Darrien Case eyed Park Hill South’s 800-meter record from the beginning of the year.The Panthers senior not only broke the old mark early in the season, he set one record and then bettered that a week later. He won the 800 in the prestigious KU Relays on Friday, April 17 at Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence, Kan., topping an elite field with runners from five different states. Case finished in 1 minute, 53.65 seconds to better the mark he set a week earlier in the Kearney Classic by almost exactly a second.
The second Park Hill South athlete to ever win an event at the KU Relays, Case bested Liberty (Mountain View)’s Daylan Quinn by nearly a second. Coincidentally, he finished in almost the same exact time that Case ran at Kearney.
Chris Leibrand won the 400 meters in 2007 for Park Hill South. Following his collegiate career, he now assists coaching sprints for the Panthers.
A UMKC commit, Case was also scheduled to run the 1,600 and a leg of the 4x800 relay but did not after the meet was reshuffled to run completely on Friday with weather looming on Saturday.
Park Hill’s Papay Glaywulu finished third in the triple jump with a mark of 45 feet 11 inches, a personal best for the sophomore who medaled eighth in the event at last year’s Class 4 Missouri State Track and Field Championships. He added a 15th-place showing in the long jump (20-11¼) and ran a leg on the Trojans’ 4x200 relay, which placed 30th out of 33.
Park Hill junior Chris Nilsen collected two top-10 finishes. First, he cleared 6-2 in the high jump to tie for ninth place — along with teammate Alijah Gee — and surpassed 14-0 in the pole vault to tie for sixth. He has already cleared 15-4 this season but could not reach that height in the biggest meet this year. Platte County senior Aliek Reed tied for 21st in the high jump (5-10).
Shelly Laures claimed an eighth-place medal for Platte County in the high jump (5-0), the the best individual finish and one of two top 10s for the Pirates. Hunter Long, a sophomore, finished ninth in the 2,000-meter steeplechase (6:44.10). He was an all-American in the discipline at the Under-16 AAU junior olympics last summer.
Platte County senior distance specialist Nathan Straubel finished 15th in the 3,200 (9:35.27), while Park Hill’s Kyle Pudenz — a University of Missouri signee — narrowly missed the top 10 in the event, coming in 11th (9:28.05). He also finished 17th in the 1,600 (4:23.93).
Park Hill sent a full complement of relays, but the best finish came from the 4x100 team of Zach Potter, Matt Harris, Jamaal Brazil and Enock Koudou, which placed 22nd in 44.01. Koudou also earned a medal in the 100-meter dash, finishing seventh (11.13).
On the girls side, Park Hill sent four relays with the best finish 21st in the distance medley with Madison King, Tessa Mussman, Jillian Roepe and Mercedes Robinson recording a time of 13:29.88.
Platte County had the best local relay finish with a 15th-place showing in the boys 4x200. The team of Devin Perry, Lloyd Lockett, Reed and Aaron Brown finished in 1:31.66.
Winnetonka Invitational
Jordan Hammond led Park Hill South to a third-place finish with 82 team points Thursday, April 16 at Winnetonka High School in Kansas City, Mo.
Hammond won the 400 (59.95) and 300 hurdles (47.49) and ran a leg of the victorious 4x400 relay along with Emily Day Izzy Pieper and Maryn Burns (4:16.03). Burns also finished third in the long jump (16-5½).
Amanda Tillman again tied the school record with a pole vault of 9-6 to take home the victory in that event, while Emma Roth set a school record in the 3,200 (11:46.84). Lexi Maddox set the previous mark a week prior at Kearney (11:47.10).
Park Hill South also finished third on the boys side with 68 points.
Mitch Henderson won the 800 (2:01.44) — the only individual champion for the Panthers. The Panthers also won the 4x100 and 4x200 meter relays and finished third in the 4x800.
Park Hill finished 10th out of 15 but did not feature all of its top athletes, who were preparing for the KU Relays. Grant Downes was the only event champion (110 hurdles, 16.10). Glaywulu earned second place in the high jump 6-2.
Park Hill senior Riana Everidge placed fifth in the high jump (4-10), the top individual finish for the Trojans (13th overall).
Platte County finished 14th on the girls side with Hillary Mathurin second in the 300 hurdles (49.88). Nolan Orf led the boys team to a ninth-place finish with 44 points. He won both the 1,600 (4:42.58) and 3,200 (10:24.50).
West Platte Invitational
North Platte senior Regan Nash picked up two more wins in the 100 (12.64) and 200 (27.20) on Tuesday, April 14 at West Platte High School in Weston, Mo. Baylie Wilson (100 hurdles, 17.69) and Emmie Lee (300 hurdles, 51.69) were the only other event winners for the Panthers.
Sydney Oberdiek swept the shot put (35-3) and discus (100-1) — the only event wins for the hosts — while Mackenze Daniel grabbed second in the discus for North Platte (99-6).
North Platte’s Callie Pataluna (triple jump, 29-8), Gracie Roach (high jump, 4-8) and McKenna Fulton (300 hurdles, 52.52) were all runners-up.
On the boys side no individual from North Platte or West Platte finished above third however there were plenty of third-place finishes: Dylan Lock (West Platte), 100, 12.15, Daniel Cicha (West Platte), 800, 2:16.02, 1,600, 5:05.97, Dylan Stockman (North Platte), 3,200, 11:17.40 Jerry Copenhaver (North Platte), 300 hurdles, 45.64 and Jonathan Collins (North Platte), discus 100-81/2.
West Platte’s 4x800 relay team did grab second 9:54.26 with North Platte sliding in third 10:16.44.
Northwest Missouri State Bearcat Invitational
Platte County cruised to the boys team title of the Northwest Missouri State Bearcat Invitational on Tuesday, April 14.
The Pirates finished with 251 team points, nearly double second-place Maryville (126). Straubel and Long finished first and second in the 1,600 before their trip to Lawrence. Straubel then finished first with Orf coming in second in the other distance race, the 3,200.
The 4x200 relay team (Perry,Lockett, Reed, Bown) won their event before setting a new personal best on Friday. The team also combined to win the 4x400 relays, and Brown took home the long jump and triple jump titles.
On the girls side the Pirates finished sixth as a team. Mathurin won the 300 hurdles and Laures won the high jump to lead the way.