly’s 15 points, Roy’s 14, and Lee’s 11. South scored in double digits in each quarter while holding Ruskin to single digits on the defensive end.

Now 10-6 on the year, the Panthers are quickly approaching their entire 2010-11 season win total of 12. While the tough conference loss they suffered to Fort Osage makes the league title difficult to get back into, South is aiming for a close second place finish and what appears to be a familiar field of teams and a preview of end of the season competition in the North Kansas City tournament next week.

“It’s a prelude to districts,” Coach Jenny Orlowski said. “When it comes down to districts any given night we’ve got a shot.”

Consistently playing seven to eight players, Orlowski says she started three freshmen last week, which is something she believes is a key to getting over the stigmas some young teams face.

“We kind of got over that early on. Once the freshmen got over, it didn’t matter anymore,” Orlowski said. “It doesn’t matter if they’re starting or not, everyone holds it together pretty well and once the game starts everyone gets pretty even playing time.

Park Hill Wrestling

Leading up to the championship round of the Winnetonka Tournament last weekend, Park Hill head wrestling coach Bill Erneste knew it would come down to his Trojans and the Blue Springs Wildcats for the tournament team title. With five of the first six championship matches featuring Trojan wrestlers in the lower weight classes, Park Hill would have to mount enough points early on to hold a slight lead before Blue Springs heavier weight classes came surging forward later in the round. In the end it came about as close as it could, but the Wildcats would eventually pass up Park Hill, just barely, as they took the tournament title with 426.5 team points compared to the Trojans 412 points.

 Park Hill gave them a run for their money though, setting the bar high with four first place victories in the first six title matches with a second and third place finish in the other two matches. Freshman Ke-Shawn Hayes (106) and sophomore John Erneste (113) dominated throughout the day with performances which resulted in several quick results. In Erneste’s four matches leading up to his 6-2 title match victory, he had pins in every match meaning he had only wrestled a total of 5:12 the entire day. Colston DiBlasi (126) and Russ Coleman (132) had three and four pins, respectively, leading into their title watches which DiBlasi won handedly 17-2 and Coleman winning by a 3-1 decision. Derek Rens finished a runner-up after losing his title match 138 while Hunter Roberts (120) and Conner Shene (145) secured third place finishes.

It would be at the 145 weight where Blue Springs staged their surge as they place first in that weight class along with three more at 160, 170, and 220 to match Park Hill’s four individual titles. Down bracket finishes and margin of victory came into play at that point as Blue Springs edged the Trojans for the title in front of a televised audience as part of the Metro Sports Wrestling Slam.

Other notable finishes for Park Hill included Nick Harper’s sixth place finish at 152, Malik Colding’s fourth place finish at 160, and Nolan Smith’s third place finish at 285.

Park Hill South

The Panther wrestlers also saw success at the Winnetonka Tournament last weekend. Park Hill South placed nine wrestlers in the top five of their respective weight classes.

While South finished in sixth place with 282 team points, their performance is partially deceptive due to falling just short of title match appearances in several cases, which would’ve propelled them to higher point totals. In the one title appearance, the Panthers did break through to, Alex Weatherly (152), who dominated throughout the day, fell short of first place in a 9-3 decision. Chase Gray (182) and Nick Gillespie (195) came home with third place finishes. Gray’s third-place match went into overtime before he jumped forward to a 10-5 victory.

South had a handful of fourth place finishes with Alex Fortuna (113), Jimmy Carpenter (132), Justin Haughenberry (138), Adam Weatherly (145), and Tyler Blythe (220). Kendrick Cook finished in fifth place in the 170 weight class.

The Panthers are slated to wrestle in the Liberty Invite this weekend.

Lady Panthers fall short in head coach's absence

It was only several hours before Park Hill South’s scheduled tip-off with conference opponent Fort Osage last Friday when junior varsity and assistant head coach Abby Disselhoff found out she’d be filling in for head coach Jenny Orlowski on the varsity level while she tended to a family matter. Disselhoff, a 2002 graduate of Park Hill South, is a former Panther standout who played four years on the varsity squad during her time as a student and is now in her third year as a teacher and coach at the school. Although coaching her first varsity game, Disselhoff found no reason for nerves.

“I didn’t approach it much differently than I do my JV games. Yes, the competition level is higher but my intensity remains the same. I’ve also been with all of the varsity girls since they were freshmen so I know them very well and didn’t need to take on another approach. They know me and I know them,” Disselhoff said.

Hours away, head coach Jenny Orlowski was very much present for the Lady Panthers though as she addressed the team via iPhone before the game just the same as if she was there in person. Despite the out of the ordinary pre-game remarks which Disselhoff says motivated the team, they fell behind Fort Osage in the first quarter, down 17-10 coming into the second quarter before narrowing the margin to 27-25 going into the locker room at halftime.

The third quarter brought the Panthers alive as they took the lead gaining a cushion of seven points at one point before heading into the final quarter. Fort Osage gained the lead back in the final minutes before Courtney Claassen drove to the lane putting up a lay-up giving Park Hill South a one point lead. The Panthers forced a turnover the following possession, giving them a glimpse towards the possible victory, but it wouldn’t last as a basket in the closing seconds gave Fort Osage the advantage and two free throws gave them the ultimate 45-42 victory.

While the Panthers have been spreading the ball around more, resulting in multiple threats, its one area they lacked in last Friday. Samantha Roy led the team with 14 points with Madeline Homoly and Jessica Lee both contributing nine a piece.

“Unfortunately the scoring wasn’t as balanced as it has been in previous games, which could be in part to why we didn’t pull it out,” Disselhoff said. “When we all play together and balance the scoring, everyone is a threat and the defense has to honor that. This allows for more open looks for everyone.”

As the 6-5 Lady Panthers participate in the Oak Park Invitational this week, the characteristics of a young team are still visible, but they’re progressing into what they hope is one that can compete come district time, which isn’t a surprise to their coach who’s watched them grow as players in recent years.

“Being that we are young, our inexperience tends to show up at the end of close games,” Disselhoff said. “There haven’t been any surprises because we have known and been excited about the potential of all of these girls since their 8th grade year or before. They are a talented group and we look forward to a great rest of the season and years to come.”

Winter Roundup: Jan. 9-16

Park Hill Girls Basketball
…after a failed attempt at a come from behind victory to start the week against St. Joe Central, the Lady Trojans stepped up and got a road win against Lee’s Summit West to improve their record to 5-6 on the year. The 44-34 win was solidified in a fourth quarter in which the Trojans outscored the Titans 13-4. Kyleesha Weston led Park Hill in scoring with 20 points. Aiding the effort were contributions from Shelby Blanchard (6 points), K.K. Rettinger (5 points), and Davon Thomas (5 points).

“It was a great team win, everyone contributed,” Coach Aaron Neeser said. “We made some buckets when we needed to and that made the difference.”

The Lady Trojans found 11 to be their lucky number in the first round of the Basehor-Linwood Tournament Monday by scoring 11 points in all four quarters on their way to a 44-32 victory over Pembroke Hill. Dominique Broadus led the Trojans in scoring with 12 points The win brings Park Hill to 6-6 on the year and sets up a second round matchup on Thursday against the winner of Tuesday's Holton vs. Platte County.

Park Hill Boys Basketball
It has been a rough past week for the Park Hill Trojans as they suffered two bruising losses to conference opponents Lee’s Summit West and Truman. An undefeated Lee’s Summit West took a 12 point lead out of the first quarter earlier last week and never took their foot off the gas as they defeated Park Hill 75-53. Marcus Cross led the Trojans with 12 points while Garrett Wooldridge was close behind with 11 points. It didn’t get any better Friday night as Truman did the same thing dealing the Trojans a 72-44 lose. Cross led in scoring again with 10 points.

Park Hill is now 4-8 on the year and playing in the Basehor-Linwood Tournament this week, a tournament they were runners-up in last year after losing in the championship game to host school Basehor-Linwood.

Park Hill South Boys Basketball
Raytown South’s 7-5 record is deceiving as the Cardinals are probably one of the area’s top, which Park Hill South found out early last week in their 55-35 lose on the road. Held to single digit scoring in the first three quarters, the Panthers only featured one double digit scoring with Robert Lane who led with 12 points. Anthony Woods added eight points. Park Hill South is now 10-5 overall, with last week’s conference lose being their first of the season.

Park Hill South Girls Swimming
For the second weekend in a row the Park Hill South girls swim team placed second in a top metro area swimming invite. This past weekend it was the KC Classic where they racked up 326.5 team points, second only to Blue Springs. They were led by the 200 free relay team of Mariah Bryant, Olivia McLain, Rachael Norfleet, and Shannon Brouk’s first place finish. The Panthers took second in the 200 medley relay with the same swimmers as well as Helen Yeater in the 100 fly. Third place finishers included Brouk in the 200 and 500 freestyle, Miranda Henderson in the 50 yard freestyle, and Bryant in the 100 backstroke.

Park Hill Girls Swimming
…placed fifth in the KC Classic with 167.4 team points. Brynn Guardado powered the Trojans with dominant first place finishes in the 200 and 500 freestyle events.

Park Hill Wrestling
Eight. That’s how many years in a row the Trojan wrestling squad had traveled to Jefferson City to participate in the Capitol City Classic and returned with a first place finish prior to this year. It would be no different in 2012 as Park Hill took its ninth straight first place finish, besting the host school Jefferson City in the finals. The Trojans and Jays both placed seven wrestlers in individual weight class finals. Leading after the first day with 60.5 team points.

11 Park Hill wrestlers finished in the top four of their respective weight classes. Champions included top-ranked freshman Ke-Shawn Hayes at 106 and Russ Coleman at 132. Runners-up included John Erneste at 113, Paxton DiBlasi at 126, Derek Rens at 138, Malik Colding at 160, and Nolan Anderson at 170. Hunter Roberts at 120, Conner Shene at 145, and heavyweight Nolan Smith finished in third place while Nick Harper placed fourth at 152. They'll try to make it two tournament titles in a row as they compete in the Winnetonka Tournament this weekend.