Park Hill South girls swimming coach Tim Busenhart has added the title of boys swimming coach this year.
The girls Class 2 co-coach of the year will replace Ethan Rose and becomes the third coach in three years for the Panthers. He inherits a team with 10 returners, half that competed in the Class 1 state championships last year.
Park Hill South took sixth place in state last year, which followed a runner-up finish in the Suburban Red Division championships.
Seniors Isaac Lee and Patrick Hefferren both swam on the 200-yard freestyle relay, while three sophomores competed in events in St. Peters. Zander Livingston was 11th in the 500 freestyle, while taking 14th in the 200 freestyle. He joined with Zane Reavley on the 400 freestyle team that took seventh to earn all-state honors. Clell Burdiss is another returning state qualifier, taking 14th in the 500 freestyle.
Also back for the Panthers: junior Fletcher Burns and Wyatt Morgan and sophomores Chris Wissman, Nate Shaw and Finn Hefferren.
Freshman Luke Brown and Alec Enyeart could also find a way into the varsity rotation for Busenhart and assistant coaches Lyndsay Ryan and Katie Mayabb, the diving coach.
The Panthers were hit hard in terms of returners this season. Graduation claimed Cody Beeler and Isaac Smith, both state qualifiers. Also gone are Jackson Garrett and Zach Schneider.
The latter was a member of the 200-freestyle relay team, while Garrett’s loss will be a big one. After his junior season last year, Garrett had complied all-state honors 10 different times, including four last year. He was the state runner-up in the 100-yard backstroke and took fifth in the 100-yard freestyle, while being on two relay teams.
The league race for the Panthers will also get a bit tougher this year. Lee’s Summit enters from the Gold Division and took sixth place in Class 2 last year. Staley moves up from the White Division and the Falcons were tied for 16th in Class 1.
Editor note: Due to a communication error, the Park Hill South story was unable to appear in 2018 Fall Sports Preview section. A background on what happened can be found reading Cody’s Corner on Page 2.