Do It All

Junior Jessica Lee of Park Hill South and senior Zach Anderson of Park Hill may not know each other, but they find themselves in an ever shrinking class of athletes known for, among other things, their flexibility, talent, and passion: the three-sport athlete. Once a more common title for kids playing for nothing more than love of the game, three-sport athletes are becoming a rare breed among teenagers who are increasingly deciding to specialize and excel in one sport. In fact, it’s become so rare that three-sport participants at Park Hill South receive an award each year to symbolize their unique status.

Many athletes are currently wrapping up a first or second sport this spring to conclude the school year, but athletes like Lee and Anderson are concluding a nine month marathon of practices and games, a path which requires concentration and a huge amount of dedication.

“At times, there are struggles because you want to focus on one thing, but you can’t and have to be thinking about all three at all times,” said Anderson, who played varsity football, basketball, and now baseball for the Trojans.

Young children often dabble and even come to enjoy playing a number of different sports in their early years. As their skills become more developed and their competitive mindset grows stronger, the desire to become better takes priority. More time, more practice, and more specialized training is required. With this added emphasis, it is thought that commitment to other sports needs to be sacrificed, which many times lead to an athlete withdrawing from those sports all together. It’s a difficult choice, one that tends to be influenced by club coaches, parents, and even teammates with their eyes on the future.

“The idea of getting an athletic scholarship to college seems to be the number one goal for everybody,” Reynolds said. “With that in mind, there are more people tugging at athletes at a younger age. It sometimes happens before they even get here (to high school). It could be from an AAU coach, a tournament team baseball coach. It could be a bunch of different people telling you to specialize.”

“I know my coaches have talked to me before about wanting me to specialize in their sport, so it’s hard to tell them I’m still invested in all of them,” said Lee, who plays varsity softball, basketball, and soccer at Park Hill South. “With school, it’s also a big balance.”

Three-sport athletes not only face pressure from coaches to specialize, they also face the challenge of meeting the needs of each sport in order to continue to play at a high level. This especially applies to the summer months when athletes condition the most and make some of their greatest improvements. It continues throughout the school year where only days separate the transition from the end of one season to the beginning of another.

“It’s tough to keep up with the skills everyone else is keeping that do specialize,” Lee said. “In the summer, I have summer leagues where each day of the week is dedicated to a different sport.”

“I just take it day by day like anyone else. It’s all three sports in one day. Football in the morning, basketball in the afternoons, and baseball at night. Just staying in touch with all three every day,” Anderson said. “I’ll come out of basketball practice and maybe go hit baseballs for a little bit or after football go shoot some hoops. You just have to keep it all together.”

Reynolds, who coaches football and baseball, says the decrease in three-sport athletes also comes from the high demands each sport requires of its players. Each sport has their own offseason workouts to keep up with other competing programs in the area.

“As a two-sport coach, I understand that pretty well. At the same time, we’re asking a lot of kids,” Reynolds said. “Baseball is a very difficult sport to be a three-sport athlete in because you have to be playing in the summer if that’s your top sport. But summertime is really important for other sports like football, basketball, and wrestling too though.”

A strong proponent of having athletes participate in multiple sports, Reynolds understands the hardships of meeting each sports’ high demands and believes it comes down to an understanding between coaches and players to make it work for everyone.

“I think good coaches and good programs work with each other to understand three-sport athletes are going to be doing other things sometimes, but at the same time you’re getting pushed so many different ways,” Reynolds said. “Anymore you have to be able to give (as a player and coach) and understand that.”

Lee, who only added her third sport last spring when she took on the goalkeeping duties at Park Hill South, sees her three-sport experience as a positive and proudly deflects anyone trying to influence her otherwise.

“I tell them I’m in high school and I want to try everything. I’m not going to specialize yet. If it happens that I play in college, then so be it, but high school is a time to do what you can,” Lee said. “It’s hard, but you make three times the friends and experience. Plus, sports build so much character you don’t even realize sometimes.”

While Lee has not ruled out any future possibilities with another year of high school left, Anderson will graduate this month and continue his athletic career in college having the opportunity to play baseball and possibly even football, maintaining his multi-sport status at the next level.

“My philosophy is you can get a scholarship in anything or play whatever sport you want to play. It may not be a full-ride, but you can play at the next level,” Reynolds said. “I’ve never had a coach come in to recruit a kid and tell me they need to not have played any other sport. They actually want to see guys that have done more than one thing.”

Proof positive that the commitment, energy, and flexibility of three-sport athletes can overcome the temptation of specialization and put them on a path towards college athletics just the same as any.

Spring Roundup: Apr. 30 - May 7

Park Hill Baseball
…comes into the final week of their regular season with a 15-6 record after three wins last week. Logan Sloniker’s homerun along with two hit, one RBI performances from Dalton Moats, Zach Anderson, and Jake Jones led Park Hill to a 4-3 win over Kearney in extra innings. Zach Tompson and Anderson led the Trojans to a 12-7 victory over Platte County with two hits a piece accounting for seven RBI’s, sending a senior class of 11 out on top. Park Hill ended the week with a 3-1 victory over North Kansas City Friday.

The three wins secured a two seed for the Trojans in the district field, who will take on St. Joe Central this Saturday in the first round of district play. Park Hill will play at 2:30 p.m. A win would set up a showdown later that day against Staley or Liberty North at 4:30 p.m. for a right to play in the district title game Wednesday, May 16th.

Coach Greg Reynolds is confident in his pitching staff heading into postseason play, but believes a reinvigorated offense could give the Trojans an added advantage.

“Looking from seeds 2-6, anyone can beat anyone. It comes down to pitching,” Reynolds said. “We’re hitting the ball more on a line more than we have been, but if we only eke out a couple runs, we’re going to be putting pressure on our pitching staff.

Park Hill South Girls Track
…repeated as conference champions in the Suburban White Conference meet. Compiling 155.5 team points, the Panthers surpassed the second place team, William Chrisman, by an impressive 56.5 points. First place finishes for Park Hill South included Audrey Rothers in the 110 hurdles, Erica Guzman in the 1600 meter run, and the 4x800 relay team of Erin Stump, Lizzy Jurries, De De De O’Toole, and Madeline Homoly. Besting the school record she set earlier in the season, Morgan Keesee placed second in the shot put. Also, coming in with second place finishes were Rothers in the 300 hurdles and high jump, Homoly in the 800 meter run, Blake Reser in the triple jump, and Kelsey Sadler and Taylor Fortuna who tied for second in the pole vault.

Park Hill South Boys Track
…took fifth in their conference meet with 54 team points. Leading performances came in the form of second place finishes from Joe Spencer in the pole vault and Cody Kildow in the discus. Kildow also took fourth in the shot put while Alex Augspurg placed third in the high jump.

Park Hill South Girls Soccer
…Park Hill South got back on the winning track last week with three wins against Winnetonka (9-0), Park Hill (4-1), and Oak Park (4-0). They come into this week 14-3-2 as they prepare for a first round district matchup still to be determined early next week.

Park Hill Girls Soccer
…is prepping for district play this week with one final game against St. Joe Central on Thursday before starting district play against Oak Park on Saturday. Park Hill is coming off a week where they defeated Ruskin 10-0 before falling to Park Hill South 4-1 to end the week. The Trojans, now at 10-13 on the year, have been hovering around the .500 mark for most of the season, but Coach Manny Catano says now is the time for his team to be playing their best.

“It’s really about stressing our work ethic and amping it up for our last two games before district play,” Catano said. “It’s important to work harder than we have all year, anything can happen in the playoffs.”

With a young group of players, he says it’s difficult for his team to see how focus and hard work can sneak
up on more talented teams at this time of year.

“Talent can only get you so far, but if you don’t work at it you leave yourself open to vulnerabilities,” Catano said.

If Park Hill wins Saturday, then earn a matchup with the top-seeded Liberty Blue Jays on Monday, May 14th.

Park Hill South Boys Tennis
…lost a close 5-4 competition to Oak Park to begin last week before blowing out Belton 9-0 on senior night. They received the two seed in Class 2, District 15 and were competing against Winnetonka in the first round of district team play at Park Hill South as The Citizen went to press Tuesday night hoping to play for the title Wednesday afternoon. Individual play takes place over the weekend for an opportunity to advance to sectionals next week.

Park Hill Boys Tennis
…took second as a team at the Brandon McPherson Doubles Tournament last week. Park Hill had two third place doubles teams. They were Mike Jones/Louis Reinmiller and Chris To/Noah Higgins-Dunn. The Trojans clinched a one seed in the Class 2, District 16 bracket this week and were in semi-final play as The Citizen went to press Tuesday night.

Park Hill Boys track
…took second in their conference meet last week, falling just nine points short of Lee’s Summit West for the conference title. Top performances for Park Hill included first place finishes from Cain Winebrenner in the 800 meter run, Steven Clopine in the high jump, and the 4x800 relay team of Riley Fahrenholz, Kyle Pudenz, Nate Huffer, and Joey Walton.

Park Hill Girls Track
…placed third last week in the conference meet with 73 team points. The Trojans took first place in the 4x800 relay with Katie Ebbrecht, Joanna Grauberger, Chelsey Lewis, and Brooke Bischof. Runners-up included Stephanie Lane in the discus along with Taylor Cofield and Bailey Cation who tied for second place in the triple jump. Kim Rau placed fourth in the 1600 meter race.

Park Hill South Baseball
…will be heading into district place as the five seed to take on North Kansas City in the first round of district play this Saturday at 11 a.m. They come into this week after going 2-1 last week with a 1-0 over that same North Kansas City team 1-0 behind a solid pitching performance from Luke Covault. Covault threw a complete game, three-hitter. Joel Burkhart knocked in the Panthers’ only run in the bottom of the sixth inning. It sets up a postseason matchup that features two comparable teams.

“It will be a very tough game. Both teams are pretty even. But they have a very good pitching staff and a couple of good hitters,” Coach Josh Walker said.

Later on in the week, Park Hill South stomped William Chrisman 12-3 with offensive production coming from Cody Shopper’s home run and Eddie Sola’s two hits. Corey Land recorded the victory with eight strikeouts in five innings. Falling 10-8 Friday afternoon, the Panthers were disappointed in the four errors and six walks they gave up. Mounting a rally in the seventh, Park Hill South scored five runs and had the winning run on first base before the last out was recorded.

“We fought back well but we were digging ourselves out of a big hole with the walks and errors,” Walker said of the loss.

Park Hill South Boys Golf
…Park Hill South will have a familiar duo representing it in the Class 4 state golf tournament this weekend after qualifying in last week’s sectional round in Independence. Both Matt Barry and Nick Schleisman will return as the Panthers’ two repeat state qualifiers.

Barry, who finished tied for 11th place with a sectional score of +5, and Schleisman, who tied for 16th place with a score of +8, are looking to improve on their state performances from last year that left them towards the bottom of the field (Barry 77th, Schleismn 100th).

“They both had gone through the pressure of the State Tournament last year,” Coach Larry Torgerson said. “This year both are aware of what happened last year and should know how to handle the pressure at their second state experience.”

Despite qualifying five golfers to appear in the sectional round, as a team, Park Hill South took fifth place with a score of 322. Austin Dorrell, who came up just short of qualifying last year for the state tournament, barely missed the cut once again with a score of +9.

Park Hill Boys Golf
…Park Hill’s two sectional qualifiers ended their season last week as Adam Meisch and Colby Buehler did not make the cut to advance to state. Meisch came in 44th place with a score of +22 while Buehler ends his senior season with a 50th place finish and score of +9.

Abstaining from vote should have been call

We’ve probably all experienced the consequences of sacrificing quality for price. Whether it’s been in food purchased at the grocery store, repairs made on our home, or other areas of daily life. We want the cheapest price possible, but in making that the sole factor in our decision, it can end up costing more in the long-run if we choose a lower quality product. So even though the construction contract awarded to J.E. Dunn for the community center expansion was about $300,000 above the lowest bid, many of us understand price alone cannot be the only factor. After all, out of the projected cost of $21 million, that $300,000 or so only accounts for about 1.5% of the total construction cost. It could be considered a premium well worth the cost if it avoided any number of mistakes costing much more later on from errors due to poor workmanship, bad planning, or corner cutting of an unqualified contractor, right? Maybe that’s what the County Commission believed they were doing. For this situation, that argument can’t convincingly be made though.

In order for a decision like that to be justified, the process itself must have credibility, transparency, and uniformity. If that takes place, the decision defends itself and this is where the questions begin to arise regarding the Commission’s selection of contractor J.E. Dunn.

J.E. Dunn’s campaign contribution to Presiding Commissioner Jason Brown alone is not enough to suggest it was given in return for a future contract, but Brown’s previous employment with the company, which was not widespread knowledge, does bring up a conflict of interest. Not the kind that suggests wrong doing, but one which could be perceived and the kind that should require him to abstain from the vote. No matter how objectively Brown weighed the bids, his familiarity with the firm and inside knowledge should have been enough to remove himself from the process. Even had Brown abstained from the final vote, if J.E. Dunn was the most qualified and presented the best value for the taxpayer dollar, it would have been reinforced with a staff recommendation and support from 2nd District Commissioner Jim Plunkett. It received neither. At the minimum, an explanation should be available to stand on its own as to why the lowest bid was rejected from a clearly qualified Universal Construction. In fact, it seems like several people or groups of people involved in the process had varying opinions on which contractor was best for the project, despite all seeing the same analysis and numbers.

Now, the Commission can’t and shouldn’t always streamline county staff’s recommendations, but in the event a decision is contrary to that recommendation, it should have credible and strong reasoning. Awarding a bid to any company, not just JE Dunn, because ‘they built it originally’ and ‘we like them’ should not be acceptable reasons on their own to choose a contractor for such a substantial project. Doing so could even be considered lazy because many contractors use this type of reasoning to gain repeat business. It’s applicable, but not a deal breaker. If you pick a contractor based on that line of thought, it makes you wonder why county staff and resources were used for a competitive bid process in the first place.

In the end, J.E. Dunn may truly be the best contractor for the job. But with a divided vote from a usually unified three-member Commission, a perceived conflict of interest, a different staff recommendation, and no supporting back-up for the decision, it’s easy to see why people may question the final selection. Overall, it seems to cancel out many of the touted financial gains that came from the Commission’s decision to lower the tax levy last fall and the heavily debated budget cuts which occurred in January.

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. 23-30

Park Hill South Boys Golf
…blasted away the competition at the Class 4, District 8 golf tournament last week as they combined for a team score of 300, good enough to clinch them a first place finish and district title. Nick Sobba took first individually after shooting under par, the only person in the field to break par. Matt Barry and Nick Schleisman tied for fifth place, shooting four over par. Austin Dorrell (+5) and Luke Becker (+9) weren’t too far behind with seventh and eleventh place finishes, respectively.

“Our team score reflects on all of the players and how each of them played extremely well,” Coach Larry Torgerson said. “It was a great day, but now we have to refocus for Sectionals.”

All five Panther golfers qualified for the sectional tournament being played Wednesday at Winterstone Golf Course in Independence for the right to move onto the state tournament next week.

Park Hill Boys Golf
…shot a team score of 375 at the Class 4, District 8 golf tournament last week, good enough for a seventh place finish in the eleven team field. Adam Meisch led the way for Park Hill with a score of +15 and 18th place finish. Colby Buehler took 24th place with score of +20. Both will advance to the sectional tournament this week. Other scores for Park Hill include Jordan and Logan Lashbrook (+26) who both tied for 32nd while Andrew Butler came in 46th place with a score of +50.

Park Hill Girls Soccer
…went 2-1 in the Oak Park Tournament last weekend with a 3-1 win over O’Hara and a 2-1 win over Oak Park. The Trojans were led by two goals from Olivia Nowakowski and one from Regina Bolin. Karra Kennedy and Mackenzie Maxwell scored Park Hill’s two goals against Oak Park. A doubt overtime loss to Platte County from penalty kicks in the championship game accounted for the Trojans one loss. Park Hill is now 9-12 on the season with a game against Park Hill South scheduled Thursday.

Park Hill Baseball
…improved their record to 12-6 on the year after a 17-1 thumping of Ruskin to end last week with Ryan Winter driving in three runs on two hits along with a number of other Trojan offensive contributors. Earlier in the week Park Hill beat St. Joe Central 6-2 before hitting a two game skid against Liberty losing 12-3 and Lee’s Summit West 2-1 in eight innings.

Jake Jones is leading Park Hill is offense on the year with a .367 batting average and 13 RBI’s. Pitcher Dalton Moats continues to dominate on the mound. In his 34 innings, he’s recorded four wins, 61 strikeouts, and only given up one run.

Park Hill plays Kearney and Platte County at home this week before playing at North Kansas City Friday.

Park Hill Boys Track
…took first place in their own Park Hill Invitational last week with 127 team points as they tuned up for the Conference meet this week. First place wins included Anthony Arens in the 100 meter run, Devon Belew in the 400, Riley Fahrenholz in the 800, Joey Walton in the 1600, Kainen Utt in the 3200, Devonte Thornton in the high jump, Logan Chevalier in the pole vault, and Neal Sampson in the long jump. In addition to their first place finishes, Park Hill’s Kyle Pudenz and Nate Huffer took second and third, respectively, in the 800, and Cain Winebrenner placed second in the 1600.

The Conference meet will be held at Lee’s Summit West on Friday.

Park Hill Girls Track
…placed second behind North Kansas City in the Park Hill Invitational last week with 96 team points. Katie Ebbrecht and Joanna Grauberger took first and second respectively in the 800 meter run while Kim Rau and Mercedes Robinson did the same in the 1600. Other first place finishes included Robinson in the 3200, Bailey Cation in the triple jump, and the 4x800 relay.

Park Hill/Park Hill South Boys Tennis
…Zack Royle, who has been dominating in his junior season, continued that success last weekend at the Northland Tournament as he defeated Park Hill’s Mike Jones 10-2 in the title match of the singles bracket. Park Hill South’s doubles team of Jim Geary and Josh Robaska advanced to the title match of the doubles bracket, but fell to Liberty 10-6.

Park Hill and Park Hill South will play in the Brandon McPherson Memorial Tournament Wednesday on the Country Club Plaza before looking to district play next week.

Park Hill South Baseball
Park Hill South lost games against Fort Osage 7-6 and Raytown South 11-3 before pulling out a victory against Belton to end the week 4-1. The Panthers are now 7-14 on the season and continue to look for the right consistency to bring all parts of the game together for a winning combination. They play at William Chrisman Wednesday before hosting Winnetonka Friday afternoon.

New, yet old

Last month, Park Hill South boys’ basketball announced Rick Zych as their new head coach bringing what the Panthers hope will be renewed and re-energized leadership to a program which has been at the edge of greatness several times over the years. With two Kansas state championships in five title game appearances as head coach of Bishop Miege the last 16 years, Zych has the resume and vision to put South on the map as a perennial contender in Missouri. In addition to his teams’ successes, he’s also coached some of the metro’s top players including Kansas starting guard Travis Releford. Zych is no stranger to the Park Hill School District though. He takes over the coaching duties from Athletic Director John Sedler, much like he did when Sedler hired him in 1992 as head coach at Park Hill.

“I've known John Sedler for many years and respect him,” Zych said. “I wanted to jump at the opportunity because it’s an excellent school district and they've got some good players. Mostly based on the respect I have for John, the school district, and Principal Dale Longenecker is what lured me in.”

Zych, whose daughter is graduating from Bishop Miege this year, thought it was a good time to move on to something different and wanted to look into getting back to a really good public school district. With a team returning several key players from a 17-9 season, Zych saw Park Hill South as an ideal place to build another winner, this time on the Missouri side of the state line.

“They're fine young men and have some great young players there. We're moving to a bigger league and the schedule might be different than it was last year. I think they gained some confidence last year which will help,” Zych said. “I think Missouri basketball is more physical. Kansas basketball is probably more athletic. Missouri has a lot more size than Kansas usually does.”

Bringing a fact paced style which uses a lot of players, Zych has a vision of the program he wants to build and he knows where it needs to start.

“From day one, you have to make it important not just to the players, but to the whole school. That will be our staff's job to go out there and sell the program. That starts with grade school coaches and so on. Your best spokespeople will be your players and that's why they need to be good kids and well-respected in the community,” Zych said. “Some of our best players are our most responsible and charismatic kids. People want to come watch those kind of kids play. We want playing at Park Hill South to be an adventure and an experience, not just for us, but for our opponents and make it difficult to play here.”

As far as building that kind of culture, Zych says it is going to take time, but it starts with the players. Each player will have a role to fill and it may not necessarily be that of scorer.

“We play a lot of guys and try to get the ball to our best players. I told the guys that shooting is not an equal opportunity situation. We need someone to be our best rebounder or our best defender. That is what goes into forming a true team and finding your roles,” Zych said.

With his record and impressive list of former players, which includes those who’ve won and been nominated for the DiRenna Award (Kansas City’s top basketball player) and gone on to play division one college basketball, Zych says he’s been lucky to have had such talent.

“When we talk about ‘this is the kind of player you can be’ and compare it to those players, I think kids react to that,” Zych said. “I brought my whole staff from Bishop Miege. We've had teams that have overachieved and underachieved. That's the fun of it. And we're looking forward to doing that again, this time at a different school.”

One thing that stands out to Zych which has held true over the years is the quality of play his teams have at the end of the season.

“I think our teams at Miege were known for one thing, playing real well at the end of the year. Sometimes parents and others don't understand that, but you have to realize the big prize comes at the end of the year,” Zych said. “14 of 16 years making it to the state tournament. When you get that reputation, you get kids to believe in it and word spreads pretty quickly. When you win it’s easier to ask for a commitment and it kind of snow balls from there.”

In the end, he looks back to the players who he says win the games, not him.

“It’s all about players,” Zych said. “You can have John Wooden there, but without them it makes it difficult.”

Park Hill/Park Hill South Mid-Season Track Update

PH Boys Track
…took first place at the Park Hill South Invitational last Friday as they ran away from the competition with 226 team points. Coming away with first place finishes were Anthony Arens in the 100 meter run, Devon Belew in the 400 meter run, Cain Winebrenner in the 1600 meter run, Dondrell Haridman in the 110 hurdle, and Devonte Thornton in the high jump.

What really distinguished the Trojans from the rest of the field were the Trojan relays which swept all races including the 4x100, 4x200, 4x400, and 4x800. Athletes participating in these events included John Harris, Lavonte Hickman, Mike II Williams, Anthony Arens, Dondrell Hardiman, Dominique Anderson, Jon Saucedo, Vince Tutorino, Jessie Witherby, Nate Thomas, James Pitia, Matt Pitts, Michael Bidwell, and Nate Thomas.

Park Hill hosts their home invitational this week with Conference and District meets to follow the following weeks.

PH Girls Track
…saw several successful finishes at the Park Hill South Invitational last Friday as they placed second with 212 points, just 3.5 points behind Park Hill South who won the final race to pull ahead overall in the final standings. Earning first place finishes were Anesia Jamerson in the 100 meter, Brooke Bischof in the 800 meter run, Merecedes Robinson in the 3200 meter run, Bailey Cation in the high jump, and Taylor Cofield in the triple jump. The 4x800 relay team of Joanna Grauberger, Kim Rau, Chelsay Lewis, and Brooke Bischof also placed first.

The Trojans are making do with what they have in the sprints after losing several of their top runners early in the season. Coach Tari Garner says the team has fared pretty well so far.

“We lost a couple kids in our sprints that were hard to replace. The kids are working well together and pretty good for a team that didn’t have a lot going. Our coaches have done a good job of bringing those kids up to the next level,” Garner said. “Our goal for the team is top three for conference. We are who we are and in the end have to show up and perform that day. That’s what I tell the kids.”

One pleasant surprise for Park Hill has been the addition of freshman Mercedes Robinson, who joins Kim Rau in the 3200 meter run. While Rau has been one of the Trojans’ top runners all season, Robinson has come onto the scene as of late improving at an impressive weekly pace. Talent and following what has become somewhat of a new superstitious diet has been part of the equation.

“Mercedes doesn’t know how good she is, to drop 20-30 seconds a week is crazy,” Garner said. “In my class, I have the kids design a fitness program and then teach it to the class. This one group presented yoga and then served low-fat cappuccino and other snacks. That day, she (Robinson) set a personal record dramatically. So ever since, on meet days, she eats carrots, pita chips, and hummus with cappuccino. It’s kind of a funny story."

Robinson and Rau appear to have good opportunities at qualifying for sectionals along with a number of other field event participants and runners. Park Hill will have one more tune up this week before conference when they host their home meet, the Park Hill Invitational Thursday.

PHS Boys Track
…placed second behind Park Hill in the Park Hill South Invite last week as they rounded up 160 team points. The Panthers took first place in four events including CJ Whisnant in the 200 meter run, Cody Kildow in the discus, Nick Griffith in the long jump, and Jalen Ross in the triple jump.

Park Hill South is stocked full of young athletes, of which many are facing varsity competition for the first time. With only four seniors, the approximately sixty freshmen and sophomores on the team make up the majority of the team. This has provided short-term frustration, but will be healthy over the long-term.

“We have a ton of freshmen and sophomores that have been performing well, but they’ve been frustrated all year running as our varsity teams because they’ve been running in all these varsity meets instead of what would normally be freshmen meets,” Coach Clay Lenhert said. “If we can hold them together for the next couple years, we’ll be back on the map. We can compete against any freshmen and sophomores in the city and with growth we will be good in time.”

While the Panthers have several running events along with the pole vault, discus, and shot put which have chances at sectional qualifications, Park Hill South will continue to develop their young talent and place a foundation in 2012 for what they hope it future success.

PHS Girls Track
…came from behind as a team to win their own invitational last Friday as they pulled ahead of Park Hill in the closing events for a narrow victory with 216 points. Coming out of the event with first place finishes were Audrey Rothers in the 100 meter run, Jordan Hammond in the 400 meter run, Blake Reser in the long jump, the relay teams for the 4x100 and 4x400 races, and Morgan Keesee in the shot put and discus.

Keesee, who set the school record in the shot put earlier this season, is someone who head coach Andy Keefer says has worked hard for her success and looks forward to continued success as she is only a sophomore.

“There’s an excellent example of someone who’s dedicated, works hard, and wants to get better. This winter, she went to every clinic she could go to, worked hard in the weight room. Last year she did well, but nothing near what shes doing now,” Keefer said.

She is not alone in contributing as an underclassmen. South has several young athletes who’ve had surprising seasons including freshman Jordan Hammond, Sydney Minnis, Erin Stump, Madeline Homoly, and several others have stepped up for the Panthers.

Asked what he thought his team’s chances were on repeating as conference champions next week, Keefer remains optimistic.

“I’m very confident and think we’ll do pretty good. I sure hope so,” Keefer said.

The Panthers have this week off while they prepare for Conference at Staley next week.

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).

Panthers, Trojans sports court similarities

Although Park Hill won Monday’s matchup between against Park Hill South 6-3, the two tennis teams at first glance sport similar records, but both have experienced their share of challenges as they approach the stretch run of their regular season before heading in district play.
Park Hill, at 8-2 on the season coming into Monday’s match, lost to conference opponent Lee’s Summit West earlier in the season, all but assuring their conference title streak would likely end. A loss to a talented Pembroke Hill squad accounted for their second loss. With the absence of one of their top players, Blake Barnard, who suffered a season ending injury before the beginning of the season, Park Hill is dealing with a different lineup than they expected two months ago, giving younger players an opportunity to play up while also embracing an underdog self-image.
“The kids knew they’ve had to work extra hard and use every second of practice time to be as productive as possible,” Park Hill Coach Tim Kalis said. “Kids like the underdog mentality.”
Michael Jones and Max Schoettger have stepped up to solidify themselves as the Trojans’ top two players.
“They’re leading each other,” Kalis said. “They both feel that fire together and have bought into playing together. They complement each other real well.”
The bottom of the lineup has seen healthy competition amongst themselves with Louis Reinmiller and Chris Toe battling for the three and four spots while Noah Higgins-Dunn, Trevin Howerton, and Austin Keberlein have all seen different roles throughout the season.
“I’ll take 8-2 at this point, we beat North Kansas City 6-3, which was big for us,” Kalis said. “Taking this win today is good too, because Park Hill South has a really nice team.”
Park Hill South is facing another set of obstacles. While they have not lost any players to injuries, the Panthers came into this season vastly young and inexperienced with the loss of their top senior Griffin Smith to graduation. Junior Zack Royle has picked up where he left last year and has been unblemished so far as an undefeated top singles player. He’s teamed up in doubles with sophomore Jim Geary, who has been playing through a shoulder injury. When districts come along though, the two will likely try to advance in the singles bracket, which Coach Ian Cunliff says will make them stronger as individual competitiors.
“He (Royle) has been a really good leader, filling the void that Griffin (Smith) left when he graduated,” Cunliff said. “This year they’re going to be playing in singles. Zack is probably a better doubles player because of the energy he brings, but it just works better for our team because everyone is growing into a different role. If they both play singles, they’ll be able to grow more as players.”
Cunliff described this season as a rebuilding year prior to the season and believes the team is coming along, despite their growing pains.

“It’s been a tough season for us so far. We’ve got a lot of young guys coming out to compete,” Cunliff said. “They’re getting better every time they step on the court. It doesn’t always translate to wins immediately, but they’re improving.”
Also contributing for Park Hill South has been freshman Joshua Robaska, who is currently in his first year of competitive tennis, but has come through with some big wins in his inaugural season. Not to mention a number of younger players using this season as a stepping stone towards future success.
“We’ve got some young players who are going to be pretty good players down the road,” Cunliff said.
Both teams will participate in the Northland Invitational next weekend.

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.