Park Hill South girls continue on winning path

Park Hill South girls basketball has blazed trails through the competition so far this season with an impressive 18-3 record. With few blemishes on their record, the Panthers came into last week’s matchup with undefeated Truman tied for a share of the conference leader board. It was a chance to gain what would likely ensure a share of the conference title, pending a second matchup February 21^st in the last regularly scheduled game of the season.

Over-sized by the Patriots, Park Hill South game planned to try to use their guard play and quickness to pick the pace of the game up. It worked well through one half of play with the Panthers taking a six point lead into the second quarter and a single point lead going into halftime, but Truman would bounce back in full force in the second half. It was enough to propel them to a 57-44 win over Park Hill South. Madeline Homoly led the Panthers in scoring with 14 points.

“They’re lineup is huge and we’ll look forward to the 21^st for the rematch,” Park Hill South coach Jenny Orlowski, “We learned a lot and we’ll see what happens.”

Hoping for a regain their winning ways, the Panthers bounced back with tenacity against Park Hill as they jumped on the Trojans early with a strong defensive effort which helped them build a 12-4 lead after the first quarter.

“We knew we needed to have a good defensive night and we did for the most part,” Orlowski said.

They would build a 42-23 lead going into the final quarter before expanding their advantage to a 56-28 final score. Homoly and Anna Courtney lead in scoring with 11 points apiece. Samantha Roy added 10 points of her own. Orlowski was glad they regained their winning way and was hoping her Panthers could bounce back at a time of the year where momentum is everything.

“Just regaining momentum and enthusiasm,” Orlowski said. “When you get to this point in the season it’s hard to regain that sometimes.”

While the Lady Panthers see success on the court, they’re also seeing success in the classroom. All five starters for Park Hill South last week, which include Homoly, Courtney, Roy, Courtney Claassen, and Jessica Lee have a cumulative grade point average of 4.0

“They’re pretty smart players most of the time and that translates over to the court,” Orlowski said. “They have great basketball IQ.”

Park Hill South (18-3) hosts St. Joe Central on Thursday night before facing Ruskin and Truman to close out their regular season next week. Park Hill falls to 3-17 and finishes their schedule out against Lee’s Summit West and St. Joe Central on February 21^st.

PHS boys hold off another Park Hill battle

Last time the Park Hill and Park Hill South boys basketball teams met, it was Park Hill South which jumped out to an early lead and held off a frantic Park Hill comeback for a 51-47 Panther win. The roles would be similarly flipped last Thursday in the rematch as Park Hill (3-17) jumped out to a 18-13 lead over Park Hill South after Landry Shamet hit a three-pointer at buzzer to end the first quarter. Shamet would end the game with 20 points.

“The thing that makes Landry special is, first, he loves basketball and then he wants to win really bad,” Park Hill coach David Garrison said. “For him to step up in this game, It’s sign of good things to come from him.”

In front of a full crowd at Park Hill, the home team would maintain their lead, going into halftime with a 30-27 advantage. That’s when the Panthers would come alive though as Hudson Welty hit a three-pointer early in the third quarter to give Park Hill South their first lead. It would be a sign of things to come as Welty would end up scoring a game high 23 points and lead the Panthers to a 45-35 lead going into the fourth quarter.

“We had to get him the ball, he hit some threes. If we wanted an advantage in the paint, we had to do that. It was a great atmosphere,” Park Hill South coach Rick Zych said. “We were outplayed in the first half, but we really came out with some intensity in the second half. We really played well in the third quarter.”

Park Hill felt they made some bad decisions and lost their focus in the third quarter.

“We got out of sync in the third quarter, didn’t get off very good shots,” Garrison said. “If you give some teams easy buckets, it makes it difficult.”

Park Hill South would weather a Trojan comeback attempt, but it would fall short as the Panthers took the two teams’ second matchup 57-54. While they won’t be seeing each other the rest of the regular season, the two could potential meet in the district tournament in two weeks. Garrison said if that were to be the case, they would look to last year for inspiration when the Trojans ended Park Hill South’s season after previously losing to them twice in the regular season.

“Last year we played twice and lost twice by similar advantages, but were able to get a win in the district tournament,” Garrison said. “We’ve got kids who have seen that happen.”

Park Hill South (15-6) beat Truman on the road in conference play earlier in the week 63-53 and is looking towards the possibility of a top seed in the district tournament. While in good position, they believe there are still improvements to be made.

“Hopefully, we’ll be the number one seed,” Zych said. “We have to work on rebounding and taking care of the ball. We’ve got a long way to go, but we’re making some strides.”

On the other side, Park Hill (3-17) hopes to keep their focus and remind themselves of the possibilities district play can bring. In order for that to happen, it will take some more stability and consistency.

“We have stretchs were our decision making isn’t very good and have moments where we just breakdown and someone forgets their responsibility,” Garrison said. “We have two options for this season. When it doesn’t work out, we can make the choice to either pack it in or choose to build on it and carry it into districts.”

Park Hill ready for final 'practice' before state meet

Preparing for their final stretch of the season with districts this weekend followed by the state tournament February 14-16, Park Hill placed third at the Oak Grove Invitational last week with 157.5 team points. Sean Hosford, Ben Stafford, Colston DiBlasi, and Malik Colding brought home tournament titles while Hunter Roberts and August Sobbing brought home second place finishes. Anthony Enriquez finished third in the heavyweight division. The tune-up for the Trojans only featured a partial lineup as Coach Bill Erneste explained the importance of rest and health.

“We sat five kids out this weekend,” Erneste said. “If you even have a hang nail, I’m sitting you. I just want to make sure everyone is well-rested and we’re good to go (for districts). I want every kid as healthy as they can possibly be going into districts.”

While Park Hill ran away with the Class 4, District 4 title last year on their way to a second place finish at state, this year’s tournament will also include Blue Springs who was in a separate district last year. Both are ranked as the top two teams in the state. Erneste says it will be tough, but should set both schools up for success at the state tournament.

“Our district is incredible with the addition of Blue Springs. I love it, they love it,” Erneste said. “If we meet in the district finals that means we’d be on opposite sides of the state bracket. So we get to wrestle the rest of the state before we possibly wrestle them in the finals.”

Park Hill looks forward to and works towards this time of the year all season and approaches it as if it is just one more step towards their ultimate goal.

“The district tournament is our last practice before the state tournament,” Erneste said. “We treat everything like that leading up to state.”

Park Hill has been molding its lineup gradually throughout the season. For their top wrestlers, many of which have impressive experience at the state level, it all comes down to replicating what the Trojans have done all season. With that said, Park Hill knows there are no trophies for most-deserving, only for those that step up and earn.

“We’ve always been a work in progress and needed those ‘guns’ to step up. I can honestly say I couldn’t be more pleased with the year we’ve had,” Erneste said. “If you just got things because you deserved them, we’ve done a great job, but we also understand you don’t always get it, so you have to go out and take it.”

State ranked wrestlers for Park Hill who will be key parts to the Trojans performance at districts include Sean Hosford, KeShawn Hayes, John Erneste, Hunter Roberts, Canten Marriott, Russ Coleman, Colston DiBlasi, and Malik Colding. The Trojans will also be looking for contributions from Paxton DiBlasi, August Sobbing, and Anthony Enriquez.

South wrestlers look to districts

While Park Hill South’s Chase Gray walked off the wrestling mat of his state championship match last year with a loss that left him with a second place finish. Although he had fallen just short of a title, he had set the school record for the best individual finish at state and already tied the school record for wins in a season with 47. This season Gray has returned to shatter those records and hasn’t been alone in doing so. With an ensemble cast of fellow seniors who have led the Panthers wrestling program to new heights in their four year careers (52-16 in duals), Park Hill South goes into districts this weekend with a chance to add to their already impressive tenure.

“As far as the senior class goes, we are probably the best wrestling group that’s gone through South,” Gray said. “The seniors on this team are unbelievable. I don’t want to hog any of the attention, it’s not just me.”

Joining Gray were eight other seniors who were recognized last week at their final home match against St. Joe Central by a score of 72-6. They included Nesser Barouqa, Tyler Blyth, Kenric Cook, Alex Weatherly, Alex Goforth, Adam Weatherly, Jimmy Carpenter, and Alex Fortuna. For most of them, their journey has been much longer than the four years they had at Park Hill South, but dates back to their earliest days in wrestling.

“I started with the PAC (Parkville Athletic Complex) when I was 10 years old. That really helped me,” Gray said. “I think almost all the seniors on the varsity came from that group. It just came together like that somehow.”

Individually, Gray has broken season and career records for wins, pins, takedowns, and team points, which will continue to increase through the end of the season. Gray talked about how much he thought the program had changed in their four years as well as how he learned of the leadership role he was given when he was the first sophomore to be named a team captain.

“I think the pace of practice has gone up as far as drilling and being united as a team. We’ve all grown closer,” Gray said. “I do think that is pretty cool. My sophomore year, I never thought it could be me. When coach announced it, I was shocked. It was somewhat difficult because some of the older guys didn’t listen to me at first (being so young).”

Park Hill South is hoping to qualify more than a handful of wrestlers for the state tournament next weekend at this weekend’s district tournament including Gray, Jimmy Carpenter, Adam Weatherly, and Alex Weatherly, all of which are currently ranked in the top eight of their respective weight classes. With several key injuries throughout the season, the Panthers see themselves as a team that has yet to fill its potential.

“We have seven seniors with pretty good records right now. As far as dual team-wise, I think we would have done a lot better if we had the whole team the entire year,” Gray said. “We had a couple injuries, but I think we’re back to a full roster now. As long as our team wrestles to our fullest, I think we should be in the running for the district championship.”

Getting second has been a key part of the motivation which has led Gray to a 44-1 record so far this season.  He says last year’s success at state gave him an idea of just how well he could do and he’s excited to earn his way back as well as compete for a team placement as well.

“I think it opened my eyes to if I just worked harder, I could do great things. This year, I tried to make every morning practice and a little on my own, just stay in great shape,” Gray said. “I just want to get there and go to work.”

Winter Roundup: Jan. 28 - Feb. 4

Park Hill South Girls Swimming

For the last 12 years, there has been one constant for the Park Hill South girls swim team. And that constant has been winning conference championships, which they did this past weekend when they racked up 578.5 team points on the way to their 12^th consecutive conference title. While Park Hill gave them a run for their money, the Panthers steadily pulled away to an impressive 84 point margin of victory over the second place Trojans.

Leading the way with first place finishes were the 200 medley relay team, Tori Beeler in the 200 individual medley, Helen Yeater in the 100 butterfly, and Anna Riekhof in the 100 breast. Bringing home second place medals were the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, Olivia McLain in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke, Maggie Hickey in the 100 butterfly, and Beeler in the 100 backstroke. Third place finishers included Mariah Ramirez in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke, Kelsey Danielson in the 100 butterfly and 200 freestyle, Samantha Scott in the 100 backstroke, and Maryn Burns in the 50 freestyle.

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

Park Hill Girls Swimming

While the Trojans came up short of repeating as conference champions in their own right, Park Hill came away with a strong second place performance with their 494.5 team points. Two key swimmers for Park Hill included Lauren Shaw and Madison Heydinger who brought home a handful of various medals. Shaw took first in the 100 free style and 100 backstroke along with a second place finish in the 500 freestyle. Heydinger placed first in the 200 and 500 freestyle events. The Trojans also saw success in the relays with a first place finish in the 200 free relay and second place finishes in the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay.

Park Hill will also compete at the state swim meet next weekend.

Park Hill Boys Basketball (3-15, 0-4)

…continued what has been a rough season last week with two losses. The first came against Lee’s Summit West 70-44 and the second being a 64-54 loss to Truman. As of The Citizen’s deadline Tuesday night, the Trojans were in action at St. Joe Central.

Park Hill will host Park Hill South on Thursday in a double-header featuring both boys and girls teams. Park Hill fell short of upsetting Park Hill South two weeks ago when they mounted a comeback effort that left them on the wrong end of a 51-47 Panther victory.

Park Hill South Boys Basketball (13-16, 2-2)

…beat St. Joe Central last week 53-42 before falling behind Ruskin early at home on Friday night. Park Hill South would remain within striking distance, but Ruskin would pull away in the fourth quarter to a 70-54 win.

As of The Citizen’s deadline Tuesday night, the Panthers were in action against Truman. Park Hill South plays at Park Hill on Thursday.

Park Hill Girls Basketball (3-15)

…suffered two close defeats last week against Northland opponents. The first came against Liberty North with a score of 33-30 and the second being a 44-38 loss to Oak Park.

Park Hill hosts Park Hill South on Thursday evening.

Park Hill South Girls Basketball (17-2, 4-0)

…came into the North Kansas City Tournament with a 15-1 record and were hoping for their second tournament championship of the season. They handedly defeated Park Hill 62-35 in the opening round, but hit a bump in the road against St. Joe Central which resulted in a 54-40 loss. The Panthers rebounded in the third place game with a resounding victory over Blue Springs South 54-35.

As of The Citizen’s deadline Tuesday night, Park Hill South was in conference action against Truman. Both teams were undefeated coming into the game and the result will play a big role in determining this year’s conference championship race.

SPCAD says AMR ambulance response times better than KCFD, but still not at contracted goal

American Medical Response (AMR) is still settling into their new role as the ambulance provider for the Southern Platte County Ambulance District (SPCAD). At last week’s regular monthly meeting, AMR gave an update to the board of directors on their progress of establishing a staging area out of Parkville and presented the first 90 days of data on response times.

AMR operations manager Cam Hendry’s report on response times to life threatening calls showed they were able to respond under their goal of a nine minutes 71% of the time in November, but only 55% in December. While these times do not meet the 75% standard outlined in their contract, they signal improvements over the first quarter of 2012 when the Kansas City Fire Department responded in less than nine minutes only 48% of the time.

One reason the response times are not meeting their goal is due to the pro-longed process of establishing a home base and staging area for their ambulance units. Paramedics on 24-hour shifts are required to have sleeping quarters available in between calls. Due to zoning and fire sprinkler requirements, AMR’s original location preference, an industrial space off Bell Road, did not meet code, so they needed a different location.

“We located a building at the Parkville Commons and are working with the owners. So we’re trying to make sure that building will work, it has sprinklers which the fire inspector insisted on,” Hendry said. “The previous building didn’t have a sprinkler system and the cost to install one is extremely high. We hope to have an answer on that particular space next week and I’m hopeful it will be positive.”

Since October, AMR has staged these units out of a motel off Prairie View Road, which due to lack of lodging within the district itself, was the closest viable option. Hendry said 66% of the calls out of this location have not met their response time goal.

“It’s not in South Platte or Parkville, which is where we want the station to be situated. That has had an effect on our response times. Relocating closer to the area will help correct that,” Hendry said. “That is where the largest volume of calls comes from. During the day, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (12-hour shifts) they are posted in Parkville though.”

Hendry indicated it usually takes approximately 20 weeks (approx. 140 days) to collect enough call volume data to evaluate trends and base response times off.

With two ambulances currently stationed in the district, there have only been a handful of times where a third has been needed to respond. Since mutual aid agreements have not been established with the neighboring jurisdictions of the Northland Regional Ambulance District or the Kansas City Fire Department, AMR has made plans for a third ambulance to automatically move to serve in an on-call capacity in the case two stationed ambulances are on calls.

Board President Bobby Kincaid said he was satisfied with AMR’s progress and improvement over the previous response times in their couple months.

“Everyone that we get information from says they are doing a good job,” Kincaid. “I have not heard very many complaints.” 

Winter Round-up: Jan. 21-28

Park Hill Girls Basketball

Fell to 2-13 on the year last week with a 55-46 loss to Ruskin on Thursday night.

Park Hill South Girls Basketball

Improved to 15-1 after a convincing 63-41 win over Lee’s Summit West last week. They will compete in the North Kansas City tournament this week before setting their eyes to what could likely be a key game to determine conference against Truman on Monday night.

Park Hill South Wrestling

After taking second place in a handful of tournaments the first half of the season, the Panthers were finally able to bring home a first place trophy last weekend from the Liberty Invitational. Park Hill South’s 271 team points bested Kearney and their 250 points. Ten medalists and four first place finishes led the Panthers. Alex Fortuna, Jimmy Carpenter, Adam Weatherly, and Chase Gray all won their title matches with Alex Weatherly, Kenric Cook, and Logan Gillespie. Taking third place were George Barth, Alex Carpenter, and Tyler Blythe.

Park Hill South pulls away from Park Hill for 14th win

The Park Hill and Park Hill South girls basketball teams came into Monday night’s game having two different kinds of seasons. Park Hill with their 2-11 record has a roster sporting a young group of inexperienced varsity players while Park Hill South’s 13-1 record represented a talented squad coming off an Oak Park Tournament title last week.

For one quarter though, they were almost equals. The Trojans hit some early shots and came out with a burst of aggressive energy where they swarmed the Panthers defensively to gain a 9-3 advantage early in the game. Park Hill South would refocus and battle back at the end of the first quarter as Erica Timmerman banked-in a three point basket at the buzzer to give the Panthers their first lead of the game 11-10.

The Panthers wouldn’t look back as they would steadily increase their lead the rest of the way leading 27-15 at halftime before cruising to a final score of 62-34. South’s Madeline Homoly led all scorers with 19 points.

“I thought our energy level was good, we came out aggressive, then the wind kind of came out of our sails,” Park Hill coach Aaron Neeser said. “We executed, played hard, did the little things, then we just got tired. 20 turnovers kind of does that to you.”

Park Hill will prep for the North Kansas City Tournament next week with a conference game against Ruskin on Thursdasy.

“We’re getting better, little by little,” Neeser said. “The young pups as I call them, are taking steps towards getting them to where they need to be.”

With the victory, Park Hill South improved their record to 14-1 on the season and is looking forward to conference play where they will battle an undefeated Truman team twice in coming weeks. Coach Jenni Orlowski says taking the season one game at a time has really helped keep their focus away from their record.

“I think when we were 12-1, it kind of hit me at that point,” Orlowski said. “Until then, we’ve kind of had our nose to the grindstone. I haven’t been 14-1 as a coach, so this is a first. We’re starting to get some press, we’re ranked 10^th in the state. I have a great group of kids that work hard and take things game to game.”

It hasn’t been without its challenges though as the Panthers lost guard Mackenzie Stout for the season earlier in the year, which has left them with the feeling they have been shorthanded.

“We’ve had some challenges, when we lose Mackenzie,” Orlowski said. “We kind of feel like an underdog since we’re short one that we planned on having.”

Even with a potent offense, the Panthers have relied on their defense for strength and as their record improves it will be valuable in closer games down the stretch of their season.

“Defense has produced offense for us. We’ve probably got the quickest guards out of all the teams we’ve played so far,” Orlowski said. “For every win you have, there’s more on the line. You don’t want to lose, but as you get more wins there is more pressure that comes with that.”

Park Hill South plays Lee’s Summit West before competing in the North Kansas City Tournament next week.

Park Hill sees success in state wrestling tune-up

Park Hill coach Bill Erneste wanted his team to approach last week as a practice run for the state tournament. Three consecutive days of wrestling, first a dual against nationally ranked Kearney and then the two-day Winnetonka Tournament, would closely resemble the three day long state wrestling tournament next month. By winning both, the Trojans had one of their best weeks of the season and built a strong case for being at the top of the rankings in Class 4.

After Kearney came from behind to beat Park Hill earlier this season at the Park Hill Invitational, both schools came into Thursday night’s dual as two of the top teams in the state, and their fan bases were in for a classic matchup. Battling from dual to dual, at the end of the night the Trojans would claim redemption with a 32-20 win over the Bulldogs.

“If you win on the first night of the state tournament, you have one match and one match only. So Kearney was that first match. I couldn’t have been more proud of the fight in our kids, they showed a lot of heart,” Erneste said. “I think it was great for wrestling. You had the Kearney fans and Park Hill fans who packed the gym for two quality wrestling programs that are only 20 miles apart.”

Park Hill would use that victory as momentum the following two days at the Winnetonka Tournament where they placed eight wrestlers on their way to racking up 431 team points and the tournament championship. Sean Hosford, Ke-Shawn Hayes, and John Erneste brought home first place medals. Hunter Roberts, Canten Marriott, Russ Coleman, and Malik Colding placed second while Colston DiBlasi took third.

The title round featured some quality matchups with other top teams like Blue Springs and Seckman, possibly previews of state tournament matchups to come four weeks from now. Overall, the Trojans are satisfied with their past week, but know they aren’t a finished product yet and will be fine tuning in the time leading up to the district tournament on February 9^th.

“We’re on target,” Erneste said. “We want to use this for practice and so far we’ve had a good practice.”

The Trojans will compete in the St. Joe Benton and Oak Grove tournaments over the next two weekends.

Park Hill South has seen success this year with the help of a strong senior class. Until recently, the Panthers have been plagued with some early season injuries and were hoping the Winnetonka Tournament would be one of their first tournaments back at full strength. While the Panthers finished fourth out of the 15 team field, they would see the injury bug catch them again when Logan Gillespie (220) suffered a shoulder injury.

“We’ve been getting stronger as a team until today where we suffered a few injuries,” Park Hill South coach Dan Dunkin said.

The Panthers saw good results from several wrestlers over the weekend with Adam Weatherly and Chase Gray bringing home second place medals. Jimmy Carpenter and George Barth placed third while Alex Weatherly took fourth. Dunkin says the tournament was a good chance to go against some of the best teams in the state to see how they fared.

“We wanted to go against the top three teams in the state to see if we can hang with them, we’re there,” Dunkin said. “We’re going to give it a shot. I was just a little disappointed we couldn’t hang a little more, but we’re not scared though. I like how our kids are wrestling. We just need to be on the other side of the result.”

Dunkin believes postseason success will rely on healing up the rest of their injuries and adding that extra amount of push they’ll need to find themselves in a position to compete at districts and state.

“We need to heal up first, and then we’re going to get into better shape, review film, and do what we have to do,” Dunkin said.

Park Hill South will be competing in the Liberty Tournament this weekend.

Winter Round-up: Jan. 14-21

Park Hill South Boys Basketball

…for the third time this year, Park Hill South excelled in convincing fashion through tournament play to reach the championship game and fell short of bringing home first place. This time it was last week at the North Kansas City Tournament. The Panthers defeated Shawnee Mission West (65-57) and KC Central (91-43) on their way to Friday night’s title game where they fell 52-50 to Truman. Park Hill South is now 11-4 and in action against Park Hill as The Citizen went to print Tuesday night.

Park Hill Boys Basketball

Went 1-2 in the Basehor Linwood Tournament last week, starting off with two straight losses against Hayden (48-34) and St. Joe Benton (61-58). Park Hill ended the tournament on a high note with a convincing victory over Pembroke Hill (64-46). The Trojans, now 3-11, were in action Tuesday night as The Citizen went to press against rival Park Hill South.

Park Hill Girls Swimming

…placed seventh in the 16 team field at the KC Classic last weekend. Leading the way for Park Hill were Lauren Shaw and Madison Heydinger. Shaw finished second in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke while Heydinger placed second in the 500 freestyle and fourth in the 200 freestyle.

Park Hill will next compete in the conference swim meet at Lee’s Summit.

Park Hill South Girls Swimming

…ran away with the Raytown Invite over the weekend in the 16 team field, racking up 309 points with their closest competition coming from Blue Springs South and their 262 points. The Panthers won three out of four relays including the 200 medley, 200 freestyle, and 400 freestyle. Lauren Luton placed first in diving. Olivia McLain won the 100 yard breast stroke while Tori Buehler won the 200 yard individual medley

Park Hill South next looks to compete in the conference swim meet at Lee’s Summit.