RIVERSIDE, Mo. — Park Hill South won both team championships at its home meet on Thursday, April 23 at Park Hill South High School despite a hard push from rival Park Hill on the girls side. The Panthers squeaked by the rival Trojans by 4½ points, compiling 216 total.
Park Hill South senior Jordan Hammond led the way for the girls with three event wins and a second-place finish as part of the 4x400-meter relay. The recent Northwest Missouri State signee won the 200, 400 and 300 hurdles while sister Janae won the 100 hurdles and high jump.
“It’s comforting to run on your home track because you know it inside and out. I always enjoy it,” Jordan Hammond said. “Every meet, you run the same distance but running on your home track is comforting. It also always helps to run against faster people because you run faster times.”
Park Hill and Park Hill South combined to win 15 of the 19 girls events with the hosts claiming 10 titles.
In addition to the five events won by the Hammond twins, Amanda Tillman (pole vault, 9 feet, 6 inches), Maryn Burns (long jump, 15-10¼), Sydney S tewart (javelin, 95-5), Emma Roth (1,600, 5 minutes, 28.17 seconds) and the 4x800 relay team all took home top honors.
“The Hammonds both do a great job,” Park Hill South girls coach Andy Keefer said. “They’re both great kids and outstanding individuals as well.”
For Park Hill, Morgen Smith won the shot put (32-6), Lois Granet the discus (86-0), Amanda Alexander the 100 (12.93) and Jillian Roepe the 800 (2:29.42) — part of a podium sweep of the event (Mercedes Robinson, second and Tessa Mussman, third). The Trojans also won the 4x100 relay.
“I gave it all I had,” Roepe said. “I wanted to run a good race. I knew my teammates behind me would give me a run for my money. It was really satisfying. I’m also glad my teammates came in two and three behind me. That was encouraging. It’s a really big confidence booster.”
On the boys side, Park Hill South had a little more breathing room to take the team title with the bulk of Park Hill’s team scheduled to run in the Gary Parker Invitational in Blue Springs. The Panthers won just five events — four individual and the 4x400 relay.
For the fifth straight week, Darrien Case — a senior committed to the University of Missouri-Kansas City, set a school record with a 4:21.85 in the 1,600, a record he previously set on March 31. He later ran a leg of the victorious 4x400 relay team along with Isaac Frieden, Mitch Henderson and Tanner Alderson. Henderson claimed the win in the 400 (51.68) and second in the high jump (6-0).
Case’s efforts helped Park Hill South score 255½ points for an easy win in a memorable final home meet.
“It feels good to know that your PRs will be school records,” Case said. “I like to know that I left a mark on the school in track, and I did good here. I didn’t actually think about it as my last time (running here). It felt good. I will definitely remember running here. But, I won’t be too far away so I can come back every now and then.”
Tanner McClaran (discus, 139-9) and Ewan Frick (3,200, 10:45.06) were the only other event winners for Park Hill South. Park Hill sophomore Andrew Rich claimed the best finish for the Trojans with a second-place in the 800 (2:10.13).
Gary Parker Invitational
Park Hill senior Kyle Pudenz set a school record in the 1,600, breaking a mark that had stood for more than three decades and helping the Trojans to a fourth-place team finish Thursday, April 23 in Blue Springs, Mo. The University of Missouri signee ran the mile in 4:16.32, nearly 2 seconds faster than Allen O’Hearn’s previous mark from 1979.
Pudenz previously set the school record in the 3,200 last week at the Kansas University relays with his 11th-place finish (9:28.05, breaking Todd Moritz’s record set in 1983).
Chris Nilsen bettered his own school record to win the pole vault (15-7) and also topped the high jump field with a new personal best of 6-5. Alijah Gee made it a 1-2 finish for the Trojans in that event, also clearing 6-5 but with more misses.
Enock Koudou (fourth in the 100, 10.95) and Pudenz (fourth in the 800, 1:59.13) were the only other top-five finishes for the Trojans.
Smithville Invitational
Platte County senior Aliek Reed ran the 300 hurdles for the second time and coasted to an easy win in the event on Tuesday, April 21 in Smithville, Mo.
The standout senior finished in 41.86 to beat Oak Grove’s Kyle Clinkenbeard by more than a second. It marked one of seven individual titles for the Pirates, who scored 187¾ points to win the eight-team meet.
Devin Perry swept the titles in the 100 (11.19) and 200 (22.83). He won the 100 from the first heat with Reed coming in third overall, second in the fast heat, at 11.35. St. Joseph Benton’s Ry’ell Dydell finished second in both events, just a quarter of a second behind Perry in the 200.
Platte County also swept the long-distance races.
Nathan Straubel, a senior, won the 1,600 in 4:37.47, nipping Smithville’s DJ Stahl. Nolan Orf, another senior, led a 1-2 finish for the Pirates in the 3,200. He finished in 10:18.38 with sophomore teammate Hunter Long the runner-up (10:42.62).
Platte County also had the runner-up in the 400 (Aaron Brown, 50.53) and 800 (David Fulk, 2:04.06). Mac Leet recorded the final individual victory for Platte County, going 6-2 in the high jump. He also placed third in the triple jump (40-8½), finishing just in front of Brown (40-4).
Perry, Brown and Reed along with Lloyd Lockett teamed to win the 4x200 relay (1:32.57), while Lockett, Perry, Fulk and TJ Guillory were second in the 4x400. The Pirates came in at 3:35.15 but were nearly 3 full seconds back of Kearney.
Payton Sheehan (11-6, pole vault), Dane Rader (45-2, shot put) and Brown (19-4½, long jump) all recorded third-place finishes.
Platte County finished third in the final girls team standings with 94½ points.
Shelley Laures, a senior, set a personal best, clearing 5-4 for the first time to win the high jump, continuing to show improvement after battling a nagging hip injury early in the season. She also topped the long jump field at 15-4½ to beat Oak Groves Alyssa Groseclose by 1½ inches.
Overall, Platte County won five events.
Pirates freshman Rebekah Geddes broke the 12-minute mark in the 3,200 for the first time, finishing in 11:58.11 to lead a 1-2 finish for Platte County (Erin Straubel, 12:22.56). Hilary Marthuin won the 300 hurdles in 49.54, less than a half second in front of Benton’s Maddie Reynolds.
Marthuin and Laures also ran legs on the victorious 4x400 along with Sarah Wyss and Rachel Gilbert. The quartet finished in 4:20.62.
Christian Invitational
Behind victories for Regan Nash, Emmie Lee, Callie Pataluna and the 4x200 relay team, North Platte took second in an 18-team meet Thursday, April 23 in St. Joseph, Mo. The Panthers finished with 112 points and were just 6½ back of Christ Prep (Kan.) for the team title.
Nash won the 100 and ran a leg on the victorious sprint relay but did not record a time in the 200 — her second individual event — scratching out as a precautionary measure. She clocked a 13.55 in the 100.
The 4x100 team, which also included Abby Fisher, Lee and Pataluna, beat Plattsburg for the title, coming in at 53.10. The Tigers were nearly a second and a half behind at 54.55, while West Platte’s quartet of Harper Euwer, Makayla Wardlow, Logan Eagen and Sikoya Richard was third at 55.71.
North Platte’s 4x200 team of Nash, Fisher, McKenna Fulton and Gracie Roach finished second to Plattsburg.
Lee won the 300 hurdles in 50.33, while teammate Baylie Wilson was fourth (54.60) and West Platte’s Emily Norman fifth (57.14). Wilson also placed third in the 100 hurdles (17.58). Pataluna topped a three-entrant pole vault field at 6-6, while also placing third in the triple jump (30-9).
West Platte’s Sydney Oberdiek won a trio of medals in throwing events with a rare chance to try out the javelin, currently an experimental event in Missouri and not offered at many meets. She won the shot put at 31-1½ and came in second in the discus at 108-3 and javelin at 89-10.
Fourth in the team standings with 65 points, West Platte also received a second place showing in the 4x400 relay (Richards, Ciara Davies, Lauren Moose and Rachel Heili).
North Platte’s boys finished tied for seventh with Mid-Buchanan at 38 points in a 15-team field. Eric Brown led the way with a runner-up in the pole vault at 9-0, losing on a tiebreaker to St. Joseph Christian’s Josiah Manners.
West Platte’s Daniel Cicha came in second to Bishop LeBlond’s Max Robertson in the 1,600 and to Christian’s Jackson Rush in the 3,200. Overall, the Bluejays finished with 30 points — good for 12th place.
North Platte’s Blake Romaker was third in the 800 for the Panthers’ final medal.
Nick Sloop Invitational
Oberdiek again led the girls with a win and a second-place effort to help the Bluejays to fifth as a team on Monday, April 27 in Lawson, Mo.
The sophomore won the discus at 106-10 and finished as runner-up in the shot put (32-9). Heili, a freshman, earned third place in the 800 (2:41.69) and second in the 1,600 (6:04.92). Heili and Oberdiek were the only individuals to finish on the podium for the Bluejays, who came in 81 points behind winners and hosts Lawson.
On the boys side, West Platte finished seventh with 28 points, 95 behind champion South Harrison.
Daniel and Andrew Cicha went 1-2 in the 3,200, respectively. Daniel Cicha, a junior, finished in 11:23.53 while younger brother Andrew clocked a 11:39.53. Daniel Cicha provided the only other podium, placing third in the 1,600 (5:05.59).