Park Hill grad contributes to Auburn's trip to National Championship game

While many kids back from college have time to enjoy at least one more week of winter break, there is one Platte County native that will be experiencing the thrill of a lifetime next week. During the 2009-2010 school year, we brought you coverage of then Park Hill athlete Steven Clark on the football field and basketball court. An All-State and nationally ranked punter for the Trojan football team, The Citizen was the only source to cover his recruitment and official signing with Auburn University early last year. After a 12-0 record capped off with an SEC Championship in December, the Auburn Tigers will face the Oregon Ducks in the BCS National Championship in Glendale, Arizona on January 10th.

Clark, a 6-5, 232 pound freshman, was thrown into the fire early this season as questions arose to whether he could perform better than the more experienced punter in front of him at the time. In the heart of their conference schedule, Clark saw action in five games from October to November. He booted nine punts averaging 34.9 yards/punt, which don't reflect the height that Clark has notariety for. Five of those punts ended in fair catches and two were downed inside the 20-yard line, two key stats punters are judged by. Probably his most successful game came against LSU when he punted three times for 112 yards in a 24-17 victory for the Tigers. In recent weeks, seniority has ruled as Auburn has decided to re-assign starting duties to senior Ryan Shoemaker, who has slightly improved. While coaches have been quoted saying Shoemaker is inconsistent, they also agree that for Clark to perform well enough to maintain the starting role over the senior would be tough for a freshman, but that he is young and has time to improve.

Glancing through both teams' rosters, you'll have to look closely to find anyone from the midwest being represented in the game. Auburn's Clark is the only player from Missouri while Oregon has one player from Kansas. So while you watch Auburn's Heisman Trophy Winner, Cam Newton, possibly lead the Tigers to a National Championship next week which they are currently favored to do, Park Hill alums and residents of Platte County can be proud that one of their own is a part of it all. Stay tuned next week for more of the Citizen's coverage of Clark's journey to the National Championship.

Lady Panthers come off break slow, but show fight in near comeback against Chrisman

After a two week winter break to work on tuning up their fundamentals, the Park Hill South girls didn’t come out of the gate Monday night against William Chrisman like they wanted. An athletic and aggressive Chrisman team jumped out to an early lead that eventually led to a 29-11 halftime score. The combination of South’s poor shooting performance and Chrisman’s ability to convert on second chance points was tough to overcome for the Panthers in the first half.

“I think our first half we just played tentative and scared, not sure if it was the break or what,” Coach Jenny Orlowski said. “They (Chrisman) rebound very well; they kind of push up from behind the basket and position themselves real well.”

Down 18 points, Park Hill South had to change it up in the second half. While the general approach to stopping a fast team is to slow their pace down, it didn’t work in the first half for the Panthers. So they came out in the second half needing something different. With more pressure on the Bears, including a full-court man press, they forced pressure on Chrisman at every opportunity.

“We tried to slow the game down in the first half by staying back in the zone and it didn’t work very well, so when you’re down 18 points you have be a little more aggressive,” Orlowski said.

Initially, this also put more pressure on the weight of South’s young guards to prevent the margin from widening and the key bench players needed to run such a defense. Frustrating at first, the Panther defense stuck with it and slowly but surely narrowed the margin to 48-41 with less than four minutes to play in the game. Additionally, the shots began to fall as Tori Kerr and Stephanie Griffith’s timely scoring put the Panthers in a position to mount a comeback. Griffith converted 3 three-point plays in the fourth quarter as part of an impressive 19 point performance.

“Stephanie is a solid player for us, not real flashy, but gets things done when we need it,” Orlowski said of her senior guard.

As the seconds ticked off the clock, the momentum wasn’t quite enough as Chrisman took advantage of several late fast break layups to increase the final score to 63-47.

“A lot of our bench players really stepped up tonight, that’s what we want in broad terms of a total team effort,” Orlowski said.

While Monday was only the first game of 2011, South will be looking to build throughout the second half of the season upon the things they discussed over the break.

“We talked about turning things around and beating a team we’re not supposed to beat,” Orlowski said. “They can play with Chrisman, and they believed that in the second half. It’s about believing in themselves.”

The Panthers are now 3-6 on the year with home games against Belton on Thursday followed by Winnetonka on Monday.

William Jewell Roundup: Dec. 27-31

Park Hill Boys Basketball
The Trojans were one quarter away from playing for the Patterson Division title last week at the Bank Midwest William Jewell Classic. They took a one point lead of 42-41 over Liberty into the fourth quarter of what was pretty much a neck and neck game throughout. Liberty swung a three-point advantage in the fourth into a 59-57 victory over Park Hill. The Trojans' leading scorer was Chris Nsenki with 24 followed by Brady Kreitzer's 12. Park Hill battled Rockhurst in the third place game, but fell for the second time this year in a 65-61 loss. Park Hill gave up 22 points in the fourth quarter to give up a seven-point lead they had coming into the last quarter. Nsenki had 20 points along with Flint's 14 and Kreitzer's 10 points. The Trojans are now 7-3 on the season with a game at Oak Park Wednesday and St. Joe Central on Friday at home.

Park Hill South Boys Basketball
Park Hill South was much in the same boat as Park Hill when they fell just short of a title game appearance in the Cardinal Division when O'Hara tipped in a last second shot to edge the Panthers by a score of 47-46. Christian Hildebrandt and Rocky Benson led South with 16 and 13 points, respectively. After an exciting overtime victory over Blue Springs South earlier in the year, the Panthers experienced a rare lack of offense in their third place game as they fell 45-32. Hildebrandt was the only player in double digits for South with 13 points. South is now 8-3 on the year with roads games against Liberty and Raytown this week.

2011 will be positioning year

With the holidays nearly over and 2011 soon to begin, the national and local political scene will see new stories and trends develop with the New Year. While there are plenty of, if not too many, pundits to provide analysis of national and federal level news, the type of progress made over the three week lame-duck session in Congress shouldn’t be expected in 2011. The compromises made had liberal and conservative ideologues alike cringing while providing a pinch of hope to the moderate mainstream that something could be achieved with a little give and take. However, in 2011, especially early, expect a renewed sense of political play at work in Washington D.C., as a new Republican majority in the House seeks to solidify its position in the split-party government with most efforts focused on defeating an incumbent President in the 2012 election cycle.

In Platte County, several storylines have already begun to develop as a new batch of county elected officials took office this week. After overwhelming victories in November, Republicans hold every county office except for two. The remaining Democratic office holders are Treasurer Bonnie Brown and Public Administrator Terry Edwards. Local Democrats will look to them for leadership after severe losses in November’s midterms. They’ll also be looked to as watchdogs of accountability for Republican county office holders potentially reluctant to blow the whistle on each other.

The election of Jason Brown as Presiding Commissioner will add a new dynamic to the three-member Commission. Coming from an often combative, partisan Jefferson City atmosphere, the type of governing role Brown chooses to take will affect the perception of the way business is done at the County level. Whether it is that of an active consensus builder, intimidating strong-armer, remote overseer, or a combination of the three, a leadership style will emerge over the first several months. Brown will be seen as the most fiscally conservative out of the three Commissioners, making it interesting to see how his addition affects where financial priorities are placed and the bottom line of the County.

New County Clerk Joan Harms is already making waves in her new position. She recently released the office’s two experienced employees, which initially leaves the office responsible for handling a wide variety of administrative duties with little, if no institutional knowledge. One of the released employees was Marcena Fulton, who ran as a Democrat for County Assessor in 2008 against incumbent Lisa Pope. In a not completely unheard of, but mostly political move, the transition from staunch campaigner to office holder will be something to keep tabs on throughout the year.

Local school boards will face another year of tough decisions in 2011 as they continue to make reductions in their budgets. Elections in the spring may bring a new face or two to the boards, but much of the financial fates for the districts lie in the hands of lawmakers in Jefferson City who will decide how much funding will be available.

Many Platte Countians will be considering who should be the next mayor of Kansas City in February and March of 2011. While current Mayor Mark Funkhouser, has had low approval numbers over the past couple years caused by a number of unpopular decisions, he can't be completely ruled out of the running for a second-term due to a crowded and possibly diluting field of six challengers looking to unseat him. Among them is long-time Platte County resident and former councilmember Mike Burke. Towards the top of the list in terms of credible challengers, if successful, Burke would be the first Mayor of Kansas City from Platte County.

Towards the middle to latter part of 2011, expect Democratic challengers to begin throwing out feelers as whether to run for any of the three state house seats in Platte County or either of the two Commission seats in November 2012. Names mentioned for both include former State Rep. Jason Grill and former County Clerk Sandy Krohne, who both with high name recognition and potentially strong financial support would be capable of mounting competitive campaigns.

2011, like many political off-years will be a year of positioning for politicos. While most of the work done in the upcoming year will set the tone for the 2012 elections, we can only be optimistic and hope that 2011 is a time when elected officials recommit themselves to focus on measures that promote sound, good government principles they constantly campaign on. Because before you know it, the focus on governing will unfortunately be set aside for yet another election cycle.

Park Hill scorer picks the right moment

With no classes this week, the Park Hill boys only had to focus on one thing Monday night, starting off the William Jewell Classic with a victory against William Chrisman. The number two seeded Trojans were up against a Bears squad that from first appearance was less athletic and clearly outsized. Still, Park Hill only held a modest lead of 20-12 after the first quarter of play. But there was more to the score than a simple eight point lead; the Trojans had begun what would result in the gradual wearing down of the Bears defense.

After an all-conference season last year, senior guard Chris Nsenki doesn’t sneak up on teams like he used to. Now, he’s a target usually assigned to the opposing team’s best defender. The story of that first quarter and much of the first half was Park Hill’s ability to outplay their opponent despite their most recognized player being over-guarded. Assuming the role of distributor, Nsenki used the target on him to the team’s advantage by dishing the ball to his teammates.

“The thing about Chris is that he’s such a heady basketball player. When he puts himself in a position to draw the attention of the defense, he’s very good at getting his teammates the basketball,” Coach David Garrison said.

Forwards De’Aris Flint and Brady Kreitzer used their clear height advantage over William Chrisman and aggressive post play to put up points close to the basket, 17 and 19 respectively, on the night. The only thing between that combo and a rout was a scrappy and active Bears defense along with a couple timely three-pointers. Flint’s dunk shortly before halftime gave Park Hill its first double digit lead at 36-25.

The bend, but don’t break defense of William Chrisman eventually broke in the third quarter as Nsenki’s patience paid off when he was able to post 12 points from inside and out, providing an example of what his coach means when he says Nsenki can take over a game. Park Hill’s 16-2 run in the latter part of the third quarter put them up 62-38 on the way to a 79-53 first-round victory. At 8-1, they’ll play Liberty at 9pm Wednesday night followed by either a third place game on Thursday at 2:30pm or a championship game appearance at 9pm.

Nsenki’s outside scoring threat and composed play with an athletic presence inside from Kreitzer and Flint could make the Trojans a difficult team to beat as they head into 2011.

“Brady and De’Aris are both returning starters,” Garrison said. “They have a lot of confidence and are handling their roles as senior leaders real well.”

Although the Trojans are defending conference champions, the new conference setup provides stronger challenges this year with the likes of Lee’s Summit West, Truman, and St. Joe Central.

“We’ve got two weeks in the heart of our conference schedule coming up at the first of January, which will be difficult,” Garrison said. “We just can’t become complacent, there’s two months before districts.”

Park Hill's Lee named an All-American, being considered for Gatorade Player of the Year

Park Hill senior Ray Lee began his soccer career like many kids do in the area, playing in his local league, the Southern Platte County Athletic Association (SPCAA). He played on a team with kids in his neighborhood, some of which would play together with Lee through their high school careers. They would see success on the field unlike any team at Park Hill since the early 1990’s as they advanced to a third-place finish at state in 2009 and a quarterfinal appearance in 2010. Lee was named Missouri Class Three’s Offensive Player of the Year along with being named to the All-State team with three other teammates. His career accolades include multiple conference and district honors, but none compare to being named an All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association recently as voted on by coaches throughout the state and compiled with the nation’s top high school soccer players. Additionally, he is now being considered for Gatorade’s Player of the Year, a national award.

While the recognition puts him among the top talent in the country, his approach to his team is what separates him from many of his acknowledged peers. When Lee stepped onto the practice field as a freshmen, he didn’t even know if he would play very much, but coach Dustin Sollars knew he had something.

“I didn’t expect to get minutes like I did that year because there were 12 seniors,” Lee said.

“What we found out early was that he was about as fast as anyone,” Sollars said. “He was great at making opponents miss. We knew he was a really athletic kid and it took a little while to see just how good he was going to be.”

As Lee excelled, he could have easily been scoring hoards of goals on opponents, but Sollars and the Trojans had the convenience of a solid group of players in Lee’s class to surround him with. It would have been easy to position Lee in the front of the offense, but his ability combined with his knowledge of the game and composure made him a more enabling leader in the middle. No matter what Lee always found himself around the ball whether it was scoring, assisting, or just leading. He had 12 goals this past season with 28 assists (41 goals, 73 assists in his career).

“It’s rare to have someone to act like a point guard on the soccer field,” Sollars said. “We were lucky to have players around him to the point where we could keep him in the middle. He could have scored a hundred goals with his accuracy, but we wouldn’t have been as good of a team.”

Lee says his teammates helped him become better and it fit perfectly with his team first mentality that isn’t a cliché to him.

“It helped me look good,” Lee said. “The team comes first and coach gets mad sometimes because he thinks I’m almost too unselfish.”

“It’s great for him to get the accolades but it wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the other guys who made all-state that grew up together playing for their neighborhood team.

Lee is in the process of looking at D-I schools, which he says he definitely wants to do. Currently, he has only visited Drake and says he liked what he saw, but hopes to see more over the coming weeks. At this stage in the recruiting process, many teams have a majority of their roster spots filled and are looking for specific roles.

“One of the best things about him is that he is very athletic, understands the game and he sees things well. I’ve even talked to coaches about him being a D-I defender. His capabilities transcend any position on the field. He has a great shot in the front along with good vision and passing in the middle,” Sollars said.

After being awarded an All-American, Lee still recognizes the reason he started soccer, because it was fun, which is something he hopes younger kids remember.

“I’d tell them to just have fun. If you really like it, try hard because its gonna take practice,” Lee said.

To say getting to where he is required hard work would be an understatement. It goes back to the same year he stepped on the field as a freshmen. Him and teammate Joel Gordon really bought into the new weight program Sollars began implementing that year and their coach recognized it right off the bat.

“He and Joel, seemed like they just took to it. They liked it and worked hard. I told myself at the time that if anyone had a chance to play in college it would be them. Not because they were better or more talented, but because they were willing to work hard,” Sollars said. “The college coaches I talk to are amazed he is 175, that comes from the weight room.”

It’s something Sollars hopes to preach to future players whether they be seventh graders or incoming seniors: what to do if you want to achieve something. And still at the end of the day, character is what separates this All-American from many of the others.

“It always sounds good to say team comes first, but he really believes it. He only had 12 goals, third on our team. You’ll see a lot of guys pad their stats, but he was still dishing the ball off, encouraging his teammates, and sitting on the bench to give younger kids the chance to play,” Sollars said.

Lady Trojans and Panthers take another one to the wire

Last year the Park Hill and Park Hill South girls battled each other in two close regular season games with the road team winning each time. This year both teams were hoping to go into the holiday break with a victory as one team would be able to say they completed the first third of the season at a .500 winning percentage or better with Park Hill coming into the game with a 2-3 record and South at 4-4.

Playing at Park Hill, the teams played neck and neck nearly the entire game. The Trojans held merely a 16-15 lead over the Panthers at the half, but South would go on a five point run to start the half before Park Hill’s Kyleesha Weston turned a fast break into a lay-up to tie the game at 24 in the third quarter. Timely baseline scoring from Helena Hudson helped Park Hill maintain a narrow lead into the fourth quarter before South regained momentum when Tori Kerr converted a lay-up with 5:30 to tie it at 32. South took the lead when a well executed give-and-go from Haley Shelton to Samantha Roy put the Panthers up 38-37 with just under three minutes to play. Shelton and Roy along with Stephanie Griffith have been strong for the Panthers up to this point.

“Samantha’s stepped into a starting role as a freshman point guard and played under composure. Stephanie Griffith is always kind of our go-to person along with Haley Shelton. They work really well together,” Park Hill South Jenny Orlowski said.

Park Hill retook the lead and could have sealed the victory with some crucial free throws, but was unable to cushion their 43-42 lead.

“We usually shoot pretty well, just tonight we didn’t and that’s ok,” Park Hill coach Aaron Neeser said of the free throw shooting.

After a missed free throw, South called timeout with ten seconds to play. Shelton inbounded the ball and immediately streaked to the hoop before receiving it back. The play was executed with precision and while the look was there, the bounce was not, leaving the Panthers on the wrong side of a 43-42 loss to Park Hill.

Understandably, Neeser was relieved about getting out of Monday’s game with a victory.

“We’re just really happy to walk out of here with a win,” Neeser said. “Defense and not giving up those easy buckets is something we need to work more on.”

Asked whether the close game was the rivalry or similarity between the teams, South’s Orlowski said it was a little of both, but the loss withstanding, she is proud of her team’s progress.

“This year we’re both pretty close talent wise (to Park Hill), but style of play is a little different,” Orlowski said. “I told them in the locker room before the game that when we were in this game last year we were 0-8, so I’m very proud of them.”

Winter Weekly Recap: Dec. 13-18

Park Hill South Girls Basketball
The Park Hill South girls basketball team reached and surpassed their win total from last year last week as they improve to 4-4 after going 2-1 with wins against Raytown South and Grandview. And the two wins weren't squekers either as they defeated Raytown South 50-19, with 12 points coming from Jessica Lee, and Grandview 47-24, as Stephanie Griffith scored 16 with 7-10 shooting from the field. The Panthers feel to William Chrisman 49-37 in their final game of the week. South came into the fourth quarter only down by two. Coach Jenny Orlowski said the loss was in part due to fatigue and mental mistakes late in the game. She says they are making great improvements and are beginning to gel as a team.

Park Hill South Boys Basketball
After a second place finish in the Blue Springs South tournament two weekends ago, South continued to play well last week as they added two more wins to improve their overall record to 6-1 on the year. A 63-29 thumping of William Chrisman featured three players scoring in double digits with Christian Hildebrandt's 15, Adam Schemenauer's 14, and Rocky Benson's 10. Chrisman did not score more than nine points in any of the four quarters. Their Friday night showdown with Northland neighbor Winnetonka was more of a game, but the Panthers pulled out a 54-48 win as South's Hildebrandt put in 19 along with Benson's 11. They'll compete in the Cardinal Division of the William Jewell Holiday Classic next week and start things with Kansas City Central followed by a likely match-up with O'Hara.

Park Hill Boys Basketball
Park Hill is now 5-1 after a victory against Kearney last week. Nathan Wilson's 11 points along with Chris Nsenki's 10 led the Trojans to a 48-45 victory over Kearney. They'll begin competition in the William Jewell Holiday Classic next week as they play start play in the Patterson Division against William Chrisman to set-up a likely second round game with Liberty.

Park Hill Girls Basketball
The Lady Trojans basketball team is now 2-3 after a poor performance against North Kansas City 58-20 and a win against Belton last week 43-32. Micalla Rettinger has emerged as threat for the Trojans on the scoring front as she led Park Hill in both games with five and 12 points, respectively. Dominique Broadus also added 12 points and 13 rebounds in their victory against Winnetonka.

Park Hill South Wrestling
Park Hill South Wrestling fell to Kearney last week 56-18. South won three matches, but two were by forfeit. The quality showing by Jimmy Carpenter in the 125-pound division resulted in a pin of Kearney's Joe Disciacca. They were back in action over the weekend at the Kansas City Wrestling Classic at Hale Arena. The Panthers finished 27th with a total of 143.5 team points. The Panthers' next action will be the first of January when they host Fort Osage and then visit Platte County.

Park Hill Wrestling
Despite neighbor Oak Park's impressive third place performance and five individual titles, Park Hill had a quality showing as they placed seventh with a team score of 391.5 at the Kansas City Wrestling Classic and took two of the individual titles. After winning his division last year, Bricker Dixon won again, this time in the 125-pound division with his 11-0 victory. At the 145-pound division, Preston Crouse took home the title. Nolan Smith came up just shy in the heavyweight championship match as he fell 3-2 in seven overtimes to Oak Park's John Cervantes. Park Hill and Oak Park were two of the three teams in the entire tournament to win more than one weight class. Collins Hill out of Georgia took home the team title with 472.2 team points without any first place finishes. John Erneste finished fifth at 103 and Russ Coleman placed fourth at 130. Park Hill is off from competition until the beginning of the year when they host Lee's Summit West and Staley.

Park Hill Girls Swim/Dive
Park Hill defeated North Kansas City last week 147-33 in an early week meet. They traveled to the Independence Invitational over the weekend.

Park Hill South Girls Swim/Dive
Park HIll South Swimming's week couldn't get much better last week as they racked up wins over five different teams including Oak Park, Staley, Liberty North, MICDS ( St. Louis) and Springfield Kickapoo. Over the weekend, they continued their dominance with a Top performances in the invitational included first place medals for the 200 Medley Relay's team of Lyndsay Ryan, Olivia McLain, Mary Cate Reinert, Mariah Bryant; the 200 Free Relay of Rachael Norfleet, Shannon Brouk, Miranda Henderson, and Bryant; and Ryan in the 100 backstroke. Other Medal winners included Norfleet in the 200 Free, Brouk and Reinert in 200 IM, Bryant, Ryan and Henderson in the 50 Free, Kelsey Sadler in Diving, Reinert in 100 Fly, McLain and Norfleet in the 100 Free, Shannon Brouk, Taylor Brouk, and Dannie Burdiss in the 500 Free, Bryant in 100 Back, McLain and Abbie Moyes in the 100 Breast and the 400 Free Relay of Ryan, Shannon Brouk, McLain and Norfleet.

The Panthers will have one meet over the holiday break which is Thursday, December 3th at Lee's Summit North.

Winter Recap: Dec. 6-10

Park Hill South Girls Basketball
For the second week in a row the Lady Panthers played North Kansas City and Winnetonka last week. It was also the second week in a row where they fell to North Kansas City and beat Winnetonka. North Kansas City jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they outscored the Panthers in every quarter of the 69-35 defeat for Park Hill South. Jessica Lee, Shannon Keith, and Stephanie Griffith led in scoring with six points a piece in what was a disapointing 30% shooting percentage from the field. A 44-21 victory over Winnetonka improved the Panthers record to 2-3 on the year, as Haley Shelton's four rebound, eight point performance led Park Hill South. Mallory Ross also had eight points. The Panthers play Grandview and William Chrisman this week before a meeting with rival Park Hill on Monday.

Park Hill South Boys Basketball
Park Hill South traveled an exciting path to the Blue Springs South Tournament Championship game last week. After a 55-47 victory over Columbia Hickman behind Rocky Benson's 18 and Christian Hildebrandt's 16 points, the Panthers faced off against host school Blue Springs South. The battle wasn't settled after four quarters, so it went into overtime. In fact, it took three overtime periods to decide the game and in the end it was the Panthers with a 84-80 victory.

"Our guys stayed focused and discipline throughout the entire game. Adam Schemenauer controlled the boards with 15 rebounds to go along with his 17 points. And Christian (Hildebrandt) was tough as nails down the stretch. He had eight points midway through the third quarter and finished with 33 points. Our guys never gave up and fought hard until the end," head coach Anthony Perry said.

In the championship game, Park Hill South fell to Rockhurst despite a hard-fought fourth quarter comeback 62-59. Hildebrandt scored 23 points. The Panthers are now 4-1 with a game at Winnetonka Friday night.

Park HIll Boys Basketball
Park Hill lost their first game of the season in the Blue Springs South tournament last week against Rockhurst. After holding a one point lead going into the second quarter, Rockhurst held Park Hill to only seven points the rest of the half, giving the Hawklets a 34-29 lead. Going neck and neck the rest of the way, Rockhurst was able to hold their lead in the end with a 71-61 defeat of the Trojans. Park Hill won their next two games in the tournament against Staley 63-40 and Lincoln Prep 70-62. Chris Nsenki led the Trojans in all three games with 24, 22, and 28 points respectively. Anthony Walter added 19 points in their victory against Lincoln Prep. Park Hill is now 4-1 with games against Belton and Kearney this week.

Park Hill Wrestling
After finishing second to Kearney in the Park Hill Invitational, Park Hill got a chance for redemption as the two faced off in dual competition last week at Kearney. Despite pins from John Erneste, Preston Crouse, Travis Marcum, and Nolan Smith, Park Hill fell once again to Kearney by a score of 38-32. The Trojans participated in the Walsh Jesuit Ironman Tournament over the weekend in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. One of the most notorious high school tournaments in the country, top teams from around the country have traveled far to compete in over the years. The Trojans finished 24th out of over 60 schools with 52 team points. They'll participate in the Midwest Wrestling Classic this weekend.

Park Hill South Wrestling
Park Hill South earned two team dual victories last week against Ray-Pec and Platte County. Bret Rounkles, Jimmy Carpenter, Alex Weatherly, Nick Gillespie, and Grant Kirschbaum pinned their opponents as the Panthers defeated Platte County 42-27. They went on defeat Ray-Pec 44-23 later in the week. Over the weekend, the Panthers placed sixth out of 16 teams in the Lee's Summit North Invitational with 177.5 team points. Just Haughenberry placed third in the 140 pound division, Rene Jiminez placed fourth in the 160 pound division, Nick Gillespie second in the 171 pound division, and Sam Eickhoff fourth in the heavyweight division.

Park Hill South Swim/Dive
Park Hill South bested Park Hill last week 123-57. The Panthers made state cuts in the medley and 200 Free Relays. Rachael Norfleet made state cuts in the 200 Free and 100 Free. Lyndsay Ryan made state cuts in the 50 Free and 100 Back along with Olivia McLain's state qualifying cut in the 200 Individual Medley.

Despite no team scores being kept in the Blue Springs Holiday Relay meet Park Hill South won 13 of the 16 relays. Shannon Brouk swam a state cut in the 200 Free, Mary Cate Reinert in the 100 Fly and Olivia McLain in the 100 Breaststroke. They qualified the 400 free relay team while also seeing improved times in the Medley and 200 Free Relays. They'll travel to St. Louis over the weekend to compete against the Mary Institute and Saint Louis Day School.

Winter Round-up: Nov. 29 - Dec. 3

Park Hill South Boys Basketball
Park Hill South started their season with two wins last week against North Kansas City and William Chrisman. Leading throughout the game, the Panthers prevented a NKC comeback in the fourth quarter as they pulled out the victory 59-52. Christian Hildebrandt and Rocky Benson led with 20 and 11 points. Friday night against William Chrisman, the Panthers got out to a 23-16 first quarter lead and never looked back as they defeated the Bears 69-50. Hildebrant put in 27 points while Adam Schemenauer and Kendrick White both posted 12 points. Park Hill South will be playing in the Blue Springs South McDonald's Tournament this week.

Park Hill Girls Basketball
Park Hill girls coach Aaron Neeser started the Trojans off on the right foot in his first season as they defeated Fort Osage in the opening game of the Fort Osage tournament last week by a score of 39-36. Kyleesha Weston's 17 points led the Trojans. After their encouraging start, Park Hill lost their next two games to St. Joe Central and William Chrisman. Tied with 22 points a piece at the half, Central extended their lead to seven going into the fourth quarter before winning 56-47. Weston and Helena Hudson led the Trojans with 17 and 12 points. Later in the week, the Trojans found themselves in another close game going into the second half only down 22-21. That margin would hold true at the end of the game as the Bears took advantage of their 33 free throw attempts, compared to the Trojans' 11, and pull out a close one 42-41. Park Hill's Weston scored 13 points along with Marche Belcher's 10 points. The Lady Trojans are now 1-2 with games against North Kansas City and Belton next week.

Park Hill Boys Basketball

In a rematch of last year's district semi-final game, Park Hill was able to claim a little bit of redemption as they used an explosive second quarter to propel them to a 63-58 win over Oak Park. After falling behind 17-9 in the first quarter, the Trojans' 26-8 second quarter put them up enough to still give up a late Northmen run and maintain the victory. Brady Kreitzer's 26 points along with Chris Nsenki's 24 lit it up for Park Hill to account for 50 of the Trojans' 63 total team points. Park Hill will be competing in the Blue Springs South McDonald's Tournament this week.

Park Hill Wrestling

In their first competition since winning the state championship last February, the 2010-2011 Park Hill wrestling team returned to the mat to host the Park Hill Duals with 16 teams participating. Park Hill cruised through the round-robin format with wins over Fort Osage (61-11), Liberty (52-18), and Park Hill South (43-21). In the championship round, they defeated Lewis Central 44-25 to advance to the championship against Kearney. Even behind quality match wins from Bricker Dixon, Russ Coleman, Preston Crouse, Eddie McDonald and Nolan Smith, Kearney edged out a 37-29 victory for first place. The Trojans will be back in action as they compete in the Walsh Jesuit Tournament this Friday.

Park Hill South Wrestling
Park Hill South wrestling defeated North Kansas City last week before placing third in the Park Hill Duals this past weekend. Behind pins from Jimmy Carpenter, George Barth, Alex Weatherly, Justin Haughenberry, DJ Dewitt, Brock St. Louis, Chase Gray, Grant Kirschbaum, and Sam Eickhoff, South was able to build a huge lead before going onto claim victory 65-9. After two wins over Liberty (37-32) and Fort Osage (51-21) in the day-long Park Hill Duals, the Panthers fell to Park Hill (43-21). In the semi-finals, Kearney beat Park Hill South (44-27) before going on to place first which led the Panthers to a 42-32 third place win over Lewis Central. Park Hill South's next action comes when they travel to Lee's Summit North Friday night.
 
Park Hill South Girls Basketball
The Park Hill South girls basketball team started their season off 1-2 last week as they competed in the Winnetonka Invitational. The Panthers fell 50-34 to North Kansas City before rebounding against Winnetonka mid-week for a 48-31 victory. In the tournament finale, South went down by 13 early in the game and would maintain that margin throughout the rest of the game despite an improved quality of play the remaining three quarters. Coach Jenny Orlowski said she was pleased the effort in the tournament and that her team is growing up a little each day.