Park Hill senior Natalie Gerdes qualified for state for the fourth time after taking 14th place at districts on Oct. 28.
KANSAS CITY – Park Hill South had five cross-country runners qualify for state, along with Park Hill senior Natalie Gerdes, with top-30 finishes in the Class 5 District 4 Meet at Staley High School on Oct. 28.
Park Hill South had three girls and two boys qualify with Thomas Garrett having the highest overall finish. The sophomore was the third runner to cross the finish line – trailing a pair of Rockhurst juniors – in 16:18.18.
Tanner Clippard earned 17th place when the senior completed the 5K in 16:54.75. Cole James nearly qualified, but was one spot and 6.41 seconds shy in 31st place and with a time of 17:13.87.
Park Hill South sophomore Madilynn Conklin is a reigning all-state runner and has a chance to repeat that. Conklin was the fifth runner to cross the finish line in districts, doing so in 19:19.64.
Senior Natalie Gerdes is the only Park Hill runner who will compete at state after she took 14th place in 19:55.36 at districts. Gerdes is now a 4-time state qualifier and has finished in the top-20 at state the last two years.
Melania Puszczak and Andrea Garcia – who are from Park Hill South – kept their season alive with sub-21-minute races. Puszczak took 16th place in 20:00.08 and Garcia earned 26th place in 20:39.7.
Park Hill South sophomore Zoe Flook missed out on state qualification by 12 places, taking 42nd place in 21:36.76. Mia James, Lauren Bishard and Emilia Sinclair all ran under 23 minutes.
Park Hill’s second runner was freshman Alice Keefe. She took 57th place with a time of 22:15.75 and was followed up by Ava Sullivan in 60th place 10.34 seconds later.
Jordan Umstattd’s cross-country career came to an end with a 69th place finish in 23:10.88. Kate Hance took 72nd place in 23:25.02, followed by Annie Chambers in 75th place in 23:33.29 and Sidney Hendrix earned 90th place in 25:32.96.
Park Hill junior Jakob Johnston made it to state last year but fell short this season. The junior ended in 41st place with a time of 17:31.28, which was a better time than he ran at state in his sophomore season.
Hudson Huff, Colton Hardy and John Mattivi ran within 11 seconds of each other right over 18 minutes. Huff took 50th place, Hardy earned 52nd place and Mattivi ended in 55th place.
Tristan Jennings, Caidyn Simons and Evan Dixon all finished close together from 84th to 89th places. Jennings ended in 19:30.34, Simmons finished in 19:35.05 and Dixon completed the race in 19:45.24.
Park Hill South sophomore Grant Windmeyer was the 47th runner to cross the finish line, doing so in 17:44.38. David Meyer ended in 18:13.1, good for 57th place.
Benedeict Yager ended his junior campaign with a 61st place finish in 18:22.87 and Seth Irving crossed the finish line in 18:45.51 in 70th place. State will be at Gans Creek in Columbia, MO, on Nov. 4.